Hockey is obviously its own awesome sport, but it looks like what would happen if a mad scientist created a Franken-sport from chunks of ice skating, football, soccer, and a stick for some reason. And like Frankenstein’s monster, hockey can be intense and intimidating like the Mary Shelly version or lighthearted and hilarious like the Mel Brooks version. In a February game against the Arizona Coyotes the LA Kings went the Young Frankenstein route.

L.A. King Tanner Pearson didn’t mean to be funny when he collided with his teammate Drew Doughty in the first period. He also didn’t mean to flip heels-over-head onto his backside, lose a skate blade, and shuffle awkwardly on one knee before being towed to the bench like he illegally parked on the ice. But all those things happened in quick succession, and it was glorious because nobody got hurt, except for Pearson’s left skate. The incident also didn’t hurt the Kings’ chances of winning, as they beat the Coyotes.

The WWE’s 10-year contract with Saudi Arabia appears to be the gift that keeps on giving reasons to regret it. As of this writing the company’s most recent Saudi-related controversy is the decision to forge ahead with the 2018 Crown Jewel event despite the Saudi government’s involvement in the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Before that the Greatest Royal Rumble raised people’s eyebrows -– and not in the Dwayne Johnson way.

Held in April, the Greatest Royal Rumble drew scorn for a Saudi-imposed ban on female wrestlers and for airing propaganda that depicted the oppressive nation as a beacon of positive change. The six-hour showfeatured a main event so bloated that even Beano couldn’t fix it: a 50-man battle royale. However, there was one diamond in the vast expanse of rough: Titus O’Neil.

Titus was the 39th entrant in the battle royale. As he ran to the ring, announcers bragged about him rubbing elbows with important Saudi figures. Then out of nowhere, he started rubbing elbows and other body parts with the floor as he tripped, fell, and slid under the ring. The internet lovingly dubbed the moment Titus World Slide, an allusion the wrestler’s “Worldwide” gimmick. 

Athletes habitually break the laws of physics, but sometimes those laws conspire against athletes. Exhibits A-Z: the end of this contest between the Houston Astros and Oakland A’s. Houston’s Alex Bregman referred to it as “a circus,” which is fitting since he made the A’s look like clowns. At the bottom of the 11th, Oakland had a one-run lead and needed two more outs to put the game away. With runners on first and second, Bregman unleashed a mighty swing to create what he later described as “the softest ball anyone’s ever hit.”

Bregman barely made contact, and the ball landed a few feet from home plate. Oakland catcher Jonathan Lucroy tried to tag the batter out but missed wildly thanks to Bregman’s cat-like dodge. The ball suddenly pried itself from Lucroy’s hand and bounced off the umpire’s chest. Bregman raced toward first base, and Lucroy zipped the ball toward the first baseman. Once more the orb refused to cooperate and ricocheted off Bregman’s helmet and into foul territory, allowing the Astros to take a 6-5 lead and the win.

A hockey player losing their balance on ice feels about as unnatural as a bird that hates flying. Of course, just as nature has birds that can’t fly, like penguins, the NHL has a Pittsburgh Penguin who got tripped up by ice. That flightless ice victim is backup goaltender Tristan Jarry. Jarry did a laudable job during the 2017-18 season and achieved the most wins by a rookie goalie. But one March matchup got off to a horrendous start.

In the first 71 seconds of a game against the New York Islanders, Jarry committed what Trib Live described as “a goaltending gaffe for the ages.” Just as Islander Brandon Davidson entered the attacking zone Jarry did his best impression of a man trying to run across cartoon banana peels. His skate hit an ice rut, causing him to slip. Attempting and failing to regain his balance, Jarry flailed his arms before falling onto the ice and giving Davidson one of the easiest goals of anyone’s life.

Luckily for Jarry, his fellow Penguins didn’t roast him like a turkey. Much to his relief, he “saw 90 percent of the guys laughing.” Jarry had the last laugh as he went on to make 25 saves and the Penguins seized victory in overtime. 

The tale of the tortoise and the hare supposedly teaches us that slow and steady wins the race, but that’s ironically a harebrained takeaway. The hare’s mistake wasn’t that he failed to be slow and steady; it’s that he stopped when he was ahead. He learned that lesson the hard way, as did Israeli runner Lonah Chemtai Salpeter (left).

Salpeter’s fascinating backstory could double as a real-life fable. A native of Kenya, she became romantically involved with a track coach while working as a nanny in Israel. The pair married in Kenya and eventually moved to Israel. Salpeter repeatedly applied for citizenship but got rejected for about five years. The government finally naturalized her when she qualified to compete in the 2016 Rio Games. Things went awry in Rio, but in 2018 Salpeter made history as the first Israeli woman to win gold at the European Championships. She almost won a second medal there but unwittingly removed herself from the running.

While competing in the 5,000-meter race Salpeter underestimated how many laps she had left and stopped early. While celebrating the silver medal she thought she won, she discovered she wasn’t done. She would finish fourth but got disqualified for crossing the running lanes too early. Salpeter treated her blooper as a lesson for future races. Winners aren’t people who never fail. They’re people who persevere and learn from their mistakes.