The 5 Most Injury-Plagued Sports Stars

If there were a stat for being injured a lot, Greg Oden would completely own that!

Portland Trailblazers center Greg Oden is big on everything except luck. After spending his entire rookie season rehabbing from microfracture surgery on his right knee, the seven-foot first overall selection in the 2007 NBA Draft played in his first regular season game Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers'and promptly sprained his right foot. Now he's out for two to four weeks. We're not saying this promising big man (who's been compared to 11-time NBA champion and all-time Boston Celtics great Bill Russell) is cursed, but his latest injury continues a nasty trend (in addition to his knee problems, Big O missed part of his lone year at Ohio State University after having wrist surgery to repair a ligament in 2006).

While we hope the affable Oden has a long and productive career wholly unrelated to broadcasting or hosting a children's television show, we're concerned that he may be one of those athletes who never fully realizes their greatness because they're perennially hurt. Read on for five pros whose injuries get more play than their highlight reel. Don't hurt yourself in the process…

FOOTBALL
JEREMY SHOCKEY, New Orleans Saints, Tight End
• Promise: A tough receiving and blocking tight end who takes contact and fights for extra yards, won the 2002 NFL Rookie of the Year award and has been named to four Pro Bowl teams.
• Major Injuries: Turf toe (Oct 2002); knee sprain (Nov 2004); ankle injury (Dec 2006); broken left fibula (Dec 2007); sports hernia (Sept 2008)
• Damage Report: Due to his knee sprain, he missed the final seven games of the 2004 season and the Pro Bowl; missed out on the New York Giants' improbable playoff run and victory over the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII because of his broken left fibula; his sports hernia and subsequent surgery have made him a non-factor with his new team, the pass-happy New Orleans Saints. At least he’s still a factor in the Madden video game.

BASKETBALL
GRANT HILL, Phoenix Suns, Shooting Guard/Small Forward
• Promise: He shared the 1994 NBA Rookie of the Year Award, beat out Michael Jordan in All-Star voting for the 1995-96 season and won gold with the 1996 USA Men’s Olympic basketball team. Through his first six seasons with the Detroit Pistons, he put up 9,393 points, 3,417 rebounds and 2,720 assists'numbers rivaled only by those of greats Oscar Robertson and Larry Bird. In the 1999-2000 season, he averaged 25.8 points on 49% shooting from the field, a scoring average only eclipsed by MVP Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson.
• Major Injuries: Ankle sprain (Apr 2000, recurring for several years); staph infection nearly killed him following a surgical re-fracturing of his ankle (Mar 2003); groin injury and sports hernia (2005-06); emergency appendectomy (Jan 2008)
• Damage Report: Lost to the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2000 playoffs because he played on his bad ankle to convince fans he wasn’t soft, ultimately having to leave the second game; he missed out on opportunity to won another gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics with a USA hoops team; played in only 47 of 246 games (19%) in his first three years with the Orlando Magic, missing his fourth year (2003-04) entirely, all of which ruined any chance of him having a ride dedicated to him at Disney World.

SOCCER
MICHAEL OWEN, Newcastle United, Striker
• Promise: Since 1996, he's scored 152 goals for his club teams Liverpool, Real Madrid and Newcastle United, as well as 40 goals for England, which makes him the country's fourth highest scorer of all time. In 2001, he won the Ballon d'Or trophy for being the “European Footballer of the Year.”
• Major Injuries: English Premier League season-ending hamstring injury (1998-99); season-ending broken metatarsal bone in his foot, requiring two operations, (Dec 2005); damaged anterior cruciate ligament in his knee 51 seconds into World Cup match against Sweden (2006); concussion (May 2007)
• Damage Report: His knee injury caused him to miss out on the 2006 World Cup and almost a year of football, including six of England's qualifying matches for Euro 2008 tournament. Sure, that’s why England ended up playing like pure shite.

HOCKEY
ERIC LINDROS, Retired Center
• Promise: A physical playmaker, he scored over 40 goals in each of his first two seasons and was a feared points scorer for his first five seasons. He also won the MVP Hart Trophy in 1995 and took the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup in 1997, where the Detroit Red Wings swept them.
• Major Injuries: Concussions (1998, 2000, 2001); collapsed lung caused by internal bleeding of chest wall, misdiagnosed as a rib injury, which nearly killed him (Apr 1999)
• Damage Report: He missed much of the 2000 season with concussions, then returned in the Eastern Conference Finals, where New Jersey Devils defenseman Scott Stevens gave him a concussion with a nasty hit'NJ won the series; missed the entire 2000-01 season recovering from a concussion. As if the pain in his head, miserable, bitching Philly fans also became a pain in his ass.

BASEBALL
MARK PRIOR, San Diego Padres, Starting Pitcher
• Promise: Considered a future superstar for the combination of his mid 90's fastball, curveball, slurve and changeup, he finished third in the National League’s 2003 Cy Young Award voting with an 18-6 record for the Chicago Cubs.
• Major Injuries: Season-ending hamstring strain from running bases (Sept 2002); shoulder injury from on-field collision (2003); achilles tendon injury (2004); elbow strain (2005); compression fracture of pitching elbow from being hit by a line drive (2005); strained shoulder (2006); strained left oblique muscle from batting practice (2006); shoulder tendonitis (Aug 2006); season-ending shoulder surgery (2007); torn capsule in pitching shoulder (May 2008)
• Damage Report: Missed the 2003 All-Star due to his on-field collision; has never been able to sustain quality pitching for a full season, which helped contribute to a full century of Cubs futility. But hey, there’s always next year, right?