Hi! I'm Akilah. And if you click on my little nosy you can check out my channel Smoothiefreak. This is Mental Floss on Youtube.
Did you know that the Sacramento Kings' small forward Lionel Simmons missed two games at his 1991 rookie season. It turns out Simmons had tendinitis in his right wrist and forearm from playing too much Gameboy. And that's just the first of many of the weirdest sports injuries I'm going to tell you about today.
Hall of fame offensive tackle Turk Edwards suffered a career-ending injury in 1940 during the coin-toss. As he was returning to the Washington Redskins bench his cleats caught in the turf and his fragile knee was wrecked and he was forced into retirement.
In 1994 baseball pitcher Steve Sparks missed out on a chance to make his first Big League roster when he dislocated his shoulder during spring training with the Milwaukee Brewers. What happened: he tried to rip a phone book in half while imitating a motivational speaker who had visited the team. But to be fair that's technically not his fault unless they said "don't try this at home".
So I'm gonna use both words so that no one could yell at me. Soccer/Football player Sascha Bender once suffered a facial injury after being punched. His assailant was actually one of his teammates on the Germany Stuttgart Kickers Christian Okpala. As to why Okpala claimed that Bender "permanently provoked me by farting all the time".
NHL Glenn Healy had an interesting hobby: playing the bagpipes. Healy was playing for the Maple Leafs in 2000 when he needed stitches after injuring himself while repairing an antique set of pipes.
In 2013 Detroit Lions wide receiver Nate Burleson broke his arm in a car crash. According to ESPN Burleson tried to adjust one of the pizza boxes falling of a seat in his black 2009 GMC Yukon. #WorthIt
Baseball player Ken Griffey Junior missed on game in 2006 when his protective cup slipped and pinched a testicle, which I imagine made for an awkward locker room chat.
Speaking of locker rooms in 2003 Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio put a stump and axe in the locker room. The team was 3-0 and Del Rio wanted a physical reminder of his motivational saying "Keep chopping wood". The players were encouraged to chop up the stump but when punter Chris Hanson tried it he ended up with a huge gash in his right leg. Coach Del Rio later said: "I'll find another slogan." 
This one might be too good to be true but it's a legend worth sharing. Red Sox rookie pitcher Clarence Blethen thought he looked more intimidating while pitching without his false teeth. So he'd keep them in his back pocket. But apparently during a game in 1923 he forgot to put them back in his mouth while he batted. So when Blethen slid into second his own teeth bit him through his back pocket and he was removed from the game for excessive bleeding. I guess you can say that strategy bit him in the ass.
In the 1917s Norwegian football player Svein Grøndalen went for a jog before an international match and ran directly into a sleeping moose. It turns out that moose don't like to be awoken so it charged at him. Grøndalen saved his own life by diving down a hill but the resulting leg injury forced him to withdraw from the match. Side note: why isn't the plural of moose meese?
Speaking of wild animals a coyote bit the left hand of baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan in 1985. 
Another baseball player Wade Boggs was out for a week after straining his back while trying to pull on his cowboy boots. Suffer for fashion, man, it's fine. Atlanta Braves first baseman Ryan Klesko missed several games in 1999 after straining his back while picking up his lunch tray which makes me wonder, what could have possibly been on that lunch tray?
Another Braves player, pitcher Tom Glavine got pretty bad food poisoning during the 1992 season. In fact, he broke a rib while vomiting.
John Smoltz, yet another baseball pitcher supposedly burned himself while trying to iron the shirt that he was wearing. Smoltz actually denies this story. In 1996 he told the sporting news "That got created six years ago, and it never left me. Ironing my shirt while it was on - that's the moth absurd thing. It was made up. But it got on Arsenio Hall, CNN, everywhere."
As for a  real iron injury, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brian Anderson burned his face in 1998 by touching it to a hot iron to test the temperature.
In mid 1970s Chicago Cubs outfielder Jose Cardenal missed a game when his eyelid was stuck open preventing him from blinking. Meredith, is that real?
Going back earlier in his career, Cardenal once missed a game because crickets in his hotel room had kept him up all night. And that's why we have Yelp now.
In 2002 Baltimore Orioles left fielder Marty Cordova got a severe sunburn on his face after he fell asleep in a tanning bed. His doctor told him to avoid sunlight so Cordova hid in the clubhouse during day games until his face healed. Which begs the question why didn't he just play baseball at the day games if he wanted a tan?
In the mid 1980s pitcher Jamie Easterly injured himself while he was doing a drill at home that involved a backwards running. He stepped in a gopher hole and hurt his back. 
When Indians pitcher Ernie Camacho was signing autographs for charity one spring he had to stop after signing after a hundred or so. He developed a pain in his pitching elbow. Look at all these pitching elbows!
Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster fractured his right big toe while trying to jump the dugout railing to celebrate a victory.
In the same vein, Arizona Cardinals kicker Martin Gramatica tore his ACL from jumping up and down in celebration after he made a field goal. But weirdly it was the first quarter of the game, making the goal only brought the score from 3-0.
Another celebration gone wrong happened in 1997 when Redskins quarterback Gus Frerotte headbutted the wall of the end zone. At least this was an actual touchdown celebration though. Still, he had to go to the hospital at halftime for his neck injury and he missed the rest of the game. 
Chicago Cubs Bret Barberie missed a game in 1993 for having capsaicin in his eyes which is why you always wash your hands after using chili peppers and hot sauce to make nachos!
Joel Zumaya wasn't able to pitch for the Tigers during the 2006 American League Championship Series after too much Guitar Hero gave him right wrist inflammation.
In 1994 the New York Times reported that Charles Barkley "inadvertently burned his corneas when he rubbed body lotion into his eyes during an Eric Clapton concert and will miss the Phoenix Suns' season opener Friday night."
Oakland Athletics outfielder Michael Taylor got a pinky injury while trying to throw away gum. He's 6 foot 5 so when he tried to toss the gum away his hand hit the light of the dugout leading to two large cuts on his finger.
Basketball player Derrick Rose needed 10 stitches in his arm after attempting to cut an apple in bed.
And finally, I return to the salon to tell you that Francisco Liriano broke his arm while trying to knock on a door. He was just trying to playfully startle his kids on Christmas.
Thanks for watching Mental Floss on Youtube which is made with the help of all of these nice people. Every week we endeavor to answer one of your mind-blowing questions. This weeks question comes from Dustin Chidester, who asks: "Have they ever found a dinosaur with a deformity like two heads or something?" Yes, Dustin, they have found fossils revealing deformities in dinosaurs. Nothing like two heads but scientists have found evidence of abscesses, amputations and even gout. In the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota they found a hadrosaur with two vertebrate feuds together. If you have a mind-blowing question you'd like answered leave it below in the comments and we'll try to answer it. Thanks again for watching and don't forget to be awesome!