Tennis Ball To The Groin: FOX Sport Science Investigates (Video)

Last November Fox Sports took science to new lows by launching a 50 mpg tennis ball at one brave man's balls.

The Fox Sports website justifies the experiment thusly:

When a man sees a pro athlete take a low blow during a sporting event, he instinctively flinches and bemoans the pain that athlete is now enduring. Is it empathy or a subconscious understanding of pain? And what is the scientific reaction of the body when a male athlete is hit in the most sensitive of areas?

On this week's episode of the critically-acclaimed hit series SPORT SCIENCE, host John Brenkus and his team of scientists take a close look at the impact of low blows and examine just how safe protective equipment really is....

In the one test this season you won't be able to watch and yet won't be able to take your eyes off of, a human subject volunteers to get hit in the groin with a tennis ball shot out of a cannon at 50 MPH as he is wired from head to toe so Brenkus' crew can get every reading available to give an exact scientific answer to why the low blow is so crippling.

Comments

[Sparhawk]

Nomination for Darwin Award pending......

[flatus]

No fair! No fair! Do over! Do over! The guy obviously bent over before the ball hit. Do over!

[mikematic]

I thought it was the "journos" at FOX who were air heads. Now their scientist too.

[S1m0n]

Believe it or not, getting a kick in the nuts is a fetish for some (unlucky) men; try googling "ball busting" some time.

[S1m0n]

Beleive it or not, getting hoofed in the nuts is a fetish for some men, luckily not for yours truly.

[aznurse]

now when he talks, only dogs can hear him

[thedirtman]

Okay, Rupert, your turn!

[dgscol]

the test to see if it is legitimate science - what was the cost of the project? If this study used 3 million dollars, and then its investigator sought media attention, it probably is science. Remember legalities,:

DISCLAIMER: the results depend on the specific circumstances of these tests. Other tests may have dissimilar results. The investigator is not responsible for inaccuracies in these tests. Do not do these tests at home.

[TCC]

I am sorry, but that didn't come any where near the guy's testicles. It was high and to the right (his left). It may have hurt, but it wasn't because it hit his testicles.

[HuffyChick]

I laughed so much....my ovaries hurt.......now I can't sleep!

[ThatsNotFunny]

C'mon, be honest, who else laughed?

[groot]

if this is what passes for science, i nominate the three stooges for the nobel prize...

[wndrwrthg]

And they say that scientists / researchers don't know how to have fun!

[ricflair]

That's nuts!

[thedirtman]

Science sure has taken some odd turns during the Bush administration. We may not be able to do much stem cell research or climate modeling, but it least we can still prove it hurts to get hit in the balls.