When Best, the Golden Bears' star back, vaulted over Cameron Collins into the end zone, he guaranteed himself a place on highlight reels. And when he tumbled midair, coming down on his shoulder and neck, he pretty much guaranteed I will never ever let my children play football.

Scarier still were Best's limbs going stiff, as an analyst explained that "abnormal posturing" is a sign the brain has lost contact with the body. That's a phrase you never want to hear on an injury report. But oddly enough, that was reassuring, as it's a reaction seen in many a boxing and MMA knockout victim. And sure enough, Best suffered only a concussion, and not any spinal injuries.

As Best's uniform was literally cut off of him, and he was wheeled off with an oxygen mask as players on both sidelines prayed, we could be forgiven for fearing the worst.

I've never seen anybody that high in the air on the football field," [fullback Brian] Holley said later. "The way he fell, I knew immediately he had to be hurt. I saw his face and nothing was there. He had a blank stare and his arms were stiff."

This is Best's second concussion in eight days, which means that, despite the surprisingly good prognosis, he probably should be nowhere near a football field for the rest of the season. But at least the spectacular video can be shown on Deadspin, and not Faces of Death.

Scary Injury In Another Loss To OSU [SF Chronicle]

Obviously, I'm not going to give it away and tell you which injury in the last decade was the most vile, disgusting or disturbing, but I will hit you with a few of the highlights from Puck Daddy's Top 10 List.

No. 7. Kurtis Foster's broken femur.

No-touch icing would have prevented this injury, but hockey is played by men, not wussies, right? Whaddya mean preferring not to have your femur snapped in half isn't a sign of weakness? Whatever.

No. 5. Patrice Bergeron's concussion.

I particularly enjoy how players from the Flyers and Bruins are seen mixing it up while Bergeron is just laying there on the ice out cold.

No. 3. Richard Zednick's slashed throat.

Hoo boy was that gnarly, man. And I don't want to hear any complaints about how gross the video was - if you clicked play on a video that was referenced as depicting someone getting their throat slashed, you did so of your volition.

Of course, there are seven more of these testaments to the brutality of professional hockey to see and be grossed out by. Go take a look, if you think you can handle it.

The 10 most brutal NHL injuries of the last decade [Puck Daddy]

Cheerleading has become completely incidental to the sports they were originally intended to support. If fact, it's mostly just an excuse for female daredevils to risk their necks for thrills and chills. It's by far the most dangerous sport for young women—even though the NCAA doesn't consider it a sport—so the Wall Street Journal wants to know what is the point of risking all these lives. (Dorks.)

Keep in mind—we're not talking about NFL cheerleaders, who are merely eye candy for the first 10 rows. What they do is unique and special, of course, but choreographed rumpshaking rarely breaks bones. We're talking about high school and college cheerleaders who continually up the ante on flips, dips and human stacking. It's crazy, irrelevant to the outcome of football and basketball games, yet somehow is absolutely necessary. No really cares about what cheerleaders are doing, but if you went to a college football game that didn't have them, wouldn't that be weird? Maybe you would forget to cheer. Then your team would lose. And it would be your fault.

So to answer your questions: Yes, there is no point. Just like every other sport.

What's the Point of Cheerleading? [WSJ]

Football is a tough sport. You're going to get injured. You're going to have aches and pains. You're probably never going to be playing at 100% of your health. But there is such a pervasive attitude that anyone who does sit out with any injury short of a broken bone is some kind of wimp, it makes any pronouncements about the NFL "looking out for" its players seem laughable.

It's all very subtle and non-threatening, but it's everywhere you look. The snide comments from assistant coaches. ("I don't talk to hurt guys.") Head coaches lecturing players about muscle strains. Trainers giving bucket hats to players receiving treatment, so that they're easily singled out for mockery. Everyone will say, we're just breaking balls. It's just good-natured ribbing, part of the camaraderie of training camp. But that stuff adds up and if you don't think it affects a player's mental state you're kidding yourself.

Later in the episode, there was a moment when the same coach who was teasing rookie Rey Maualuga about his bad shoulder, implores him to "don't be a jackass" and speak up if the injury is bothering him. But which of his coach's remarks do you think has the bigger impact? The constant shots at his manhood, how he's letting down his team, the direct implication that he needs to be on the field to secure his starting spot? Or the brief concern shown just seconds before he goes into a drill? He's long ago received the message.

Granted, a documentary doesn't show everything, but anyone who has been around a locker room (or even read our Softball Failures) knows what that culture of toughness is about. No matter what safety measures the league takes or the vast amount of medical training that goes into care for the walking wounded, it will never outweigh that subtle psychological game that tells athletes that injuries are for pussies.

Hard Knocks [HBO]

Two brokers at Long Island's (of course) Intermarket Insurance Agency are offering fantasy football indemnity plans. Drop a little extra coin on the side and if one of your top draft picks goes down to injury in real life, you can recoup your league fees, transactions fees, and even the cost of the 15 fantasy football magazines you've been wallpapering your bedroom with for the last two months. Sure, your own health isn't even covered under ObamaCare yet, but this is way more vital to your well-being.

I'm not anti-fantasy sports. In the right hands, they can be a lot fun—but it's a gamble, not a retirement plan. If you're investing more money than you can afford to lose on the outcome of Peyton Manning's passing yardage, then you're probably in a little too deep. Step back and ask yourself if running a fake football team is too much for you to handle at this point in your life. Maybe you should stick to pick 'em games or electric football. Get yourself healthy and then we'll worry about Tom Brady, okay?

Fantasy Football Insurance: A New Kind of Pocket Protection Against NFL Injuries [Wall Street Journal]

* * * * *

No need to cash in your policy for today. That was pretty painless and I think we even learned something. KOGOD comes home tomorrow, but for now enjoy your evening ...

The New York Times has the sob stories of several college athletes who suffered severe, sometimes debilitating injuries, but then got stuck with the medical bills, because the school that recruited them to compete on their behalf wouldn't cover it. As you might imagine, it's the small, financially challenged schools—where athletes probably don't have full rides to begin with—that suffer the most. You could get a head transplant at Michigan State (probably from a med student, but still), whereas at Wisconsin's smaller D-III campus you're lucky to get Band-Aids.

In typical NCAA fashion, they have mandated that colleges insure all their athletes, but didn't bother to set guidelines for how much coverage they need—or give them money to do it. So most budget-strapped schools have opted for very little coverage. Power conferences, with huge TV contracts, do a pretty good job. The rest don't.

Spalding University, in Louisville, Ky., also pays for secondary coverage for athletes. "These young men and young women are representing your institution," said Charlie Just, the compliance director there. "Ethically, I think it's the right thing to do."

Well, that's nice. Of course, Spalding is a private school with no contact sports so ethics don't cost them a lot of money. Didn't Obama fix this already?

With Insufficient Insurance, Injured Athletes Add Medical Bills to College Debt [NY Times]

Yes, in the urge to celebrate a rare victory over the mighty Brewers on Sunday, Dempster attempted to scale the dugout railing at Wrigley Field and failed. The miniature fence sent him sprawling, twisting his right foot in unnatural ways and sending him to the Hall of Lame Injuries on the first ballot.

In a way, this photo beautifully illustrates the great cosmic farce that all Cub fans must play a role in. For a brief moment, the boy is entertained by the clumsy follies of his favorite team, but meanwhile a darker truth lies quietly beneath the surface. The subtle interplay of comedy and tragedy is what defines the Cub Nation's futile existence as they seek to find humor in their plight, lest the reality of their struggle reduce them to bitter tears.

In other words ... who's laughing now, you little punk?

Ryan Dempster could miss month with broken toe [Chicago Tribune]
Odd injury: Cubs' Dempster goes toe-to-toe with dugout, loses [Big League Stew]
[Photo: Nuccio DiNuzzo, Chicago Tribune]

In the last month alone, three baseball players have retreated to the disabled list with cases of social anxiety disorder. Some doctors — including Dr. Allan Lans, who called the diagnoses "a little off the wall" — are beginning to question the validity of these mental disorders, but these illnesses are not necessarily new among athletes. And as more athletes admit to their struggles with depression, social anxiety and burnout, recovery narratives are abundant.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Zack Greinke, Sports Illustrated

That's the game Bell and Baird grew up in. But on that February morning, they saw a young pitcher in pain, and they told him to go home and stop thinking about baseball. "There's business and there's personal," says Baird, now a special assistant with the Boston Red Sox. "And most times in the game, business comes ahead of personal. But I think in this situation, we were talking something bigger than business. There's right and wrong, and I don't think there was any gray area here."

Greinke took two months off, during which he was found to have social anxiety disorder, a condition marked by tension in social settings. He began taking medication, which made a big difference. He began to think more positively about baseball, too, which made a big difference. When he returned to pitch that June, at Double-A Wichita, he found himself enjoying the experience. He started to throw as hard as he could.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Elena Delle Donne, The New York Times

But, by age 13, she said, she began to notice a lack of fulfillment. She did not seem to enjoy basketball as much as the other girls. This startled her because she was the star and thought she should be having even more fun than her teammates. She kept her feelings to herself but felt a growing, gnawing discontent. Why am I doing this? Because I want to? Because everybody else wants me to?

"I was overdriving myself because I was so into becoming the best," Delle Donne said. "I always thought someone else was working harder than me, which really made me go nuts with it. It wasn't fun. It was like a job, and it was a job I wasn't getting paid for."

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Chamique Holdsclaw, Sports Illustrated

On July 28 Holdsclaw played in her final game of the '04 season, and the Mystics' front office cited undisclosed "medical reasons" to explain her departure. Rumors swirled: Was she pregnant? Addicted to drugs? Suffering from cancer? Three months later Holdsclaw went public with her diagnoses of clinical depression, discussing it with reporters in her lawyer's office.

"Looking back, I wish I had gone up to somebody in the front office earlier and said, 'Look, I'm having a tough time. I need some time off,'" she says. "But I saw my situation as embarrassing. There's a stigma, especially in the African-American community. We're such prayerful people, the answer is always, 'Let's go and pray.'"

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Shaun Andrews, The New York Times

Andrews said he had seen a psychiatrist last summer in Little Rock, and then in Philadelphia, but that he was not currently undergoing counseling. He did say he was taking antidepressant medication, along with the drug Adderall to treat attention-deficit disorder. He said he understood that some people had little sympathy for a highly paid professional athlete, that even some of his teammates might feel he was exaggerating, or using depression as an excuse for an indifference to football. "That's fine," he said. "I don't work for them. They don't pay my bills. They don't take care of my family."

"A lot of people say football should help you channel your anger and aggression," Andrews said. "But it's not as easy as people think it is."

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Josh Hamilton, ESPN The Magazine

Two years earlier, in 2006, not long before he was reinstated by Major League Baseball after years of drug addiction and depression, Hamilton had a dream. In it he was being interviewed by a female TV reporter at a Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium. He had a bat in his hands, but he didn't know how many home runs he had hit. He couldn't even tell what uniform he was wearing.

"The nerves don't hit you until you're actually there," he said, recounting the Derby as a line formed inside the bookstore. "I was the last guy to hit, so after the introductions, I went back inside the clubhouse and took off my shirt and unbuckled my pants and flopped down on a couch. The couches are so deep, people behind me didn't even know I was there. When the contest got to about the fifth guy, I popped up, and everybody was like, 'Aren't you in this thing?' That's when I started to get ready. That's when I started feeling it."

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Warrick Dunn, The Sporting News

Yet there is a sad irony to his warm deeds. No matter the considerable joy he has brought others, he has been engulfed all these years by a void that even his kindness can't negate. The depression that has overwhelmed him for the past 12 years, since robbers gunned down his mother just after his 18th birthday, has prevented him from truly feeling good about himself or about what he has done for others.

"His mother wasn't just his mother; she was his soul mate," says Maelen "Choo-Choo" Brooks, who coached Dunn as a youngster and is a man so close to Dunn that Dunn calls him "Pops." Brooks says, "She would call him 'my little man.' When she passed, she left a hole inside him that didn't want to heal."

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Barret Robbins, San Francisco Chronicle

This time, Barret Robbins says, he didn't check into a country club. A probation violation last spring landed him in a locked-down, substance-abuse treatment facility in Houston, where he sleeps in a dormitory room filled with bunk beds and as many as 19 other men wrestling with drug addiction and mental illness. His day starts at 5 a.m. and ends with lights out at 10 p.m. Usually, he says, he is so drained by all the group meetings and heavy emotional lifting that he falls asleep by 8:30, his 350-pound body stretched over a narrow, twin-bed mattress.

"I can't complain about a single bed," Robbins said by phone the other day, "not when you consider where I've been."

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Ricky Williams, Los Angeles Times

It wasn't until a year ago that he was diagnosed with social-anxiety disorder, a syndrome that leaves sufferers with an intense fear of scrutiny by people in social situations. With therapy and medication, he has made what he and others believe are dramatic steps toward a normal lifestyle.

"I'm finally at peace with myself," he said Tuesday. "I'm getting through this. I'm definitely at a point where I can help a lot of people."

Each week, we'll rundown some of the more comically bad softball atrocities by some of these players. If you've got your own, please send it along to tips@deadspin.com. Of course, these are [Sic'd] for your viewing pleasure.

Because 16 Inches Is Just Too Much To Handle

As a sub for my cousin's 12-inch team a few summers ago, I came across a sharp grounder off the bat of a large, black man. I had it read until a conveniently-placed rock decided my face was looking far too pretty.I stick to 16-inch now; besides, it's more fun. If anything, the chicks dug the black eye, which I had for about six months during my senior year of college at Tony Romo U.

Sometimes You Feel Like A...

I play in a beer league, neighborhood, slow pitch softball league. I was in left center, when the batter hit a hard line drive. I go flying towards it and right as I am about to dive for it, I realize that I have misjudged it and it is hooking toward me. But it is too late and I end up getting my glove past it as it hooks straight into my nuts. It caught the tip of the frank, but the brunt of it was on my left bean. The end result was me writhing in pain for the next few minutes. I stayed in the game and about 2 innings later I am on first. The guy up after me is a lefty who hits absolute pills. He hits one right at me about nut high. All I could do was turn away from it and it hit me on my thigh. Had I not turned, it would have hit me right in the nuts again. I now have a swollen nut and huge softball shaped welt on my thigh. Despite all this I went 5-5 and we won, but the beers after were much needed.

Put Some Tussin On It

After playing years of softball in either long pants or high socks to salvage skin when sliding, I suddenly got the bright idea in our Boston softball league that just wearing shorts would be fine. Bad choice...

This Story Could Really Use A Picture

What up...So about 6 years ago I'm playing with a bunch of older guys (50's) in an older league (I was 24 at the time) and I'm on 1st with the bases loaded when the oldest guy on the team comes up to bat (lefty) and proceeds to hit a floater JUST over the 2nd baseman's head. Base hit right? All runners move up right? Nope. I knew who was hitting so just before the pitch he hit was thrown I scoped the outfielders out to see where they were and sure enough they moved in…ALOT! I was sorta in no man's land when the ball was hit thinking that the 2nd baseman would catch it so not wanting to get doubled off of 1st (the old guys would never let me live it down) I only took a step or 2 off…watching the ball the whole way. Yep…he missed it. It went a foot over his glove so I take off! I must have taken only 2 more steps before I could see the right fielder ALREADY coming up with the ball so I'm thinking its gonna be a pretty close play at 2nd if he tries to get me (he was literally 20 feet away from 2nd with the ball) or maybe he'll get greedy and try to get the force at home or 3rd since the other base runners were OLD. Nope – he's going to 2nd. I can see him scooping the ball and lining up his throw to 2nd as I'm running so knowing it's gonna be close I dive head first into 2nd. PING! The guy fires the ball into 2nd JUST as I'm sliding and it pegs me in the back side of my head and ricochets straight toward 3rd base and goes over the bleachers on that side of the field without ever touching the ground. I'm laying on the ground now…right hand on the bag and my left hand trying to push myself up enough to shake the cobwebs off and clear the instant headache I got when I hear a voice ask if "I'm ok" to which I respond "sure". When I looked up to see who asked how I was doing I couldn't tell who it was because both teams had surrounded me on the field so I just put my head back down – spit out the mouthful of chaw I had in and proceeded to try to stand up. When I split my chaw out I heard one guy say – "man that's the weirdest blood I've ever seen" – to which everybody laughed and then that provoked another guy to say – "did you hear how loud that was when it hit his head?" – to which there was more laughter….then as I'm still trying to get up (hand on the bag mind you) I hear someone say "Ummm Yeah…you can take your hand off the base James…you were safe ace". Haha – good one – all that stuff I hear from the guys as I'm collecting myself when finally one last guy says "wow – I can see the stitches from the ball on your head…that's probably not good" (I had a Marine haircut) So I say "yeah yeah – get away from me – I'm fine – leave me alone – play ball!" Next guy up smokes one to left so I'm thankful I get to trot around the bases and was going to score easily - that was until I hit 3rd base and must have had my equilibrium all sorts of off cuz I flaked on stepping flat on the bag and rolled my ankle so I had to crawl home where I was safe by about 2 feet. I never took a picture of my head but you could see the laces from the ball for about 4 days after this happened…oh and I went into shock the same night I got drilled.

Hey, Doug Ludwig — You Fucking Suck

OK, so this isn't a gruesome injury story. But it must be told. Last week we were in the top of the 7th inning down a few runs. I'm on third base, and a rally is on the way. Then, the guy up at the plate for us took the first pitch. OK, cool. Being selective. It was a good pitch, but whatever. Then, the second pitch, probably the prettiest slow-pitch you'll ever see, goes RIGHT BY the batter and falls for strike three (we start with a 1-1 count). I know, hard to believe, but this dude STRUCK OUT LOOKING IN D-LEAGUE SLOW-PITCH SOFTBALL IN A CRUCIAL MOMENT. A grown man. Never took the bat off his shoulders. Struck out looking. That's it to the story. But that's as damn gruesome as someone losing an eye or getting hit in the junk with a bat. His name is Doug Ludwig, and I have attached his picture. I hope this makes the cut, because I want to be able to rag on him for this and have official deadspin proof that he did what 99 of 100 people who have ever played softball would castrate themselves for letting happen.
Thanks - Dan in Columbia, MO

Just days ago, the Phoenix Suns were considering trading Stoudemire, but then Terry Porter got fired, the Suns were rejuvenated (by two straight games against the Clippers, mind you), and the team was suddenly dreaming of making a late-playoff run. But now they're stuck with his contract, but not his 21 points a night and the suddenly giddy attitude in Phoenix will likely go out the window pretty quick. Oh well.

As for Amar'e—with or without the apostrophe—he should make a full recovery, but that is a scary thing and it's his second eye injury this season. You'd hate to see (get it?) him lose his career over something like this. Kurt Rambis goggles, here we come!

SUNS: Stoudemire Undergoes Successful Eye Surgery [NBA.com]

If you missed the tale, offensive lineman Dan Stevenson (who has never played a game in the NFL) filed a grievance with the league after he was hurt doing full contact blocking drills during a Houston mini-camp last spring. Such drills are prohibited during spring practice by the NFL's collective bargaining agreement. He was one of three Texans players to suffer season-ending injuries in those drills last year.

Everyone seems to say—not surprisingly—that this sort of things goes on all time. Chris Mortensen (I know) and Mark Schlereth (I believe) actually seemed to defend the practice on ESPN Radio, saying that coaches routinely ask players to participate in full-speed, full-contact drills and that "technically" it is a violation—but that if they didn't do it, even more players would get hurt when training camp opens. ("You need me on that wall," etc.) In other words ... suck it up, pussies.

So the union actually tries to protect its players—then everyone looks the other way in the name of "old school" toughness. Then as life spans are shortened and debilitating injuries mount, they all look around with shrugged shoulders and ask who could have let this happen.

Although, I'm still confused... are the Texans 8-8 because their coaches get players hurt in meaningless off-season drills or are they 8-8 because their players are whiny bitches?

Outside The Lines: Illegal Contact [ESPN]
Commentary: Texans' risk outweighs any reward [Houston Chronicle]
Breaking News: Texans Cheat, Still Suck [4th and 50]

Let's be honest. There is only one reason that we pay grown men millions of dollars a year to play children's games for our amusement—the opportunity to see gruesome, life-changing injuries. I'm not talking about Tiger's wittle scwapped knee or even people who lie about motorcycle accidents. We're talking about leg removals. Throat slashings. Ball crushings. Even off-the-field beat downs and illicit shootings will count if I find them sufficiently amusing. So here they are: The scariest, funniest, bone-bendiest mishaps of 2008. (I'm sure you'll let me know if I forgot any.)

*******

• DeAndre Brown did not know legs could bend like that.

• Martin St. Louis just wanted a little off the top.

• Richard Zednik, on the other hand, will think twice before asking for the "Columbian necktie."

• Derrick Rose does not have serious knife skills.

• Joe Sackic needs a new snowblower.

• Javon Walker should know better than to be in this part of town.

• Clint Malarchuk should probably just be in protective custody at this point.

• Oh, right. That guy.

• Three words you never want to hear come out of your doctor's mouth: "Testicle recalibration surgery."

• Chris Snyder probably concurs.

• Thank goodness we have a civilized sport like MMA to put a stop to this madness.

• Even mascots are not immune to the threat of decapitation.

• "We can probably leave this cart here behind the endzone, right? I'm sure it won't be in the way."

• And the most gut-wrenching, queas-inducing, heart shuddering leg break of them all—Corey Hill's Mr. Fantastic impersonation.

Ouch.

Martin St. Louis was going after a loose puck just after a face off, late in the Tampa Bay game at Ottawa on Saturday. The linesman who dropped the puck did a little ill-advised pirouette to get out of the way of the scrum, just as St. Louis went head first into the action. The skate clipped him in the forehead opening up a gash that required eight stitches—although I suppose that's preferable to some of the other possible outcomes, like blindness or decapitation.

Here's a link to another angle in a very large (file size) animated GIF. By the way, it's surprisingly difficult to find footage (or even a picture) of a guy getting his head cut open by a hockey skate. It barely got a mention in the game recap. I don't know what's wrong with this world sometimes.

St. Louis gets a skate to the face [Hockey Herald]
Senators 2, Lightning 0 [NHL.com]

Derrick Rose isn't practicing Monday after needing 10 stitches to close a gash in his arm. The Bulls said Rose suffered the injury when he rolled over onto a knife he was using to carve an apple while in bed.

Rose shouldn't miss any time, but that has to go pretty high up on the exalted list of bizarro athlete injuries. Maybe not as bad as throwing out your back while putting on socks, but it's close.

Rose injured. You gotta hear how. [Chicago Tribune]