Never Let A Javelin Ruin Your Day

NASCAR and the javelin throw have something very important in common: people are mostly watching to see something go terribly, terribly wrong in a non-fatal way.

Enter Ryan McGeeney, a budding journalist and photographer shooting from the sidelines of a track meet in Utah. Or let us rephrase: he thought he was standing on the sidelines. McGeeney was actually standing on the field of competition and attempting to shoot photos of the discus competition.

Neat fact! If you stand in the field of play at a track and field competition, you might learn the awesome new trick of catching a javelin.

"It basically came from about my seven o'clock or eight o'clock," he said. Right before it hit, the official started to say 'Look out! Look out!' and I started to look over to the javelin right when it went through. There was the kind of tight feeling in the skin where I could say, 'oh yeah, it went through me,' but it wasn't real painful."

Astonishingly, the javelin missed all tendons, bones, and arteries in McGeeney's leg, lodging through the skin like the world's most extreme but benign piercing. McGeeney got a good patching up at a local hospital, but not before calling a co-worker over and snapping photos of the damage himself as a Marine who served a tour of duty in Afghanistan would.

("They don't have javelins in Afghanistan. That's where I'm lucky," said McGeeney.")

McGeeney may also now claim a unique title: someone who did not allow a javelin hitting him to interrupt his work day.

(H/T: Poynter)

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.