Professional athletes hurt themselves in a lot of bizarre ways. Like when pitcher John Smoltz scalded himself while ironing a shirt - while he was wearing it.
But a hockey player sat out a game this week may take the cake, the pancake that is.
Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Penner suffered back spasms while taking a bite of "delicious pancakes." Of course Penner has been the joke of the NHL, even earning a Twitter hashtag: #pennercakes.
Penner wrote a letter about what happened, which was printed in Kings blog Mayors Manor.
"They were vegetarian pancakes," Penner wrote. "The injury happened as I was sitting down to eat, not mid-bite. And yes. I did finish them."
Penner seems to be taking it all in stride. He's actually going to sponsor a 'Pancakes with Penner' charity fundraiser.
Guess in this case, the flapjacks are off the hook.
2 comments:
Awesome. I flipped over to a game just after that incident and his hometown fans were giving him some flack. I like that he's cool about it.
On a somewhat related note, what do you think about the NHL's supposed "lack of superstars" problem? We've talked about this a bit, but I think the NHL is the perfect example of what happens to sports when ESPN shuns you. No ESPN, no nonstop coverage or hero worship. There are plenty of solid athletes that carry teams out there. They might be young and unproven, but if ESPN were covering the NHL like they do the SEC, we'd have a half dozen "superstars" to talk about. Do you agree?
I think the NHL has a unique set of problems, which certainly are NOT helped by the fact that ESPN barely recognizes the sport exists. The knock that Michael Farber gave on SI.com, there are "No fabulous players. No fabulous teams." I agree there are no fabulous team. In the post-NHL lockout era, the organization is much more important than the team (similar to the NFL). As a fan I like that, knowing my team has a shot. I guess you could say the 10 years prior to the lockdown had "fabulous" teams. The Red Wings and Devils won three cups a piece, the Colorado Avalanche won two, but it was boring if you didn't have a horse in the race.
But I disagree there are no "fabulous" players. The NHL is suffering from the fact its two biggest names are not playing (Sidney Crosby) and not playing well (Alex Ovechkin). There are other great players, having great seasons like Malkin, Toews, Hossa, the Sedin twins, Datsyuk, and Stamoks, just to name a few off the top of my head. Hockey is a niche league, but I agree if it were covered like ESPN hypes the "greatness" of the SEC, we'd be talking about the "fabulous" seasons those players are having.
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