I know fans are always surprised by this but I would guess that +95% of players don't wear a cup ever.
That's ridiculous. You mean to tell me the reason Brandon Marshall is so hard to tackle is because his dong is "stiff arming" defenders away?
I should have mentioned that I'm not really doing much guessing. I know for a fact that most players don't wear a cup, I just don't know the exact %. I used to be closer to the industry and have discussed this subject with NFL players. Here's an article that supports this. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=fleming/040922 Single page viewBy David Fleming Page 2 The cardboard box sits on a shelf deep inside the Philadelphia Eagles equipment room. It was ordered years ago, yet the contents still sit there -- alone, unopened and collecting dust. Inside is what I consider to be one of the greatest mysteries of today's NFL: 12 brand new plastic protective cups. Unused. Unwanted. Football, as we all know, is a sport of controlled violence where the consequences of high-speed collisions can be grotesquely catastrophic. Just ask Joe Theismann, Willis McGahee or Virgil Livers (whom you'll meet in a moment). This is why players cover themselves from head to toe in thick armor to protect such vital areas as the knees, the shoulders and the ribs. Yes indeed, the NFL will move heaven and earth and spare no expense to create a space-age, super-strong platinum polymer that is guaranteed to protect ... the elbow. The elbow! Yet somehow no one in this league bothers to wear A FREAKIN' CUP? Philly's equipment guy, John Hatfield, 59, has been outfitting football players for 25 years. Like me, he's at a loss. Fifteen years ago, he says, everyone wore them. Back then, they were made out of shards of scrap metal -- or something like that. Ten years ago, it was just the interior linemen. The last player on the Eagles to use a cup was center Steve Everitt in ... 1999. And what about today, in the very season that, by some accounts, is The Cup's 100-year anniversary? "If I asked the players today if they wanted to wear a cup, the guys would look at me like I was crazy," says Hatfield. (Hey, I know the feeling.) "Let me tell you something. If I'm Brian Westbrook or some other player who might get leg-whipped in the groin -- I'm wearing one. In this sport, you can really do some damage down there. I mean, cleats, helmets, knees flying around everywhere ... you're talking about some real discomfort to the groin area."
When I did the search on "NFL players wear cups?" just to see if there was any back up to what I knew, several articles came up. Its one of those things that fans are surprised by that is common knowledge to those in the NFL. Those kinds of topics make good fodder for an article.
Yeah, I can't tell you how much that surprises me. How can these guys possibly fly around with this much contact and not get hit in the marbles at least every couple of plays? I mean cmon, its not like you're not gonna know when somebody takes one there? Its not like you just shake it off and and run back to the huddle!!!!!
I'm a martial artist and most martial artists don't wear cups when they train or compete either. I wear a cup now, but it took me awhile to come around. And that was really only b/c I'm in a style now that specifically targets the groin (kenpo). Even then, I didn't start wearing a cup until I changed my focus to developing my high kicks which really left you vulnerable. Before that I never wore a cup despite training with people who were often purposefully trying to hit me in the groin.
Bottomline: I'm glad that you had a link from a trainer. I was afraid you were going to tell us you had done "Extensive research" or something. Oh, and as far as you and kenpo, ME----> <---- you. (Second time I got to use my own Smiley in two days. )
I would never have said "research", but I have spoken to players about other issues, like what happens in the pile when they're fighting for a fumble, and getting hit in the nads and not wearing a cup has been brought up. I can't say I have ever specifically researched cup usage, but I can say that players have said to me "nobody wears a cup". That was what I based my original response on. I had no idea that there had been articles on it or that a trainer had been quoted. As to your other question, in my experience getting hit in the groin really doesn't happen very often, certainly not every few plays. I can't speak to line play but its pretty rare for those in the skill positions.