Yeah -- from what I've heard the cup is some help, but doesn't make it fun. And I'm sure that bruise from the redirected impact might freak out your one night stands.

I had one guy (to whom I can only assume I had no rep) say "No, I'm wearing a cup -- go ahead and kick me in the groin for real." The next thing he said to me (after some silence) was "Uh. Maybe not."

t testicular trauma At camp, a friend of mine on a ropes course landed badly on a tightrope. He was wearing no protection and flimsy shorts. His boy-parts were rendered purple for some weeks. The good news is, we had a camp nurse who could make a detailed check of his healing progress every day or so. The bad news is that she was rediculously beautiful. t /testicular trauma

Your body is suffused with a deep, hard, spreading nausea that seems to radiate out from your kidneys, whilst you lay there in a gelid gibbering state.

Yup, and it takes a second for the pain to actually register. You're first thought is usually "Whoa, that wasn't too... YEOWWWWWWWWWWWW"

I will second both these statements. To paraphrase Stephen King, it's a pain so intense you're afraid you'll simultaneously puke and soil yourself at the same time.

The only worse pain I've experienced is 1) appendicitis, where severe, sharp abdominal pain is accompanied by severe, wretch-inducing nausea, and 2) when a very heavy door's handle managed to get my elbow exactly in the wrong place. That second was a shocker because the door didn't even swing that fast - it's just exactly where and how it hit that did it. No damage, but I actually greyed out from the pain.

Hmm, I'll add third - when I closed a car door on my finger far enough down so I couldn't pull it out, and the door was locked. My mother had to go back into the car via the driver's seat, unlock the door, and then come around and open my door because I couldn't function by the time the door was unlocked.

Juliana, how hard/long is it for you to get to Chicago?

6 hours, and given the price of gas/Amtrak/flights, a little difficult. Depending on the timing, though, I could drag Z along, have him audition for an Equity house or two, and write the trip off. When are you thinking?

My only contribution to the cup discussion is that men aren't allowed to wear cups in rugby (or at least weren't in college rugby). Too much potential for injury to others. Think about that.

t makes note to never have balls and get kicked in them

no cups in rugby here, either.

no cups in rugby here, either.

Which means I bet there is crying, unlike in baseball.

Too much potential for injury to others. Think about that.

Yes, you wouldn't want the hooker to get scraped knuckles when he is punching you in the rocks. However, the eye-gouging and ear-biting are regrettable occurrences in an otherwise gentlemanly sport.

Huh. Pain. Weird.

I can't think of the last time I've had pain that intense. I mean, it hurt like hell when I broke my ankle and when I broke my wrist, but even then the pain was nothing like what Frankenbuddha and others have described. Heck, I was even walking on my ankle after I had broken it in two places (I had no idea it was broken). (I knew I had broken my wrist when it happened because it was at some funny angle that a wrist should never be at.)

And when I got hit by a car and broke my leg and messed up my knee, it wasn't hugely painful. I knew from the force of impact that something must have been messed up, so I didn't try walking on it, but no huge amounts of pain....

That was some very enlightening reading about tax things I hadn't really understood before (well, and never really tried to, so there's that), explained so clearly by bon bon. That, then, is the thing I learned today. And it's so early yet; I can just relax for the rest of the day, having accomplished the learning already.

I cannot wait for the cooling off front that is coming from Teppy's direction. Cannot wait.

The worst pain I've ever felt happened when I slammed a heavy, heavy swinging bathroom door on my hand right around the middle knuckle on down to the tips of my fingers. I had to sit down immediately, then I moved to my office and reclined for a good 20 minutes while repeating "do not throw up" over and over again in my brain. Radiating waves of naseau and an inability to do anything other than lie still - almost as bad as the actual pain in the hand.

Well. That was cheery.