I hope everyone enjoyed what will likely be the last Green and Gold Charity Softball Game. In case you missed it over the weekend, Packers linebacker Clay Matthews took a line drive to the face while pitching early in the game at Fox Cities Stadium. Matthews left the field bleeding profusely from the nose. He was taken to the emergency room–where doctors temporarily set a broken nose. Matthews will undergo surgery to correct the damage.
Having seen the video, I have to say that I’m a bit concerned by the reaction time of what was once a Pro Bowl linebacker. I played fastpitch softball for years and had balls hit at me faster than that and I never took one in the kisser–and I’m just Joe Average. Clay Matthews is a finely-tuned professional athlete that should have cat-like reflexes. He didn’t have to catch the liner–but at least get your glove up faster than that to protect your face. Perhaps that explains Clay’s difficulties in covering tight ends or running backs in space or making open field tackles.
One guy who likely won’t react so slowly is Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy. He is not going to be very happy that one of his key defensive players is getting hurt in a non-football-related athletic endeavor. Imagine if the ball had hit Matthews a little to the left or the right of his nose and instead got him in one of the eyes. Or if it had caught him square on the jaw and required it to be wired shut for a couple of months–putting a guy that requires tens of thousands of calories a day to stay fit on a liquid diet.
Yes, Saturday’s game was for a good cause and Matthews’ injury was a freak occurrence (although, I do remember a few guys pulling hamstrings trying to beat out plays at first or scoring from second on singles to the outfield). But the coaching and front office staff of the Packers see a lot of investment out on that field and as was shown on Saturday, that investment is put at risk whenever balls and bodies are in motion. So don’t be surprised if the Packers brass holds a meeting soon to discuss their “involvement” in the Charity Softball Game and they decide that a nice check presentation to the same charities during halftime of a home game is just as nice–and less risky.
Besides, Donald Driver will be holding a similar game a couple of weeks from now at the same stadium. Let the old, retired guys hurt themselves.
