Five sports injuries during ill-advised celebrations

Chicago Bears defensive end Lamarr Houston earned considerable social media ridicule Sunday when, with his team trailing New England 48-23 in the fourth quarter, he celebrated a sack of Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and suffered an injury to his right knee while doing so.

Houston was to have an MRI on Monday and, according to an ESPN report, the Bears fear his season may be over.

“I probably shouldn’t have celebrated while they were blowing us out,” Houston told the Chicago Sun-Times, “but it happens.”

Houston is not the first athlete to hurt himself during an ill-advised celebration on the field. Here are some others:

Thomas Levet (2011)

It’s understandable that Levet, a regular on golf’s European Tour since 1988, would be ecstatic about winning the Alstom French Open in his home country after a two-year winless drought. But it was his misguided celebration afterward that earns him a spot on this list.

After sinking his final putt on the 18th green, Levet and his manager, Patrice Barquez, jumped into the lake fronting the green. Levet ended up with a broken leg. He later told PGA.com his adrenaline was so high that the seriousness of the injury was not immediately apparent.

“There will be somebody doing it again,” he told Press Association Sport. “But not me. I can’t jump any more.”

Kendrys Morales (2010)

Admittedly, the moment was dramatic. Morales hit a game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Anaheim Angels a 5-1 win over the Seattle Mariners in May 2010.

But Morales didn’t walk off the field with the rest of his teammates. When he jumped on home plate after rounding the bases, he slipped and broke his ankle. He would miss the rest of the 2010 season and all of 2011.

Derek Lee (2009)

The former All-Star first baseman wasn’t entirely to blame for a freak celebration injury in 2009. In September against the San Francisco Giants, Lee homered in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game.

Amid the customary high-fives in the dugout, teammate Angel Guzman slapped Lee’s helmet, leaving him with neck spasms and causing him to miss the rest of that game and the next.

Bill Gramatica (2001)

Then a rookie kicker with the Arizona Cardinals, Gramatica booted a 43-yard field goal to put his team up 3-0 in the first quarter of a game against the New York Giants. To say Gramatica was exuberant would be an understatement. He jumped high in the air and landed awkwardly on his right leg, tearing his anterior cruciate ligament. He would miss the rest of the season.

Gus Frerotte (1997)

Frerotte’s mostly nondescript NFL career may be best remembered for one game with the Washington Redskins in November 1997. In the second quarter, with the score tied 7-7 against the division rival New York Giants, Frerotte scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to give his team the lead.

Frerotte kept running through the end zone and spiked the ball against a padded wall before head-butting it and heading back to the bench, clearly in pain. He ended up being taken to a nearby hospital at halftime and missed the rest of the game with a sprained neck.