I hope he was wearing an athletic cup!

Hi guys,

On Thursday July 3 or shortly before, Chris Snyder, catcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks (D-backs) suffered a terrible misfortune. An errant batted baseball hit his groin and severely injured his scrotum, so much so that he suffered a "fractured testicle". Ouch!!! Yet, I heard or read from news accounts that he bravely continued on in the game, even though he was suffering excruciating pain. Afterwards doctors examined him and with consultation of the D-backs, he was placed on the 15 day disabled list. Fortunately the doctors determined that he does need surgery for his ruptured testicle.

Let this be an object lesson to all baseball players besides catchers, even umpires. Wear an athletic cup, especially a jock and a cup that fit your "man area" perfectly. Where is Mark Littell and the Nutty Buddy Cup when we need them!

If Chris wasn't wearing a cup during that game, then he was being extremely foolish. But freak accidents do occur especially when a guy doesn't wear a cup and a jock that don't fit perfectly and securely.

For this entry, I have posted several pics of athletic cups, known to athletes over the years.

The first two are a jock and cup manufactured by the Bike Web Co. perhaps in the late 1940's or 1950's. The cup jock does not have the usual metal snaps to secure firmly the cup in place in the jock tunnel pouch. The cup itself is perhaps actually vintage. I am not sure if it is a metal cup or an early A.B.S. plastic cup, but one thing for sure is that it doesn't have is a rubber gasket which indicates its relative "antiquity." Perhaps it was manufactured in the late 1940's when cups didn't have gaskets per se. The athlete has to put the gasket on the cup himself.

Jumping ahead a good sixty years to our present time, we have flex cups by Shock Doctor and BIKE and of course, the Nutty Buddy cup. I found these pics in Google Images, but they were actually posted at mmagearguide.com, which supports the activities of the Mixed Martial Arts community by providing helpful advice in the best gear for that sport. The first two cup pics are the Nutty Buddy Mongo cup (front and side views) worn by most grown men.

Then the next three sets of pics are a comparison of the NuttyBuddy, BIKE and Shock Doctor cups in side, top, and bottom (interior) views. They show how athletic cups have progressed in comfort and protection in the last decade or so.

Remember! Wear a jock and an athletic cup for contact sports and even for work, but certainly for pleasure, of you know what I mean :-)

Take care.