Ball Injuries

I noticed this story referred to on North Side baseball about Michael Barrett's season last year, and the unfortunate way that it ended for him. Several people made jokes about Carrie Muskat and how she would probably know what that injury feels like, based on how she looks. When I was reading the article, especially this portion:

The painful foul ball occurred in the fifth inning of the Cubs' game against San Francisco during pitcher Matt Cain's at-bat. Cain was the second-to-last batter in that inning, and Barrett hit for himself in the fifth before he was taken to the hospital.
"It's one of those things, as a catcher, you always have pain," Barrett said. "Not always, maybe, but occasional pain, and it happens frequently, and it'll come and go. ... [This time it] didn't go away."
He suffered an intrascrotal hematoma, and has vowed to find a cup that provides "bullet-proof" protection. Expect him to be touting a 2007 Barrett model this year.

What I thought of was the George Carlin special on HBO Friday night, which was from around 1977 at USC. The last part had his bit on the words you can't say on TV. Anyway, he talked about the word "Balls" and how Curt Gowdy could say " Johnny Bench has 2 balls on him" with no problems but he couldn't follow up with something like "You know, the Reds have had a problem this season with Ball Injuries". I was laughing my ass off watching that (now I have no ass, though since I am a white guy, I guess I never really did), but I kept thinking, "I bet Michael Barrett would not see the humor in this".