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Opinion: We Don’t Have to Say “Groin” if J.T. Realmuto was Clearly Rocked in the Nuts (updated)
Published:
J.T. Realmuto took one right in the nads on Wednesday night:
You read headlines and tweets and see the word “groin” used frequently here. The New York Post wrote that “J.T. Realmuto leaves Phillies loss early after painful groin injury.” CBS Philadelphia noted that “Catcher J.T. Realmuto exited in the bottom of the ninth after being hit in the groin by a foul tip in the Phillies’ loss to the Blue Jays.”
The proper legacy news outlets obviously dance around this because the word “groin” is safe for a PC readership and viewership. They’ve always used the word “groin” or sometimes “midsection” or “groin area” because it’s less crass than saying something like “testicles” or “scrotum.” Maybe you run the risk of getting angry calls from people who are holding the phone in one hand and clutching pearls in the other.
But the problem with “groin” specifically is that it’s anatomically incorrect. J.T. Realmuto was not hit in the “groin,” he was rocked squarely in the nuts, which is evident upon video replay. The groin is a different part of the body entirely. It’s the area where the upper thigh connects to the lower abdomen, separated by a wall of muscle and tissue. No one is down on the ground, writhing in unfathomable pain when they take a foul ball to the upper thigh. You either get clocked in the nuts or take one off the tip, and that’s the reason for the pain, so using the word “groin” honestly amounts to spreading fake news.
That doesn’t mean the media has to use playground slang like the blogs do, but you can substitute “groin” for “private parts” or “crotch” or something similar and it’s more accurate without being offensive, right? It’s 2025. What are we, five years old? The average human being should not be offended if someone at the newspaper writes, “J.T. Realmuto was down in pain after a foul ball hit him in the crotch.” If that’s explicit or crude then we need to get a grip.
EDIT – A reader noted that this is the second year in a row that J.T. has been blasted in the “groin area” on June 4th. It happened to him against the Brewers in 2024. Is this part of a larger conspiracy? –
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com