Wednesday’s Hot Clicks: College Lacrosse Player Sidelined Because His Head Won’t Fit in Any Helmet

Wheaton’s Alex Chu can’t play until he finds a helmet that will fit over his head.

WBZ

Get this man a new lid

Lacrosse season is underway for thousands of student-athletes across the country, but one Massachusetts player can’t get on the field because his head is too big. 

Alex Chu, a freshman goalie at Division-III Wheaton College whose head doesn’t even really look that big, can’t find a standard helmet that will fit over his head, and the NCAA won’t approve the custom-made one that he used in high school. 

“Lacrosse is kind of my whole life,” Chu told the Boston Globe. “I can’t remember ever going this long without playing.”

Chu told The Sun Chronicle that his head measures 25 1/2 inches around and that the biggest helmets available on the market are 24 inches. An inch and a half might not sound like much, but Chu can’t even come close to squeezing his head into a commercial bucket. His last hope is a new helmet made by Warrior called the Burn, which isn’t available to the public yet. But Warrior is sending one to Chu in hopes it could solve his problem. As a former lacrosse player with a reasonably big head, I’m hoping it works out for him. 

This match was obviously too easy

That’s Julien Broderson, a senior at Assumption High School in Davenport, Iowa. In the middle of a match last week, he stopped to pick up a lost contact lens. Then he went on to pin his opponent and keep his undefeated record intact. He’ll be the No. 1 seed in the 195-pound weight class at this week’s state championships. 

Who wants free stuff?

UPDATE: They’re all gone. We had over 150 entries in under an hour and a half. Thanks to everyone who entered.

We’ve got a really awesome giveaway today: the Soundcast VG1 waterproof bluetooth speaker. It can be fully submerged in up to 10 feet of water and has a battery that lasts up to 15 hours. It usually retails for $149 but has recently been marked down to $99. And we’re giving away five of them today. 

Here’s what you need to do to win. As always, you’ll only be entered to win if you follow these directions to a T. Go back to yesterday’s Hot Clicks and find the amount of ice Ohio Stadium used in 2018. Send me the right answer in an email (dan.gartland@simail.com) with the subject line speaker giveaway (all lowercase, no quotation marks). The 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 100th people to email me fulfilling the above requirements will win.

The best of SI

Ben Reiter profiles Trevor Bauer, who isn’t interested in dispelling his reputation as a jerk. ... The Padres jump-started their rebuild by signing Manny Machado. ... These are the top 100 free agents in the NFL this offseason. 

Around the sports world

A Purdue student walked 100 miles to the Boilermakers’ game against Indiana to raise money in honor of Purdue superfan Tyler Trent, who died earlier this year of cancer. ... ESPN goes in depth on the Tim Donaghy NBA game-fixing scandal. ... Fansided has a new interactive tool that ranks the sports movies you should like the most based on your tastes. ... Tristan Thompson and Khloe Kardashian reportedly broke up after he was caught cheating yet again. 

The White Sox needed to offer a little more than this

Yolmer Sánchez was asked if he’s talked to Manny Machado during games:

"Oh yeah. I always tell him he looks good. He always has nice shoes."

— James Fegan (@JRFegan) February 19, 2019

So you’re saying he couldn’t pass a physical?

#CBJ Panarin won’t face #Habs tonight due to illness. Torts was emphatic that Panarin’s absence is not to protect a potential trade asset: “He’s SICK... he shit his pants and he’s puking his guts out.”

— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNWpg) February 19, 2019

Big congrats, dude

I’ve officially made it....I’m featured in Slam Magazine!!! pic.twitter.com/KEWcnBXCsG

— Cody Zeller (@CodyZeller) February 19, 2019

Ichiro aged three years in 18 years

Photo day 2001 ➡️ Photo day 2019. 🐐 pic.twitter.com/iQXg1vktdr

— MLB (@MLB) February 19, 2019

This was literally his first lap in the big leagues

Not quite how Alex Albon will have imagined the start of his F1 career 🙈

Shortly after the green light on day two, this happens 👀#F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/148XJtc7eC

— Formula 1 (@F1) February 19, 2019

Yankees fans start their whining young

this kid EXTREMELY did not want Manny Machado pic.twitter.com/6oFCVgIsz5

— SNY (@SNYtv) February 19, 2019

Crisis averted

Tipping over and recovering? Almost running over a guy on the track?

This is one of the CRAZIEST bobsled runs you will EVER see. pic.twitter.com/H1cebKCdQH

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 19, 2019

How the death-defying Oscar nominee Free Solo was filmed

Still two fewer than Coach K

Roy Williams: I've said hello to famous people watching games at Duke. 2 Chainz was there last year. I had no idea who he was. He reached his hand down, shook my hand and said, "2 Chainz." I missed a great opportunity to respond, "3 Ringz."

— David Glenn Show (@DavidGlennShow) February 19, 2019

The ref was very much not impressed

#SCTop10 What do you do when shots like this are falling for the other team? @nay_rdavis @Bballmo86348786 pic.twitter.com/rlQCvNsAUJ

— Matthew A Scheidler (@BullsAttitude22) February 16, 2019

Probably not a good idea to introduce yourself to your teammates by making them think you can curse them

Michael Cuddyer met teammates in his first camp by dazzling them with card tricks. Years later, he did a trick for new Twin/locker mate Luis Castillo, who was so shaken and scared by the amazing trick, he moved his locker across the room, away from Cuddyer. #onlyinspringtraining

— Tim Kurkjian (@Kurkjian_ESPN) February 19, 2019

Not sports

The oral history of Office Space, which turned 20 yesterday. ... Toxic black snow is falling in Siberia. ... A commercial jet flew faster than the speed of sound thanks to a crazy wind pattern. 

Next time you see your barber, tell him “give me the North Korean dictator”

Vietnamese barber marks Trump-Kim summit with hair styles https://t.co/GncwXwoFX9 pic.twitter.com/gzhmcuYcj4

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2019

Looks relaxing enough

my Gpa owns an onion farm & occasionally decides to take a nap in the middle of the field. whatevs

he wins @ life pic.twitter.com/trffedCRIq

— kenz (@mckenziebrelyn) March 16, 2015

Scorpions on a plane

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Karim Taslim (@karimtaslim)

This was a flight in Indonesia, and the airline tried to say it was just a spider.

Former doctor Ken Jeong answers your medical questions

A good song

Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.