The fact that he lived through it makes it easier to laugh now.
But Donte Stallworth had to admit, he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to.
The veteran wide receiver took part in Redskins minicamp on a tryout basis Tuesday, a minor miracle after he and his girlfriend were badly burned in a hot air balloon accident three months ago.
“Literally, my butt caught on fire,” Stallworth said, via the Associated Press. “And she was on fire as well.”
Stallworth says they’re both fine now (see the update below for more), and as frightening as it was, there’s a certain ridiculous quality to the incident.
“It felt exactly like the cartoons,” he said. “When you see people getting electrocuted on cartoons, that’s exactly what it felt like.”
While it left serious scars on both his arms, he recovered enough in a few weeks to resume football training.
But he admitted he began laughing in the ambulance at the turn of fortune.
“Ten years of playing professional football and I never been carted off the field,” Stallworth said. “And I’ve never even been helped off the field. If I had a knee injury, I was able to get up and walk away on my own. And I go on a hot air balloon, something that seems very peaceful for two hours, and I’m getting airlifted to a hospital, life on the line.”
That he’s recovered enough to continue to play is amazing, but the best part is that he may have a job again soon. Redskins coach Mike Shanahan indicated that he intends to sign Stallworth.
UPDATE 9:12 p.m. ET 6/12/13: The attorney for Soleil Guerrero has contacted PFT to explain that, contrary to Stallworth’s assertion, she isn’t fine. We wish her the best as she continues her recovery.