Another American professional sporting event has been marred by boorish fan behavior. And this time the victim is a teenage girl who has already been through a great deal of anguish.

Maggie Herger, 16, wore her Vancouver Canucks shirt to Wednesday's game in San Jose against the Sharks, four years after being treated for a brain tumor. The San Jose Mercury News reports the native of Canada was heckled throughout the game by Bay Area fans before she was finally hit in the head by an older woman.

It's unknown whether the contact was intended, but Herger told the Mercury News things got even worse: As she was being loaded by paramedics into an ambulance, another Sharks fan spotted her Canucks jersey and shouted at her to "Suck it up."

"I just wanted to cry," Maggie told the paper after being released from the hospital. "Who does that?"

Police are investigating the teen's claims. On Thursday, the Sharks released a statement:

"Arena staff, along with San Jose police, interviewed the person who made contact with the injured fan, who stated that the contact was accidental during the celebration of a Sharks goal. Upon being interviewed, others seated in the area of the incident did not report seeing the contact between the parties involved."

Herger's loyalty to the Canucks stems in part from the team's efforts to help her recover from treatment of a benign brain tumor when she was 12. Some of the Canucks players visited Herger in the hospital to help her feel better. The high school junior and her sister, Maya, 18, attended Wednesday's game with tickets that her sister received as a Christmas gift.

Hockey's always been a low-profile sport, but its greatest icon is turning into a tabloid star to rival Bruce Jenner.

Wayne Gretzky's daughter, Paulina, has struck the gossip hornet's nest yet again, posting an outtake from the family Christmas card. The image was (supposedly) intended for 100 close family and friends, and not for public consumption. But maybe the Great One's daughter doesn't consider her 73,000 Twitter followers members of the general population. She's deleted the photograph, but just like the Great One in his "office" behind the net, there's no stopping the inevitable.

In the portrait, Wayne's wife, Janet, is proudly smiling, but the rest of the Gretzky family is striking a tough-guy pose. Paulina is wearing a lacy, white mini-dress. Some are comparing the Great One's family to the attention-hungry Kardashians. What do you think?

Lisa Crowell, designer of the Gretzky holiday card, told the Toronto Star she was surprised to receive an e mail from reporter Stephanie Findlay about the photo. "Nobody knew that Paulina was going to tweet it and here we are," Crowell told the Canadian paper.

Kobe Bryant is not a doctor, but he decided he knows enough that he can play one for struggling Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez.

Upon Bryant's advice, A-Rod went to Germany for an experimental treatment called Orthokine on his right knee, the New York Post reported.

The Post reports Rodriguez had blood taken out of his arm and placed in a specially designed spin machine before being placed back into his body.

Kobe had similar procedures done on his right knee last summer and his left ankle this past October. The Lakers star is apparently a huge believer in the procedure, having given A-Rod his support to go-ahead with it. Bryant has played in the first three games of the NBA season, just a few weeks after undergoing the surgery on his ankle.

Even in defeat, Tim Tebow creates controversy -- this time in Tinseltown.

HBO's Bill Maher created a firestorm over the Christmas weekend with a scathing reaction to Tebow's subpar performance in Buffalo. Shortly after Tebow threw four interceptions in the Broncos' lopsided defeat to the Bills, Maher turned to his Twitter page to poke fun at the very religious NFL star. (And a warning: Maher's tweet includes harsh language and divisive references.)

"Wow, Jesus just [screwed] #TimTebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere ... Satan is tebowing, saying to Hitler "Hey, Buffalo’s killing them," Maher tweeted.

Maher, a proud atheist who supports legalizing pot, same-sex marriage and is a board member for PETA, upset a number of conservatives, according to Entertainment Weekly. Eric Bolling of Fox News responded to Maher by calling him "disgusting vile trash," among other things.

Tebow didn't bother responding to Maher, but plenty of his fans did. Some called for a mass cancellation of HBO subscriptions over the offensive tweet. "Real Time with Bill Maher," is scheduled to return to the premium cable channel on January 13, 2012.