Among the All-Time Disturbing?

As someone who hoped the Los Angeles Clippers would parlay last season's success and new found enthusiasm from a city charged by two theoretical basketball powers into a new era of competitiveness, this season's been nothing short of disappointing. A ridiculous, inexplicable letdown. But whether you're talking about...

A) The public (and waaaaayyyyy distracting) feud between Corey Maggette and Mike Dunleavy that was neither resolved with either increased minutes for the small forward or a trade. Between this situation and the general malaise underway, the "Dunleavy Contract II" era ain't off to a rousing start.

B) Chris Kaman is not only struggling through a injury-laden season, but he also cut his hair. Without the added benefit of laughs induced by his bizarrely hilarious Sasquatch look, "The Artist formerly known as "Caveman" now just comes off like an overpaid white dude. And overpaid white dudes, whether professional athletes, Wall Street employees or Ben Stiller, just aren't all that entertaining.

C) "Rescue Dawn," the Elton Brand-produced arthouse flick with serious award potential (strong festival buzz, a powerhouse Christian Bale performance) saw its release delayed, keeping it from qualifying for 2006's Oscar race. Besides the film losing out on the chance to capitalize on weak competition (I ain't mad at Marty Scorsese, but does anyone really think "The Departed" will be remembered as more than just a make up for "Raging Bull," "Goodfellas" and "Taxi Driver?"), the Clippers lost out on a great story ("Nice guy power forward nominated for a statue!") to distract the public from their weak year.

D) Sam Cassell - More "old" than "sage" this season.

E) Tim Thomas appearing as if his strong work with Phoenix during last year's playoffs was merely a perennial underachiever and former Bulls-exile playing for big bucks and contract security that will immediately de-motivate him, a scenario nobody* could see coming.

... 2006-2007 hadn't officially shifted from a series of revoltin' developments to straight up revolting until 3 minutes into Monday's game against the Bobcats. And by "revolting," I mean, "gross." The only reason I didn't throw up watching Shaun Livingston's knee do a 180 was because I hadn't eaten yet. That said, whole lotta dry heaving goin' on.

But once my stomach settled down to a dull roar, I began thinking about the point guard's injury with a more objective eye. Clearly, the damage was legit, even career-threatening (I wish Shaun all the best in his recovery). And one can make a solid argument that a leg turned backwards wouldn't strike most folks as "pleasant to the eye." But is it really all that nasty in the history of nasty sports injuries? There's only one way to find out, I guess. Compare it to some of the all time... er, "greats" and see if it feels as gruesome.

1985: I remember seeing this when I was 13 and freaking worse than LT. I also distinctly remember being happy that I only played defense and therefore was never the tacklee, just the tackler. As much as Theisman typically annoys me on MNF (and pulls off the "impressive in its own right" feat of rendering Tony Kornheiser unfunny due to his complete lack of spontaneity), I inevitably think back to that hit. And like a guy house training training an pee-flinging but adorable puppy, I just can't stay mad.

1994: Napoleon ain't feeling so dynamite. Then again, when one narrowly avoids amputation, it's not easy to think happy thoughts about ligers and what have you. Thankfully, McCallum managed to find a nice second act in life after his career was cut short.

2002: I live in L.A., so I couldn't go thirty seconds without seeing this clip. Even PBS seemed to be playing it 24/7 (which seemed odd to me, considering their frou-frou intellectual bent, but maybe it was sweeps week).

2003: Whatchu talking about, Willis? Pain. Severe pain.

2005: Wanna know what separates Carlos Beltran and Micket Rourke (aside from three All-Star bids and a gold glove)? Considering Rourke likely has a punch card at his plastic surgeon's office, there's no way the boxing legend would have skipped an offer for facial surgery after this collision.

I don't even know who many of these cats are (except for Clint Malarchuk, because that's a sight permanently seared into one's brain after one viewing), but I'm gonna do the proper research so I can retroactively send them some get-well cards. Certainly well earned on their parts. As for this series, it's all pretty gnarly, although I'm off the opinion that none of the injuries were as painful as the montage's background music.

Soccer. Definitely boring. But not always safe.

I couldn't find any video clips, but Ed McCaffery's leg and Jason Kendall's ankle quickly pop into my head as terrifying.

And finally, skateboarder Pierre Luc-Gagnon doesn't share the actual footage of him busting a knee cap on Tony Hawk's ramp, but the surgery footage is pretty freakin' gross, for those looking outside the box to pick a "winner." And the music's pretty maddening.

So what does everyone think? Does Livingston's knee best those listed above in terms of pure stomach flipping potential? Or as painful as the situation must have been, does it still fall a bit short when stacked against the truly repulsive? And obviously, there must be other injury horrors of significance that just are slipping my mind. If you think I'm missing a worthy candidate, let me know.

Again, the best to Livingston in his recovery.

AK

* - By "nobody," I actually mean "everybody except, apparently, Donald Sterling and Elgin Baylor.""