Years ago I had the privilege of being able to coach one of the Picayune Baseball All-Star teams. We were playing in the state tournament and I had a kid on my team that we realized was a really good catcher so I decided to let him catch this one game but he didn't have a jock strap or a cup. I had a brand new one in a box just for emergencies so I gave it to him. Before he left for the bathroom I asked him if he new how to put it on. He just looked at me like I had lost my mind and he said Well yea coach, duh.

He was back in 3 minutes flat ready to play ball. He caught the first inning and done a great job. He was now up to bat and ripped a double to center field. He is standing on second base when another kids rips one to right field and the kid on second hauls butt. I'm jumping up and down screaming and waiving at him to come home.

As he rounds third base heading for home plate everything went into slow motion. Something was wrong, real wrong. Then I see what it is and I completely freaked out. Crap, his knee just popped out of place. No wait, its back in place now. No, crap it popped out again. Its actually sliding back and forth now. He must be hurting cause he is now reaching down as he is running and holding his knee in place. Dang this kid has heart. His knee pops out of place and he holds it in place with his bare hand trying to score. I've never seen anything like it.

He slides into home and the umpires calls him safe. As he is walking back to the dugout I go to meet him halfway to check on him. It had to be the adrenalin that help him deal with the pain and now the pain is surely going to set in. As I squat down in front of him to make sure he is ok his knee slides down to his ankle. I almost fainted right there. Turns out he never did put the jock on to hold his cup in place. He just stuck the cup down there and it came loose and when he rounded third it came out. I laughed about that for the next 5 innings.



Wayne Carlan aka Dr. Philbilly is from Southern Mississippi and lives with his wife of 18 years and two teenage sons. He writes about his life experiences with homespun humor. Email: waynecarlan (at) yahoo.com