Kids......Never arm wrestle. (part 2)

Lance, another coworker, decided that he wanted a piece of the action and to return the pride to the Getco team. As Lnace settled in to position to take on the Austrian I turned to one of the original guys that gave up their table to host the event and said "if this continues it will end badly one way or another." In my mind that meant evens odds between an all out brawl or a broken limb.

Eye balling the two participants I felt that the Austrian had a slight advantage over the New Zealander. The description of my vantage point for the match was roughly looking directly at Lance and behind the right shoulder of the Austrian. When "go" was finally it started out with very little movement away from the starting position. I could see the strain on Lance's face but could not assess the effort being expelled by reigning champ. My best guess would be that this position held for a solid 20-25 seconds. I really wasn't sure how it would turn out but figured fatigue would come into play and a winner would be crowned. I didn't have to wait long until that seemed to be the case. The Austrian quickly jerked Lance to the table and was declared the winner. But, something didn't seem quite right...it was too quick....... Lance didn't seem defeated. For a split second he just sat there. All of the sudden he cried out "My arm is broken! My arm is broken!" After the second or third time hearing his exclamation I figured he would break into a big smile and holler "Gotcha!" Sadly, that never happened - he continued to try and convince everyone else by continuing with the my arm is broken decree. I will admit it all became a little surreal for the next minute or two but I knew that somehow we were going to have to get Lance out of the crowded bar. Most people jumped on the bandwagon of it just being a separated shoulder. That sentiment definitely helped to calm Lance down even though you could tell he was in excruciating pain. In the back of my mind though I knew something had broken. (Luckily I did not hear the snapping sound that also coincided with the victory by the Austrian) Of all the stories I have heard retold about arm wrestling gone bad I have never heard of someone popping out a shoulder. Instead they had all ended in someone's bone questioning what was being asked of it and finally waving the white flag of defeat and shattering. The rest of the night involved getting Lance into a cab, the cab making them get out two blocks later for liability reasons, waiting on the side of the road for an ambulance, and following the ambulance to the hospital. All in all it was a very sobering experience and I will strongly encourage everyone to turn down a challenge of arm wrestling and will never participate in such an event again.