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.

NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown is a top-notch player, but he's been a headache for a few teams he's played for with off-field incidents. His career started in 2010 with the Pittsburgh Steelers, with whom he played for eight seasons before requesting a trade as his relationship with the team turned rocky. The Oakland Raiders quickly signed Brown for the 2019 season, but he didn't play one game. After threatening general manager Mike Mayock, he was released. That same year, he signed with the New England Patriots. Brown would only play one game after he was accused of sexual assault. The team released Brown that same year.

Brown's career wasn't all over. He had a chance to become the great player he was at the start of his career when he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020. The team won Super Bowl LV against the Kansas City Chiefs, and Brown won his first Super Bowl. Brown signed a one-year contract with the team for the 2021 season. However, in a Week 17 game against the New York Jets, Brown unexpectedly took off his jersey and the rest of his sporting gear and walked off the field in the middle of the game. It was all captured on camera as he ran towards the locker room and waved to fans. The Bucs officially released him in January 2022.

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. 

Former Arizona Cardinals kicker Bill Gramatica's celebration after nailing a 42-yard field goal that caused an injury to his knee might have been the beginning of the end of his career. In a 2001 game against the New York Giants, in which Gramatica was just a rookie and a known excessive celebrator, the kicker injured himself when he jumped up in celebration only to tear his ACL on his planter leg when he landed. It was a season-ending injury for Gramatica, who shared (via My Planview), "I'm not going to change the way I feel about field goals. I may not jump as high, but obviously, if I kick a game-winner, my emotions go everywhere. When I stop feeling the way I do, I'm going to retire, because I'm doing it because I love it."

The Cardinals did not resign Gramatica after the 2003 season. His career in the NFL ended the following year after he was passed up by the Giants and cut by the Miami Dolphins after playing in just one game.

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.

NFL linebacker Vontaze Burfict is known for his grueling hits and unsportsmanlike conduct on the field. Playing in the NFL for eight seasons, he's been fined millions of dollars and suspended for several games for twisting the ankles of his opposing teammates and causing career-ending injuries. Burfict's reputation as a dirty player cost him his career.

Burfict played seven seasons as a Cincinnati Bengal before being released and signed by the Oakland Raiders in 2019. However, he only played in the first four games as a Raider. In a game against the Indianapolis Colts, he was ejected after a helmet-to-helmet hit on Colts tight end Jack Doyle. According to the NFL, Burfict was suspended for the rest of the season. NFL Vice President Jon Runyan stated that his suspension resulted from the hit on Doyle and "for repeat violations of unnecessary roughness rules." It was also "the longest punishment handed down for an on-field act in NFL history."

Burfict had tried to change his reputation after his lengthy suspension. In 2020, he told the NFL, "The first two, three years, everybody was saying, '(He's) the villain.' You guys think I'm a villain? You just go on and live with it. Then, it gets old, when you go out there and some fans think that I'm just out to hurt people. That's not the case.'" Burfict hasn't played for any NFL team since.

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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Cuban taekwondo Olympian Angel Matos fell from grace when he took out his frustrations on a referee, which resulted in him being banned for life by the World Taekwondo Federation. During the 2008 Olympics, Matos participated in the bronze medal match against Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov, and Chakir Chelbat of Sweden refereed the match. Matos was winning 3-2 when he fell after being hit by Chilmanov. Matos took a timeout and waited for medical attention, but the referee ultimately disqualified him for taking too much time. Angry with the call, Matos kicked Chelbat in the face. He was then escorted out.

Matos and his coach, Leudis Gonzalez, were banned for life by the WTF and did not offer any apology. According to ESPN, Yang Jin-suk, the WTF secretary general, stated, "This is an insult to the Olympic vision, an insult to the spirit of taekwondo and, in my opinion, an insult to mankind."

Speaking to the Havana Times in 2018, Matos regretted his actions. "It's something I still regret until this very day because I didn't want my sports career to end this way," he shared.  

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.  

The infamous butt fumble was the beginning of the end of NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez's football career. It was during the 2012 Thanksgiving Day game between Sanchez's New York Jets and the New England Patriots that the QB embarrassingly turned the ball over after he ran face-first into the buttocks of his teammate Brandon Moore. The fumble resulted in Patriots defensive back Steve Gregory scooping up the ball and scoring a touchdown for his team. 

According to ESPN's oral history of the butt fumble, Sanchez said in 2012, "I guess I was more stunned than anything. It was just like a car accident. I was like, 'Whoa, what just happened, the ball is gone?' It was weird, man.'" Sanchez and the Jets cut ties after the 2013 season. The quarterback would find himself having brief careers (some of which he didn't even see the field) within five other NFL teams, including the Philadelphia Eagles, Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears, and Washington Redskins, until he announced his retirement in 2019.

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.

Colombian professional soccer player Andrés Escobar made a crucial mistake during a game that cost him his life. On June 22, 1994, during the group stage of the 1994 World Cup, Colombia faced the United States but lost 2-1 after Escobar accidentally shot the ball into his own goal. It was a major blow for the Colombian team, and it would sadly be the last time Escobar would ever play for his country. 

Just ten days after Escobar's fatal mistake that led to Colombia being eliminated from the tournament, he was shot and killed. The captain of the Colombian team was sitting in his car in Medellin, Colombia, in the early hours of July 2, when a group of men, who were believed to be drug traffickers Santiago and Pedro Gallon and their bodyguard, began taunting him. According to Sports Illustrated, Escobar was allegedly shot 12 times, "with each bullet his assailant was reported by police to have shouted: 'Goal.'" Escobar was only 27 years old when he died.

According to WFAA ABC 8, the Gallon's brother's bodyguard, Humberto Castro Munoz, was arrested for the murder and was sentenced to 43 years in prison. He was released after serving less than 12 years.

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. 

NFL linebacker Stephen Tulloch's career began as a Tennessee Titan from 2006 to 2010. He never missed a single game and would continue that streak when he signed with the Detroit Lions in 2011. Unfortunately, that game-playing streak was over after a celebratory sack ended up putting Tulloch on season-ending injury reserve in 2014. 

In a Week 3 game against the Green Bay Packers in 2014, Tulloch sacked quarterback Aaron Rodgers and mocked his signature "belt" celebration when he got up. However, Tulloch tore his ACL after he landed on his left leg and immediately fell to the ground. The linebacker was sidelined for the game and missed the rest of the season. Speaking with MLive, Tulloch stated that he wasn't embarrassed by his celebration injury, "I've been playing nine years and never missed a game in my career. I've been fortunate enough to take care of my family and do some good things in the league. I'm never embarrassed of anything I do, and I made a play on the quarterback to help my team."

Tulloch returned to the team and played in all 16 games for the 2015 season. However, he was released and picked up by the Philadelphia Eagles until he announced his retirement in 2017. 

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.