L.T.'s Emergency Surgery: Relive the pain; more sports-viewing limit experiences sought

Tim Cavanaugh | August 21, 2006

Here's a Youtube find so obvious I can't believe I needed the impending kickoff of a new NFL season to make me look it up: Joe Theisman gets his shin broken in half by Lawrence Taylor. After 21 years, this footage (here coming at the end of a montage set to a pounding, NFL Films-style pump-you-up beat), is as groan-inducing as ever—though L.T., to his credit, began calling frantically for the medics right away, as this extremesportsclips.com version of the play makes clear. There's no other point to this post—except that I'm an asshole who likes to check out horrific classic sports catastrophes, so if you can find a clip of Kermit Washington punching out Rudy Tomjanovich or Ray Mancini killing Duk Koo Kim, the comments are wide open.

Comments

|8.21.06 @ 2:52AM|#

Cavanaugh, I just watched the extremesportsclips.com link, and you're a total bastard for putting that link up. The replay shot of LT clearly snapping Theisman's shin is agonizing. I bet it was you that killed Davey Moore. Why, what's the reason for, you bastard?

|8.21.06 @ 3:05AM|#

Here's a video of Ali beating the crap out of Foreman. I never get tired of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N44vdCqI7LI

|8.21.06 @ 5:13AM|#

I remember that moment well. What few remember is that Redskins backup QB Jay Schroeder came in to replace Theisman and led his team to a 23-21 victory over the Giants.

Chuck|8.21.06 @ 7:32AM|#

Jeez, Tim, I couldn't watch the replays of it then, and I can't now. It totally turns my stomach--and I watch those live trauma shows on Discovery Health.

|8.21.06 @ 8:07AM|#

Because of this play we've had to endure Joey listening to himself talk on ESPN Sunday Night Football (now Monday Night Football).

Oh, the humanity!

|8.21.06 @ 8:51AM|#

hostile --

Ali vs. Foreman: nice to see that one again. Awesome. And hey, my man Norman Mailer!

|8.21.06 @ 9:20AM|#

Hockey fights are dime-a-dozen, but the "Punch-Out in Piestany" has historical resonance. This is the real reason the Soviet Union collapsed.

|8.21.06 @ 9:25AM|#

There are two, and only two, "horrific classic sports catastrophes." "The Catch" and signing T.O.

|8.21.06 @ 9:54AM|#

...more sports-viewing limit experiences sought...

Someone has been reading Foucault. :)

Hank Hill|8.21.06 @ 10:00AM|#

"The dip at Boomhauer's Super Bowl party was so thick, chips were snapping like Joe Theisman's leg."

|8.21.06 @ 12:39PM|#

Last year there was Tyrone Prothro at the University of Alabama snapping his leg going up for a catch (really crappy video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbvx5DYS6tE

a couple of games after making one of the greatest catches ever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4u0rTCoaAc

Matt|8.21.06 @ 1:21PM|#

Third try posting, if it shows up three times now I'll feel like an idiot.

What kind of pussy "horrific sports catastrophes" are you all going on about? Clint Malarchuk would like a word with you.

|8.21.06 @ 2:38PM|#

If theres a fight in baseball or basketball it makes the news. But in hockey, its expected. That's why its the best sport. Fuckaz.

Tim Cavanaugh|8.21.06 @ 2:49PM|#

Matt, I bow to the greater horror. Never again will I say I went to a fight and a hocky game broke out.

|8.21.06 @ 3:02PM|#

You want a leg break?

Check this one out.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ynEyHKLFWLk

I told you I was hardcore :)

Tim Cavanaugh|8.21.06 @ 3:36PM|#

If you have any interest at all in nauseating sports accidents, you must check out Lee's link.

|8.21.06 @ 3:44PM|#

I had forgotten about this one:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=K00XYArXgKs

THAT ain't fake!!

|8.21.06 @ 4:56PM|#

This video also has one of my favorite highlights: the Nat Moore "helicopter" catch. As a Jet fan, I remember this one quite well. Dolphins-Jets early November 1984 at the Meadowlands (the Jets first season in NJ after ditching Shea). Moore hauls in a Marino pass and sprints toward the endzone. At the 5-yard line, Moore is hit in rapid succession by two Jets in the secondary. Kenny Schroy hits Moore low, while Kirk Springs hits him high. The combination causes Moore's body to flat-spin 360 degrees. To his credit, Moore hangs onto the ball, and the Fins go on to score a TD, and win the game 31-17 en route to the Super Bowl.

|8.21.06 @ 8:10PM|#

thanks matt,

I had to look up if he lived or not...he did you bastard.

Matt|8.21.06 @ 8:24PM|#

Wait...

...

... yes, I'm being told now that he's ok.

I saw that happen live on TV. Holy shit. The Sabres' trainer saved his life by somehow knowing what you do when a jugular vein is cut open. But nobody knew that at the game or on TV for what seemed like hours.

|8.21.06 @ 10:40PM|#

Yeeech! Can't you guys post videos of something cute and cuddly, like kittens or puppies or improbably busty Japanese girls in bikinis?

|8.22.06 @ 12:12AM|#

"like kittens or puppies or improbably busty Japanese girls in bikinis"

Why would you want to see one of them having their shins snapped?