While taking my daily scroll of the front page of the internet, I came across a question with some tragic answers, “Who destroyed their entire life by making one mistake?” There are some terribly heartbreaking comments. Here are the top-voted responses.
1. Boban Janković
Boban Janković was a Serbian professional basketball player. One shared from Wiki, “Janković thought he scored a basket on a drive to the hoop while being guarded by Panathinaikos player Fragiskos Alvertis.
However, referee Stelios Koukoulekidis called an offensive foul on him. It was Janković’s fifth foul of the game, which meant that he had fouled out.
In reaction to what he believed was a bad call at a crucial moment of a critical playoff game, Janković slammed his head hard against the padded concrete goalpost. As a result, he permanently damaged his spinal cord and cannot walk for the rest of his life.”
2. Sam Ballard
One man admitted to recently reading a story about Sam Ballard, who ate a tiny slug on a dare in 2010 and was infected by a parasite that put him in a coma and paralyzed him.
He noted, according to the article, “He died eight years later in 2018 at Hornsby hospital, surrounded by 20 friends and family while saying goodbye.”
3. Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann
Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann, a respected cardiothoracic surgeon, told a guy to stop smoking outside the hospital’s front doors. Then, unbelievably, this guy turns around and punches him once in the head.
One explained, “King-hit, or coward-punched, whatever you want to call it. He falls to the floor and hits his head a second time. On life support for four weeks before dying.” The man who assaulted him was sentenced to ten years.
4. Andres Escobar
Another user shared, “Andres Escobar. A respected football player made the mistake of scoring his own goal in a vital World Cup game. He went back to his home country and got murdered for it as revenge for costing some guys a bunch of money on football bets.” Okay, a couple of these aren’t about making mistakes, some were living life, and tragedy befell them.
5. Dennis Rader
Did you know that the BTK serial killer Dennis Rader began writing the police, mocking them for never catching him? He asked the cops if they could trace a floppy disk. They said no. He sent one. They traced it., and arrested him. Now, he’s in prison for life.
6. Michael Richards
Michael Richards, aka Kramer from Seinfeld, made their list. One noted how he went ballistic on a comedy show after some “Black guests came late and or annoyed him by heckling, and he went on a long tirade and used the N-word.” Yeah, that’s a career-ending mistake and an inexcusable one.
7. Amy Cooper
Amy Cooper was the fragile White dog walker who called the police on Christian Cooper, a Black birdwatcher, in Central park on the same day as the murder of George Floyd. He videotaped her as she threatened him, “I’m calling the cops. I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.”
One Redditor suggested, “The woman dubbed ‘The Central Park Karen.’ For the past three years, she’s essentially been living in hiding. She moves whenever someone realizes who she is and lives in constant fear that she’ll be rediscovered.”
8. Gabriel Rivera
Gabriel Rivera was a football player drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He would be the new anchor on defense trying to replenish itself. One said, “However, halfway through his rookie season, Rivera crashed his new car, going something like double the speed limit, and was ejected from the vehicle while drunk. He was paralyzed for the rest of his life.”
9. Roseanne Barr
Many people in the thread noted that Roseanne Barr tweeted a racist statement about Obama’s aide Valerie Jarrett. Roseanne had recently rebooted her self-titled show. That one tweet cost her her show. They fired her, killed off her character, and renamed the show The Connors.
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10. Paul Reubens
Paul Reubens, aka Pee Wee Herman, was caught pleasuring himself in a movie theater. As one Redditor said, “His kid’s show career came to a screeching halt.” While many noted that he was in an adult theater and not an AMC, others noted it’s still illegal.
This thread inspired this post.
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Featured Image Credit: Deposit Photos – Jean_Nelson.
Elizabeth Ervin is the owner of Sober Healing. She is a freelance writer passionate about opioid recovery and has celebrated breaking free since 09-27-2013. She advocates for mental health awareness and encourages others to embrace healing, recovery, and spirituality.