Athletes Who Destroyed Their Career On Live TV

The following article contains references to suicide.

If you can't be in the stands to root for your favorite sports team, there's always live television. You'll probably get a much better view of the action right from your couch. With television cameras getting every angle of the game, there have been way too many instances of these same cameras capturing athletes destroying their careers. Fans have watched several sports stars' careers end with these fatal mishaps. Live TV has shown NFL players ending up with brutal career-ending injuries, professional hockey players acting violently toward opposing players that resulted in suspensions, and even embarrassing plays that have forever haunted a particular player they couldn't even find another job! 

The top athletes on this list ruined their careers in a matter of seconds on live television. Some of these sports stars continue to be plagued by their actions on the field, in a boxing ring, or on the ice, which resulted in losing their careers for good, while others have tried to keep their devastating actions in the past. Tragically, one athlete on this list was killed for his mortifying play captured on television.

Patrik Stefan could have won the game for the Dallas Stars if not for an embarrassing miss towards an empty net that has haunted him for the rest of his life.

In a 2007 game against the Edmonton Oilers, in which the Stars were up 5-4 at the end of the third period, Stefan got control of the puck and raced toward an empty net. Instead of shooting the puck immediately, he skated up toward the net, but as he attempted to shoot it, it hit a divot in the ice, and Stefan missed the goal. As he fell onto the ice and tried to secure the puck, Oilers Ales Hemsky was able to take it from him and, in a matter of seconds, scored a goal, tying the game 5-5. Despite this, the Stars won in a shootout. According to ESPN, Stefan brushed off his crucial mishap: "They may show it a million times for years to come. I mean, we came out with the two points so it's easy to laugh about it right now."

Unfortunately for Stefan, the world continued to talk about his embarrassing miss on the ice. His career would suffer, too. He would play 13 more games with the Dallas Stars before his contract expired, and the team did not resign him. 

After playing for the New York Knicks and the Denver Nuggets for six years, Renaldo Balkman headed overseas, where he played for the Petron Blaze Boosters of the Philippine Basketball Association. That same year, he was banned from playing with the PBA for years after a blowup on the court.

During a March 2013 game against the Alaska Aces, Balkman was visibly upset over a referee's decisions and began an argument with him before shoving him. The player then shoved the Boosters' assistant coach before his own players tried to step in to control the situation. Teammate Ronald Tubid attempted to get between Balkman and another referee but was also pushed out of the way. Then, a second teammate, Arwind Santos, came in between Balkman and a third referee but got his hand slapped away by Balkman. When Santos pushed his teammate back, Balkman put his hands around Santos' neck.

Balkman was given a lifetime ban from playing in the PBA and fined around $6,000 for the incident. According to ESPN, he tweeted an apology to Santos: "I would like to apologize to @arwindsotnas a person who I truly respect and would never intentionally harm, my actions were irresponsible." The Phillippine Basketball Association lifted its ban in 2018.

Boxer Luis Resto won unanimously after his 10-round bout with Billy Collins Jr. in June 1983. But he was later stripped of the win, and his career in boxing was over after it was discovered that he had tampered with his gloves. 

After the fight, Collins Jr. had swollen eyes and a badly beaten face. As his father, Billy Sr., went to shake Resto's hand, he noticed that his gloves felt different and asked for the gloves to be inspected. An investigation by the New York State Athletic Commission found that padding had been removed and the tape used to wrap Resto's hands was covered in plaster of Paris, which hardened on his hands and made his punches all the more severe. Sadly, the brutal injuries to Collins Jr.'s eyes were permanent, and his career ended. His father told The New York Times that his son fell into a depression after the fight, and in 1984, he allegedly committed suicide after he crashed his car into a ditch in Tennessee.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a trial soon followed, and in 1986, Resto was sentenced to three years in prison for assault, conspiracy, and criminal possession of a weapon. The boxer was released after serving two and a half years.

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Former Boston Bruins player Marty McSorley will forever be remembered for losing his job over a dirty play on the ice. With just seconds remaining in a February 2000 game against the Vancouver Canucks, McSorley swung his stick and hit opposing player Donald Brashear in the head. Brashear immediately fell, and he hit his head on the ice as his helmet came off. For a while, Brashear lay there motionless. He lost consciousness and sustained a concussion. After the hit, several Canucks players attacked McSorley before he was pulled away and taken to the locker room.

According to ABC News, McSorley faced a judge for the attack and was ultimately "found guilty of assault with a weapon" and was given 18 months of probation. He was also suspended for the rest of the season, but it was later changed to a full-year suspension by the NHL. Despite wanting to return to the sport after his suspension was almost up, McSorley did not play in an NHL game since the incident.  

Former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann was at the height of his career when he suffered a gruesome leg injury on November 18, 1985, in a game against the New York Giants. Theismann had the ball in his hand when Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor came up behind him and slammed him to the ground. The quarterback's right leg snapped in half, and Taylor immediately signaled for help to come to the field. Theismann suffered a career-ending injury.

Recounting the day that's been regarded as "the most shocking moment in NFL history," Theisman told WUSA9 in 2019, "People would say that it was a tragedy that happened in my life, but it really wasn't. It was a blessing ... Through the injury for me, I became a more introspective individual. I looked at myself, and I wanted to be a better person. I learned a great lesson that night. That no matter how great you are at what you do, it could be over in an instant."

Although Theismann never got to throw another football again professionally, his 12-season career with the Redskins did produce a Super Bowl title, unlike these superstar NFL athletes in this Nicki Swift list.

Fights are common in professional hockey games, so it wasn't unusual when Toronto Maple Leafs' Nick Kypreos and New York Rangers' Ryan VandenBussche got into a brawl during a September 1997 pre-season game.

During their fight, VandenBussche landed a solid punch to Kypreos' face, which sent the player hitting the ice with blood gushing out of his mouth as he lay there unconscious. The injury was career-ending, with the Maple Leafs player suffering from a concussion. Kypreos was forced to retire from the NHL. In 2011, VandenBussche and Kypreos met for the first time since their fight. In an interview with Sportsnet Radio 590, the men discussed the seriousness of head injuries in the NHL. "You never, ever want to end a guy's career, especially in that nature," VandenBussche said. He added, "I'll never forget that feeling of going to the penalty box, looking back and seeing what I saw. And I'm going to be quite honest with you, it made me sick to my stomach."

In the same interview, Kypreos jokingly stated that he'd "probably kick [VandenBussche's] a**" if he ever got an apology for the fight that ended his career. 

In August 2021, former UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley made his professional boxing debut against YouTuber-turned-pro boxer Jake Paul. At this point, Paul was beginning to make a name for himself as a serious contender, having won his first three fights by knockout. Woodley was his next big match, and after eight rounds of boxing, Woodley lost to Paul by a split decision from the judges, improving the influencer to 4-0.

Woodley wanted a rematch against Paul. However, the YouTuber jokingly stated that he would only go in the ring again if Woodley got a tattoo that read "I Love Jake Paul." Well, Woodley did get the tattoo on his middle finger. In December 2021, the men returned to the ring, and Paul won by knockout in the sixth round. On his "TimboSugarShow" podcast, UFC Bantamweight Champion Sean O'Malley believed it was the end of Woodley's career. "It completely destroyed his f****ing legacy." 

Woodley has yet to step into the boxing ring.