Cowboys FB Lawrence Vickers sidelined by ants in his pants
(CBS News) A "stinger" in football is a hard hit that results in a shooting pain that travels down one's arms and is followed often by numbness. A stinger from a fire ant is a small bite whose pain spreads quickly outward and becomes intensely hot and itchy. Now Cowboys fullback Lawrence Vickers knows all about both.
Vickers had to leave practice Wednesday when fire ants invaded his pants. The fullback discovered about four months ago that he was allergic to fire ants, so the sudden pain below his waste was a brief cause of panic, reports the Dallas Morning News.
"Fire ants got in my pants," Vickers told the News. "I was freaking out. Oh, ants!"
A trainer escorted Vickers off the field, but not before he contemplated ripping his pants off for all the world to see.
"I was trying not to squeeze myself in front of women out there," Vickers told the News. "I wanted to pull my pants down and run inside, but I couldn't do that. When those ants get close to those testicles, there ain't no laughing about that."
Vickers got rid of the ants, took an allergy shot and returned to practice without any further problems.
The University of Texas at Austin's Fire Ant Project describes the creatures as "small, dark orange/brown ants with workers of various sizes that quickly mobilize and sting en mass when their mound is disturbed."
