USC's Stafon Johnson seriously injured

Can't believe there hasn't been a thread about this. Stafon Johnson, the USC running back, dropped a weight on his throat while lifting, and was still in surgery well after the injury. Apparently, he's in critical but stable condition.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/09/usc-stafon-johnson-weightlifting-accident.html

Luckily, USC has about 20 running backs, but this just makes my head hurt.

 

It's on the Week 5 college football thread, posted about 7 hours before this one.

 

Damn...fail

 

Definitely deserves its own thread ... can't believe the AP story had a quote from a strength and conditioning coach who, after noting that another coach was spotting Johnson, noted, "It's a good thing we had someone spotting him."

Really? That coach should be out on his ass (if there even was one spotting him, which I'm beginning to doubt). He sure as shit didn't do his job as a spotter if it crushed Johnson's larynx and he had to undergo hours of surgery.

 

Look don't beat yourself up but learn from this.

When starting breaking news threads always use a spotter.

 

Not to digress, but perfect example of why these massive running threads are ridiculous. I glanced at the board, couldn't believe there wasn't a thread on this subject. Who wants to dig through these all-in-one threads to find real stories? It's like a newspaper without headlines.

Sorry for the little rant. At least I didn't start a new thread about it.

 

Maybe it was a weight that the spotter knew Johnson could rep out easily and wasn't anticpating a problem? It doesn't exonerate the spotter, but if Johnson benches 270 for 8 or so reps regularly, you don't expect the weight to slip. And 270 pounds will fall quickly. You can't react in time unless you're right under the bar and expect it to happen. Just an unfortunate accident.

 

Freaking scary, I hope the kid is OK. I can't imagine how frightened I would be if that happened to me.

 

I would want to kill the spotter

 

This is why I don't lift weights.

 

Gee, there is a shock.....

And I'm not sure why coaches need to be fired here. It sounds like it was an accident, a freak accident, but an accident.

Why is it in this society today that when there is an accident, someone has to be sued and someone has to get fired?