Most gruesome sports injuries?

In some still photos of the Zanardi wreck, you can see very clearly large chunks of "meat" -- for lack of a better term -- flying through the air. It's grade-A disgusting.

 

He could still petition for a sixth year...

 

Just watched it for the first time in a while. I still think Malarchuk's was worse.

 

I voted other for Jason Kendall's ankle.

 

I probably misread a website I looked at, as I thought I read McCallum's injury happening in 2003 or 2004.

 

He could, but it looks pretty bad:

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- For new Alabama coach Nick Saban, it was time to be realistic about injured Crimson Tide receiver and kick returner Tyrone Prothro.

Best known for a spectacular catch against Southern Mississippi in 2005 that became an instant favorite of fans, Prothro's playing days are officially over at 'Bama because of another play few will ever forget -- a horrible fracture of his left leg against Florida three games later.

Prothro was among four Crimson Tide players announced to have been placed on medical hardship Thursday as Saban brought in his first freshman class at Alabama. Each will still receive athletic financial aid, but none will play and they won't count against the 85-man scholarship limit.

Prothro has had at least three operations on the injured leg, the latest in March, and he was still attempting a comeback. But Saban said there was no way the one-time All-Southeastern Conference selection could play again in college.

"It's a permanent situation. There is an appeal process that a player could go through, but our medical staff would not put a guy on this if they though that a guy would be able to come back and play," Saban said. "We could not put him on to give everyone false hope that the guy's going to come back when there's really no chance to come back, or you can be realistic as I always say."

 

One that because there was no ESPN back then is a less known but was no less gruesome.

Mid-70s, a defensive lineman for the University of Wisconsin goes down in a pile-up. As players clear away, Collins is writhing on the ground in pain. Upn closer look, his foot is turned around on his ankle by about 115 degrees and pointing almost completely the wrong way. Players have to stand around him to keep fans in the stands from seeing it.

I saw it on the 10 o'clock news and almost upchucked the root beer float I'd just finished.

 

It's funny. I can watch gruesome horror movies, observe a triple-bypass, even listen to John Ashcroft sing, but human appendages bending in ways they are not supposed to is the one thing that absolutely freaks me out.

As a result, McCallum is No. 1 in my book. I've had that play on tape since 1994 and cannot bring myself to watch it again. Alou, Krumrie and Prothro are right up there too. Theismann's was not as brutal, it seems, because I remember (and my memory could be hazy) LT being in the way and obstructing the view of the leg snapping.

 

I should've put Krumrie in the poll. The SI picture the next week, showing him in the air with his face toward the ground and the tip of of his toes pointing toward his head, has always stuck with me.
And I remember the Kendall pictures the AP moved. You could actually see the bone sticking out of his ankle. He and McCallum were ones I should've put in there. But noooo. I had to go "old school" with Herb Score's dangly eyeball and obscure with the slamball guy almost getting his leg chopped off when he landed between the trampoline and the floormat.
Oh well. Live and learn. Or live and learn how to post more options on the poll :

 

Finally had the time to find the McCallum disaster on YouTube..... Yep... as bad as I remember. Clearly (with possible exception to the Malarchuk neck slice), the most gruesome-looking injury I have ever seen.

This poll missed the mark.

NSFTQ

 

I think Alou's leg injury was pretty nasty, too.

 

I literally turned my head just before the break and clicked the red X ... I could not watch. Makes my leg hurt thinking about what was just about to happen.