I witnessed something horrible tonight.

[King of Mars]

I took one of the handicapped guys I work with to a basketball game at the local high school. During the game, a player on the opposing team went up for a lay up, came down awkwardly, and broke his ankle. I'm talking a Jason Kendall-esque, going-in-a-direction-it's not supposed to type break. Nasty stuff. However, the worst part wasn't the actual break. I was standing a good distance away when it happened (the opposite end of the court, actually) and only caught a glimpse of it before people surrounded him to provide care. The worst part was seeing the kid lying there, writhing in agony. He took it like a fuckin' man, though. No crying, no screaming (would have sounded awful 'cause the place got quiet as a library). Clearly, he was making a valiant effort to keep it together in front of everyone. If that shit happened to me, I would have been howling like Tara Reid at Mardi Gras. He's a hardcore kid, no doubt. Sucks to see that kind of thing happen.

[dasNdanger]

I took one of the handicapped guys I work with to a basketball game at the local high school. During the game, a player on the opposing team went up for a lay up, came down awkwardly, and broke his ankle. I'm talking a Jason Kendall-esque, going-in-a-direction-it's not supposed to type break. Nasty stuff. However, the worst part wasn't the actual break. I was standing a good distance away when it happened (the opposite end of the court, actually) and only caught a glimpse of it before people surrounded him to provide care. The worst part was seeing the kid lying there, writhing in agony. He took it like a fuckin' man, though. No crying, no screaming (would have sounded awful 'cause the place got quiet as a library). Clearly, he was making a valiant effort to keep it together in front of everyone. If that shit happened to me, I would have been howling like Tara Reid at Mardi Gras. He's a hardcore kid, no doubt. Sucks to see that kind of thing happen.

Wow...that's horrible. Sometimes when we see someone in pain like that, we 'feel' it worse than they do. What I mean is that they feel the agonizing physical pain, but we feel like we've been kicked in the gut - and while their pain eventually goes away, sometimes we just can't shake the way we felt when we saw it happen, it just sticks with us.

Not sure that makes any sense...

But shame about the kid. :( I hope he heals up well.


das

[Ben]

You need a better ending to this story. You set up the whole "handicapped guy" thing at the beginning, but never pay it off. Maybe the handicapped guy says, "Eh, it doesn't hurt that bad" or something that reveals his own experience with a similar injury.

[NathanDetroit]

You need a better ending to this story. You set up the whole "handicapped guy" thing at the beginning, but never pay it off. Maybe the handicapped guy says, "Eh, it doesn't hurt that bad" or something that reveals his own experience with a similar injury.

yep.

i'm left wondering why you bothered to mention the handicapped friend to begin with.

[Jason California]

That was pretty funny Ben.

[WinterRose]

I remember driving near UNCC one day down in Charlotte NC. It's a 45MPH zone that's peppered with stoplights, and something of a major artery to the outlying suburbs and places in the neighboring county where a lot of yuppie subdivision boom was going on. So naturally, come rush hour, there's a lot of insane firing through at ridiculous speeds to try and get through the lights while they're green.

I'm headed back home, and we come to the intersection where people come out of the main entrance to UNCC. A busy crosswalk, as well as a main exit point for a lot of cars. Well, about 10 car lengths ahead of me, as I'm slowing for a yellow, I see a car gun it and take it up to about 55 when the light goes red. A car comes out of the UNCC entrance, clearly not looking. Hey, HIS light is green, right? So he's not expecting it with the car that was gunning it t-bones him at a minimum of 50.

I can see it happen from my vantage point. Both cars catch a little air and spin 180 degrees without flipping as I come to the intersection. There's a fair bit of smoke happening, and all that glass about on the pavement. And yeah. There's that feeling that was described earlier in the thread. I felt as though I just got kicked in the head when I saw it happen. More to the point, I got a sick cramp in my stomach when one of the pedestrians ran to the car that got creamed to see what was going on, then took off at a flat out, "OH SHIT!!" run after looking in. Presumably to get help. Someone was FUCKED up.

To my own discredit, or credit, depending on how you feel about such things, I came to the conclusion that my stopping wasn't going to help anyone. There were plenty of witnesses on foot. And I was in the far lane away from it. I went on home when the light turned green. I carry it with me though. I feel like I saw something that changed more than a few people's lives pretty damn significantly.

[King of Mars]

yep.

i'm left wondering why you bothered to mention the handicapped friend to begin with.I wouldn't have been there to witness the ankle break if he hadn't wanted to see the game. Is that a pertinent detail? Maybe not...but, for some reason, I thought to include it.

[dasNdanger]

I wouldn't have been there to witness the ankle break if he hadn't wanted to see the game. Is that a pertinent detail? Maybe not...but, for some reason, I thought to include it.


I think they were just expecting a Keith P story. ;)

das

[King of Mars]

I think they were just expecting a Keith P story. ;)

dasI haven't got his storytelling acumen. Also...my story is true. :)

[MajesticMagesty]

Shit, that's horrible. I know for a fact that I would have been howling louder than a hungry wolf. Kudos to the kid for taking it like a trooper, hope he heals quickly.

[jugglersdespair]

Oh, man...I remember Jason Kendall's injury. If it's anything like that I really, really feel for that kid.

When I was about 13 or 14 I was at some summer bible camp. One particular day the staff was having some sort of game day event thing. One of these "games" involved a number of people holding hands until there was a "line" of maybe 10 or so people.(think Hands Across America if you're old enough to remember). The "leader" of this line would then start down running and zig zagging down the hill. Usually the group would start busting up pretty quickly and everyone walked away laughing. One particular line made it quite a way down the hill and they didn't start breaking apart until near the bottom. Unfortunately the camp fire area, surrounded by a semi-circle of logs somewhat crudely fashioned into benches, was down there as well. I'll never forget standing at the top of the hill with my best friend seeing one of the campers, maybe 2 or 3 years older than myself, leap one log...than another...and than catch his foot and disappear from view. The counselors near there rushed over to him but my friend and I were able to walk down the hill and see what happened before we were told to get the fuck out of there. His right forearm was bent in ways no forearm should ever be bent. To the point that it had two more angles than any healthy forearm should have.

I went to that camp one more time the next summer. During one of the gatherings one of the counselors mentioned him. They said that he'd had several surgeries to correct the damage (it's been a while but 14 if remember correctly). I have no idea if he was able to recover fully or not from that. Hopefully he did. But I can't imagine I'll ever forget it.

[Armored Dildo]

I think they were just expecting a Keith P story. ;)

das

I was hoping the injured athlete got tipped 50%

[Garth]

Shit, that's horrible. I know for a fact that I would have been howling louder than a hungry wolf. Kudos to the kid for taking it like a trooper, hope he heals quickly.

But would you be howling as loud as your mom does when she is having sex? Inter-thread continuity points!

[dasNdanger]

I was hoping the injured athlete got tipped 50%


:lol: (But only if he was serving beer and hotdogs at the time!)


das

[schizorabbit]

You need a better ending to this story. You set up the whole "handicapped guy" thing at the beginning, but never pay it off. Maybe the handicapped guy says, "Eh, it doesn't hurt that bad" or something that reveals his own experience with a similar injury.

I took one of the handicapped guys I work with to a basketball game at the local high school. During the game, a player on the opposing team went up for a lay up, came down awkwardly, and broke his ankle. I'm talking a Jason Kendall-esque, going-in-a-direction-it's not supposed to type break. Nasty stuff. However, the worst part wasn't the actual break. I was standing a good distance away when it happened (the opposite end of the court, actually) and only caught a glimpse of it before people surrounded him to provide care. At that moment, my handicapped coworker, who had been wheelchair-bound since he was 5 due to a freak grand piano accident (insert picture of movers trying to hoist a grand piano into the air while a 5 year old is obliviously lying under it by a bunch of crayons, lost in in his coloring book), miraculously stood up from his wheelchair. After looking down at his suddenly good legs, speechless, eyes widened, he screamed at the top of his lungs, "OHMYGAWD, I CAN STAND!!!!!" Took two steps and further screamed, "OHMYGAWD, I CAN WALK!!!!" The universe is a funny place sometimes: one man falls, and another man rises. A cosmic balance.

[Armored Dildo]

I took one of the handicapped guys I work with to a basketball game at the local high school. During the game, a player on the opposing team went up for a lay up, came down awkwardly, and broke his ankle. I'm talking a Jason Kendall-esque, going-in-a-direction-it's not supposed to type break. Nasty stuff. However, the worst part wasn't the actual break. I was standing a good distance away when it happened (the opposite end of the court, actually) and only caught a glimpse of it before people surrounded him to provide care. At that moment, my handicapped coworker, who had been wheelchair-bound since he was 5 due to a freak grand piano accident (insert picture of movers trying to hoist a grand piano into the air while a 5 year old is obliviously lying under it by a bunch of cryons, lost in in his coloring book), miraculously stood up from his wheelchair. After looking down at his suddenly good legs, speechless, eyes widened, he screamed at the top of his lungs, "OHMYGAWD, I CAN STAND!!!!!" Took two steps and further screamed, "OHMYGAWD, I CAN WALK!!!!" The universe is a funny place sometimes: one man falls, and another man rises. A cosmic balance.

Dude, don't make fun of John Locke. He'll throw a hunting knife through your chest.

[schizorabbit]

Dude, don't make fun of John Locke. He'll throw a hunting knife through your chest.

Holy shit, King of Mars works with John Locke????

Awesome.

[Ultimate Lurker]

Two things I've witnessed.

One was a basketball game. Senior on our team was a really good player, but broke his collarbone just before the start of the season. It had healed and he was cleared to play. His second game back, he's going down the court, falls and lands on his hand. He stands up and holds his hand up, yelling. We all almost vomit. His pinky finger is now at a complete 90 degree angle and twisted halfway around. He was out the rest of the season, unfortunately.

The other time was a rollerblading video I had. Very end after the credits, shows a quick clip of a guy grinding down a rail attached to a concrete wall. His one foot slips off and goes between the rail and the wall briefly. He hits the ground and rolls over yelling, and his one foot is pointing the completely opposite direction.

[Steve Epting]

Okay here's mine:

I was driving into town on the interstate one afternoon. Quick set-up - there were 5 inbound lanes at the time. As you approach the city, the interstate becomes a bridge for about a mile over the river, then the 3 left lanes go straight into town and the 2 right ones become an exit ramp and veer off to the right.

It was about 2 in the afternoon so traffic was light. I was in the far right lane on the bridge and was vaguely aware of a car pretty far in front of me. Suddenly I realized I was closing the gap very quickly, and that the car was actually stopped on the bridge (in the lane, since there was no emergency lane) with it's hood up. I moved over and zoomed past thinking what could have happened had I not been paying attention.

After I passed the car I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw that there was actually a guy standing in front of the car poking around under the hood. There was also a car coming up in the lane behind him at 60mph or so, just like I had been.

I watched in horror as this car plowed into the disabled one full speed. I saw the guy go flying up into the hood for a split second, but had to return my eyes to the road since I was veering off onto the exit ramp. I can still see that moment clear as a bell in my mind. It was horrible watching it, knowing what was about to happen and unable to do anything about it. When I got off the ramp, I saw a police car on the road a couple of lanes over. I was trying to get his attention when I saw another driver exit his car and run to the cop waving and pointing back toward the interstate. The cop immediately did a U-turn and headed back toward the accident scene.

I was pretty shook up for the rest of the day. I looked in the paper and watched the news looking for any reports of the accident, but never saw anything. I guess that means the dude didn't die, but I've always wondered.

[Jef UK]

I bet he was crying later. When I broke my wrist, I didn't feel it for a couple more hours. Endorphins!

[Jef UK]

You need a better ending to this story. You set up the whole "handicapped guy" thing at the beginning, but never pay it off. Maybe the handicapped guy says, "Eh, it doesn't hurt that bad" or something that reveals his own experience with a similar injury.

Ben's rule of drama: if you leave a handicapped guy on the mantle in act 1, he better explode in act 3.