Q-Tips Can Be Dangerous

Especially when someone bumps into you while you got one shoved brain-deep in your melon. Just ask Giants linebacker Chase Blackburn, who as Michael David Smith pointed out at FanHouse, has temporarily lost his hearing:

Blackburn, the Giants’ third-year backup middle linebacker and a special-teams contributor, was cleaning his ear with a Q-Tip after the win over the Eagles when someone slammed into his arm, shoving the Q-Tip into his ear canal and nearly puncturing his eardrum. The swab was forced into the wall of the canal, causing plenty of bleeding inside Blackburn’s ear. His hearing has also been affected, but doctors have told him it should return to normal once the blood dissipates. He practiced yesterday and today, and he is expected to play on Sunday against the Jets.

That’s gotta be up there as one of the weirdest injuries all year. We know that dumb, freak injuries are commonplace in baseball — heck, Aaron Rowand hurt himself playing tag. But come on, you don’t hear (no pun intended) this sort of thing happen in football, do you? Lesson be learned: when using a Q-Tip, always watch your back. I guess.