BananaCat
03-11-2008, 05:39 PM
Great story. I'm glad she came away from it with a good attitude. That's why I always sit in the second row when I bring my daughter though...too risky.
I saw a kid knocked out at an Evansville Bluecat game two years ago. He got a gameball for his pain, but it probably took him awhile before he appreciated it.
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/mar/10/stampede-gm-lives-to-tell-about-taking-a-hard/
Stampede GM lives to tell about taking a hard hit
Monday, March 10, 2008
All she wants for Christmas is her three front teeth.
San Angelo Stampede Express general manager Bridget Jones can laugh about it now, but it sure wasn't very funny when it happened. In the Intense Football League season opener March 1, the Stampede lost 63-44 to the Frisco Thunder at the Dr Pepper Star Center. And none of the players on the field took as hard of a hit as Jones did. She was sitting on the front row with her mother, Stampede co-owner Darlene Jones, when all hell broke loose. To the best of Jones' recollection, here's what happened:
"I truly don't remember the play and how it occurred," Jones said. "It looked like (the Thunder was) going to fumble and we picked (the ball) up, and our guy was going to run it back, or something of that nature. They pushed our guy into the dasher pad right in front of me. And I saw that happen, which was fine. "But then the Frisco guy put a late hit on our guy and it was literally like a split second after the whistle blew. The momentum just carried him on through, and when he put the late hit on our guy, it basically flew his head into my head."
At San Angelo Coliseum, where the Stampede play their home games, the corporate, lower-level seating has an arena wall at about knee level. Frisco's arena wall comes up more to the spectators' shoulders, so the audience is literally head height at the arena. Jones doesn't remember much about what happened right after the head-on collision, but her family and friends filled her in on the details.
"It was pretty painful," Jones said. "They said that I spit my teeth into my hand, handed them to my mom, and then my eyes apparently rolled back in my head and I went limp. The trainer said my eyes also rolled back and bounced side to side. But they don't think that I completely went unconscious because I remember my mom talking to me, saying, 'I'm right here, stay with me.' I remember her voice more than I remember the words. "The only other thing I really remember is hearing a bunch of applause and being on a stretcher carried out of the arena."
Jones acknowledges her accident was an isolated incident, but she'll be even more cautious the rest of the season. "When I'm on the road, I try to pay pretty close attention because I know what can happen," Jones said. "It just all happened so quickly." Ironically, Jones and her mother were telling some parents in Frisco to keep their children from leaning over into the field a few minutes before her head knocker occurred. "I would caution parents to keep their kids from leaning into the playing field, because had I been leaning forward it probably would've really done some major damage to my face, because I was sitting back in my seat."
Jones is not going to stay away from the action. She's tougher than that.
"That's kind of how I was raised," the Angelo State University graduate said. "I was raised on a farm. You don't have much of a choice. I'm a firm believer that when you get bucked off a horse, you get back on, so it didn't bother me."
I saw a kid knocked out at an Evansville Bluecat game two years ago. He got a gameball for his pain, but it probably took him awhile before he appreciated it.
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/mar/10/stampede-gm-lives-to-tell-about-taking-a-hard/
Stampede GM lives to tell about taking a hard hit
Monday, March 10, 2008
All she wants for Christmas is her three front teeth.
San Angelo Stampede Express general manager Bridget Jones can laugh about it now, but it sure wasn't very funny when it happened. In the Intense Football League season opener March 1, the Stampede lost 63-44 to the Frisco Thunder at the Dr Pepper Star Center. And none of the players on the field took as hard of a hit as Jones did. She was sitting on the front row with her mother, Stampede co-owner Darlene Jones, when all hell broke loose. To the best of Jones' recollection, here's what happened:
"I truly don't remember the play and how it occurred," Jones said. "It looked like (the Thunder was) going to fumble and we picked (the ball) up, and our guy was going to run it back, or something of that nature. They pushed our guy into the dasher pad right in front of me. And I saw that happen, which was fine. "But then the Frisco guy put a late hit on our guy and it was literally like a split second after the whistle blew. The momentum just carried him on through, and when he put the late hit on our guy, it basically flew his head into my head."
At San Angelo Coliseum, where the Stampede play their home games, the corporate, lower-level seating has an arena wall at about knee level. Frisco's arena wall comes up more to the spectators' shoulders, so the audience is literally head height at the arena. Jones doesn't remember much about what happened right after the head-on collision, but her family and friends filled her in on the details.
"It was pretty painful," Jones said. "They said that I spit my teeth into my hand, handed them to my mom, and then my eyes apparently rolled back in my head and I went limp. The trainer said my eyes also rolled back and bounced side to side. But they don't think that I completely went unconscious because I remember my mom talking to me, saying, 'I'm right here, stay with me.' I remember her voice more than I remember the words. "The only other thing I really remember is hearing a bunch of applause and being on a stretcher carried out of the arena."
Jones acknowledges her accident was an isolated incident, but she'll be even more cautious the rest of the season. "When I'm on the road, I try to pay pretty close attention because I know what can happen," Jones said. "It just all happened so quickly." Ironically, Jones and her mother were telling some parents in Frisco to keep their children from leaning over into the field a few minutes before her head knocker occurred. "I would caution parents to keep their kids from leaning into the playing field, because had I been leaning forward it probably would've really done some major damage to my face, because I was sitting back in my seat."
Jones is not going to stay away from the action. She's tougher than that.
"That's kind of how I was raised," the Angelo State University graduate said. "I was raised on a farm. You don't have much of a choice. I'm a firm believer that when you get bucked off a horse, you get back on, so it didn't bother me."