I Am Sporticus

In Japan earlier this week, singer/pop star Mariah Carey was asked to throw out the first pitch. Her efforts were more in line with bowling than anything else. Please, please let my daughter be able to throw a ball better than this:

If she weren’t absolutely gorgeous, I would heckle her instead of gawk if I were to see her in public. But a little more effort would have been nice in this case. The Japanese baseball team paid good money for her to throw out that pitch, and to even get her there.

**Warning: The content of this article may not be appropriate for children or adults with weak stomachs.**

It is often said that in order to succeed in a sport that you must devote your entire life to eating, breathing, and drinking its fundamentals. Many people argue that today’s athletes would never give their life, body, mind or soul to the games they love so much. However, if you look at the long seasons, injuries, surgeries, and even deaths involved in the sports there is no way you can argue that they don’t care. Although the fundamentals of sports will never change, great strides have been taken to ensure that no athlete will ever have to give their lives in competition again. This article will not look at which sports “kill the fastest” or “are the deadliest”, but rather it will look at how the deaths or near deaths of these athletes have acted as a catalyst for officials to save the lives for others. These three sports pose the most threat to suffering injuries that result in death immediately or within minutes.

HOCKEY

Hockey poses the most gruesome instance of giving your life to play the game. Thankfully, this accident did not result in a death. However, it did open the eyes of the NHL commissioners and spark a series of equipment changes and safety overhauls. The date was March 22, 1989 and the Buffalo Sabers were taking on the St. Louis Blues. In the blink of an eye, St. Louis right winger Steve Tuttle broke loose with defender Uwe Krupp following close behind. As the Blues player blew by him, Krupp grabbed Tuttle, who then lost control as his feet left the ground. Standing in front of Tuttle’s flailing blades was the Saber’s goalie Clint Malarchuk. The image that unfolded was ghastly, heart wrenching, and would be burned into the minds of hockey fans for the rest of their lives.

Tuttle’s skate met Malarchuk’s throat mercilessly. The result was a gushing wound with blood spewing from his carotid artery. Malarchuk collapsed to the ground. The announcers stumbled to produce words, three of his teammates vomited on the ice, and the scene induced heart attacks in two fans. It seemed like the end for Malarchuk, as everyone watched helplessly as he stumbled across the ice on hands and knees while blood flowed freely. Luckily, his trainer, a Vietnam veteran, ran onto the ice to pinch off Malarchuk’s artery and saved his life. If it were not for the trainer, Malarchuk would have died in less than 3 minutes from loss of blood. In a post interview, Malarchuk added, “All I wanted to do was get off the ice. My mom was watching on TV, and I didn’t want her to see me die.”

Because of this accident, NHL officials sanctioned throat protectors to be worn by all NHL goalies. It was no longer the era of the “Jason mask”, but rather an era of putting an increased focus on safety . . . at least for the goalies. Similar incidents have happened to forwards and defensive men within the last decade. Bengt Åkerblom of Sweden died on the ice in 1995 from a laceration and earlier this year Panther’s forward Richard Zednik lost 5 units of blood after his artery was sliced. Although much could be done to increase the safety in hockey, not enough has been done to protect those “putting their necks out” besides the goalies. Here is a clip of the Malarchuk injury that he amazingly survived for anyone with the stomach to watch it.

NASCAR

Growing up in North Carolina, I would argue the death that had the most impact on any sport would be the passing of Dale Earnhardt during the 2001 Daytona 500 race. During the final lap of the race, Earnhardt was sideswiped and hit the wall head on at nearly 150 mph. The result was devastating as the “The Intimidator” lost his life on the track. The public was in shock as one of the all-time most influential figures ever in any sport had been lost. In what was known as the “Final Ride”, Earnhardt’s hauler made the long trip from Daytona back to Kanapolis, NC down I-85. Not one car dared to pass the hauler the entire trip and traffic was reportedly backed up for 2 miles with all headlights on full beam.
The death of Earnhardt was not taken for granted, however. Shortly after his death NASCAR officials called for research to be completed on possible head restraints. Speedway physician Steve Bohannon stated that the cause of Earnhardt’s death was a faulty seatbelt, which caused his head to violently strike the steering wheel. Later that year, Nascar began mandating the use of the HANS device (Head and Neck Support Device), which has been saving lives since. This 1.5 lbs device keeps the heads of drivers stable and prevents the violent whipping of the neck associated with many of the crashes.
Like the Malarchuk accident, NASCAR officials realized that there was a danger that needed to be addressed and completed a safety overhaul before anyone else was killed. Although the number 3 car will be missed sorely in the racing world, his death resulted in safer racing for future cars and drivers. These two examples show the proper response to accidents and the administration’s willingness to overhaul “tradition” for the safety of their athletes.

BASEBALL

When most people think about the dangers in baseball, the most common perception is the risk of getting hit in the head by a pitch. During the early days of the game, getting beamed by a pitcher did cause a number of deaths in the sport. The commissioners responded by requiring batters wear helmets to reduce the chance of injury and death. However, a known but rarely addressed danger in the game has increasingly been brought to the spotlight in the realm of college baseball.

College baseball players are just as big, strong, and fast as the professionals. The only difference is the bats they swing. The collegiate athletes swing aluminum bats with sweet spots and recoil that could never be produced by their wooden components. In 2000 the NCAA authorized that the maximum ball speed for any ball leaving the bat was 97 mph, 1 mph slower than a wooden bat. This was done to “address” the dangers in pitchers getting lined by the batter following a pitch. But on July 25, 2003 one game proved that this was not enough.
On this day, Brandon Patch was taking the mound in what would be his last game ever. His opponent was the much-anticipated cross county rivals, which boasted many D1 athletes or prospects. Brandon was just the average player on a team that would likely just the season and their baseball careers on that night. The opposing team featured Quinn LeSage, a 6’5’’ slugger that Brandon had managed to strike out earlier in the game. LeSage approached the plate and Patch gracefully began his windup. The pitch was delivered and all that was heard was a “ping” followed by a “thud”. Brandon collapsed back towards second place. He pulled himself into a sitting position and joked about how he “should have kept it down”. Soon after, Brandon collapsed and became unconscious. He would later die from swelling of the brain as a result from being hit on the temple.

This just goes to show that the athletes are growing stronger while the bats are becoming more responsive. Everyone in attendance or that saw the video of Brandon’s accident knew it was the speed and force of the ball coming off LeSage’s bat that resulted in his death. The NCAA and other baseball leagues have done nothing to address the dangers in aluminum bats other than making the “maximum” speed. With an enormous sweet spot, today’s batters have much better chances of crushing the ball, in some cases at the pitcher’s head. This recently happened to Notre Dame pitcher Wade Korpi as he took a 100 mph line drive off his head. Yes, the gun clocked the ball at 100 mph as it came off the bat . . . not the “maximum” 97 mph.

Wade was hospitalized and made a full recovery. The same cannot be said about Brandon Patch. His mother and father remain in the fight to outlaw the use of aluminum bats in all baseball leagues. Something needs to be done, just as it was in hockey and NASCAR.

It is always a great day when the players remember that there are fans in the stadium and they actually do something about it. It is also a great day when an outfielder makes a spectacular catch and turns it into a double play. Now, if you toss into that a high-five and that the outfielder made the double play from the warning tracks, you get something spectacular. Thank you Manny Ramirez, Thank you.

It is not too uncommon for a home run to be granted to a player because some stupid fan reached over the fence and caught a ball that would not have made it over. Sure, it happens, but this is the first time I have ever seen a fan deflection cause a home run to be lost.

It appears that the deflection was just slight enough to make a difference between the ball staying in and out of the park - just subtle enough that a home run could not be granted.

That just sucks.