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Guitar Hero benches pro athlete

Tigers' fireballer Joel Zumaya missed playoff games because of injuries sustained from playing RedOctane's guitar sim, not from launching 100mph-plus fastballs.

Joel Zumaya is no Bronson Arroyo, Barry Zito, or Bernie Williams.

Joel Zumaya is no Bronson Arroyo, Barry Zito, or Bernie Williams.

When Detroit Tigers pitcher Joel Zumaya was scratched from three games in the American League Championship Series this past October, many suspected it was another case of a young arm succumbing to the lengthy MLB season.

Zumaya, who tops the 100mph mark on his fastball, was benched in the ALCS against the Oakland Athletics because of forearm inflammation. However, the Tigers training staff was confused because his injury seemed to be caused by the same motion of playing guitar--not from an overhand pitching motion.

The pitcher and trainers quickly realized that Zumaya's problem stemmed from his addiction to RedOctane's Guitar Hero, the PlayStation 2 rhythm game that uses a guitar-shaped controller, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Once Tigers staff asked him to stop playing the game, Zumaya felt better and went on to pitch pain-free in the World Series.

157 Comments

  • Cowman

    Posted Feb 12, 2007 6:53 pm GMT

    what a tool!

  • tm24fan

    Posted Jan 9, 2007 5:38 am GMT

    And now we see why I never cared for baseball...what a bunch of overpaid, useless MORONS!

  • vmfstorm1

    Posted Dec 26, 2006 6:40 pm GMT

    just shows how pretty-boy baseball players are useless at life...theyre paid millions of dollars a year but get injured playing an 80 dollar game for a few hours.

  • daftfan

    Posted Dec 20, 2006 7:49 pm GMT

    Why Zumaya's is injured?. Was all for a fastball?. NOOOOOO! It's for play Guitar Hero. Damn it!, Bark at the Moon in Expert it's so fu()&%$ hard, but throw the ball at 100mph it's more difficult, try to do what you can do better Zumaya's because make two difficult thing gives his consequences. The Tigers team maybe doing a contract that says "We (the team) restrict totally the use of the game Guitar Hero 1 & 2 of RedOctane with $xx,xxx, we don't are responsible of any injurie using this game"

  • Dunnie91

    Posted Dec 20, 2006 7:47 pm GMT

    wtf?! dude if he were a guitarist he would be used to strumming. ha...athletes...go figure

  • Dante200X

    Posted Dec 19, 2006 9:59 pm GMT

    lol, his arm and fingers are only used to baseballs and throwing them. Any other kind of motion and they get tired easily??

  • strategyking92

    Posted Dec 19, 2006 5:28 pm GMT

    how it this possible, did he have a special guitar, like with button that are made out of rocks? maybe this is why they lost the world series?

  • datniccah187

    Posted Dec 19, 2006 2:51 am GMT

    That is soo poor, he was put on the dh for over gaming lol. So funny!!!!

  • Zer0mancer

    Posted Dec 18, 2006 2:10 pm GMT

    freaking hilarious

  • batosaisilver

    Posted Dec 18, 2006 1:30 am GMT

    That's hilariously awsome!


    "You fools! You foolish fools!" -V.P. Al Gore, Futurama

  • xXxManslayerxXx

    Posted Dec 17, 2006 8:25 pm GMT

    "soports dont injure people, games do"
    jack thompson

  • Jerkofski

    Posted Dec 17, 2006 8:11 am GMT

    man he must have been pretty hard core to have his hands be injured. This dude is pretty awesome

  • sailingmanuel

    Posted Dec 17, 2006 5:58 am GMT

    We can't all rock.

  • dholmes19

    Posted Dec 17, 2006 1:07 am GMT

    HAHA, pro sports man is no match for ROCK N' ROLL!!

  • Wazoo93

    Posted Dec 16, 2006 8:18 pm GMT

    Okay, a MLB pitcher can throw 100 mph fastballs but can't take "I Love Rock 'N Roll"? WTF.

  • QAAQ

    Posted Dec 16, 2006 2:40 pm GMT

    thats pretty damn funny.....oh and i concur with ryanwh and PiMacleod_basic.

  • aznballer91

    Posted Dec 16, 2006 1:21 pm GMT

    ROFL THATS FREAKING HILARIOUS!!!

  • Hoxist

    Posted Dec 16, 2006 8:31 am GMT

    HAHAHA

    That's incredible. This just made my day. You HAVE to stretch your fingers, whether you are gaming or playing guitar. If your gaming AND playing guitar, then good god stretch 'dem babies.

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Dec 16, 2006 2:01 am GMT

    Too much gaming is bad....

  • Uchiha_madara

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 10:02 pm GMT

    OK???? this is weird.. and totaly riturded.the way it spelled lol

  • cbence12286

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 9:08 pm GMT

    I can only imagine how bad Zumaya's roid rage kicked in when he couldn't beat "Bark at the Moon" on expert.

  • HyperMetaDragon

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 7:52 pm GMT

    HAHAHA. LMFAO.

  • ryanwh

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 3:26 pm GMT

    The lesson here is anything is dangerous if you play it hard enough. And that the net is a hive for the pathetic to make fun of people who are clearly far stronger and more talented and popular than they'll ever be. Yeah, "he weak lol", and he's also a millionare. He'll cope.

  • PiMacleod_basic

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 1:55 pm GMT

    Yeah, he's weak. I mean, throwing 100+ MPH balls isn't enough...he has to be pro at Guitar Hero as well.

    ....yeah, that was satire. THINK before you type...I'm sure this guy is a lot more talented than anyone here that posted that he's 'weak' or a 'noob'.

  • Dante565

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 10:13 am GMT

    This guy is complete weaksauce.

  • eddy_jr

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 9:53 am GMT

    Haha, what a bunch of bullcrap... such a loser...!

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 9:21 am GMT

    what a noob.

  • akuya32

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 9:14 am GMT

    Hmm, I wonder if banning guitar hero will be in his next contact.

  • makemeweak

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 9:11 am GMT

    That's freakin' hilarious! I bet his coaches were pissed!

  • dergy

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 7:46 am GMT

    lol, nice zumafire. i'm a tigers fan and all i'll say is the the cardinals didnt win, the tigers lost. Zumai played like crap and so did everyone else but Rodgers...and thats cus he cheated! still my boy thou!

  • Zumafire

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 7:27 am GMT

    Know when to say when....
    man I just farted and it is a doooooozy...lol

  • axillia

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 5:37 am GMT

    Man, he could've cost us the world series.

  • JAK4ever

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 3:32 am GMT

    What. The. Hell??? This is... hilarious!

  • tonyleo01

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 2:06 am GMT

    good thing he got money otherwise the lawsuit's gonna be flying around.

  • Doolum

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 1:10 am GMT

    yet again its proven that games can be harmful to even adults.

  • orangebrat

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 12:15 am GMT

    >>>WTF? okay wait he's clearly right handed in the picture, I've played for hours and the only pain I get is in my left arm controlling the frets, what controller is he using that just flicking the string button hirt is ability to play ball?! It's not like he has to HOLD the controller in an akward position... it has a strap!

    RIDICULOUS!

    Don't assume your pains are the same as others.

    RIDICULOUS!

    >>>now that is funny, but stupid at the same time..

    Why is it stupid? He didn't know it would injure him when he played it. Ever heard of Nintendo thumb?

    RIDICULOUS!

  • God_darl

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 11:21 pm GMT

    OMG! thats so funny! Its the first time i've heard of this kinda thing.

  • Gamefisher86

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 11:02 pm GMT

    wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!! I laughed so hard I almost doodied my pants!!!! this is awesome.

  • Alpha2

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 11:01 pm GMT

    WTF? okay wait he's clearly right handed in the picture, I've played for hours and the only pain I get is in my left arm controlling the frets, what controller is he using that just flicking the string button hirt is ability to play ball?! It's not like he has to HOLD the controller in an akward position... it has a strap!

    RIDICULOUS!

  • CheddarLimbo

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 10:13 pm GMT

    I have more pain in my wrist than my forearm.

    GH2 is kicking my butt on Expert.

  • Reetesh

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 9:42 pm GMT

    Everybody loves GH!!

  • NinjaFoot

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 9:21 pm GMT

    LOL Awesome story.

  • choasgod

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 9:09 pm GMT

    This is why real men play Cricket and GH ....

  • aots_twilight

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 9:05 pm GMT

    He forgot to warm-up before playing GH... thats why

  • Jemry-Weatherby

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 8:58 pm GMT

    Screw baseball, keep playing GH.

  • linmukai

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 8:19 pm GMT

    Slow news day? LOL!

  • gamemaker08

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 8:02 pm GMT

    Lol, Take that, Baseball.

  • FallenOneX

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 7:54 pm GMT

    Does this mean all of the people complaining about the Wii will realize that they're idiots too?

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