Clay Matthews “got a little boo boo on his nose”

It is probably not a good sign of things to come when a star defensive player gets hurt during OTAs and he isn’t even participating in them.

Packers linebacker Clay Matthews took a liner to the face off the bat of offensive lineman Lucas Patrick while Matthews was toeing the slab in the Green & Gold Charity Softball Game on Saturday.

And so The Claymaker took a haymaker to the beak and suffered a broken nose.

This development occurred at the most unfortunate time. Aaron Rodgers wasn’t there and he is a doctor now.

The footage of the mishap has been shown so much that it almost ranks up there with the Zapruder film.

Matthews, fortunately, lived to tweet about the incident. And it was downplayed at the time. Wide receiver Davante Adams updated everyone at the game by saying Clay “got a little boo boo on his nose.”

Just a little boo boo. Thank goodness Matthews’ snotlocker isn’t the size of Jimmy Durante’s.

So he will not be landing a Kleenex endorsement anytime soon. And he’s lucky he wasn’t smacked in the schnoz while Rodgers was wildly swinging a golf club trying to nail an insect.

Inquiring minds want to know why Matthews was playing softball since his knee wasn’t deemed good enough for the patty-cake patty-cake workouts known as the OTAs. Nobody nose — err knows. Well, we all know that these OTAs are classified as voluntary anyway. Wink. Wink.

Adams, who was the pitcher of record for his team against Matthews’ charges, took to hurling from behind a screen the rest of the way. At least they were working on the screen plays.

Head coach Mike McCarthy was left to clean up the mess and said he was OK with players taking part in a charity softball game. And he wasn’t going to overreact. And — believe it or not — he had already broken down the film.

“I think he needs to work on his offhand, mitt side, on the release of the ball,” McCarthy said with tongue in cheek. “That’s what the tape showed me.”

The OTAs had been moving along smoothly before Matthews’ honker was violated.

In fact, the Packers went out and signed yet another free agent. Stop the insanity.

Sure enough, tight end Marcedes Lewis surfaced in Green Bay and did not leave before putting his John Hancock on a contract and displaying his comic stylings.

“My flight was at 5:30,” Lewis said. “I signed a contract at 5. And good thing the airport is hella small, you know what I mean? I got to the airport at 5:20, walked in and sat in my seat.”

If you are scoring at home, Green Bay has a lot more to offer than snow.

“Winning,” Lewis said. “And no airport traffic.”

Lewis, by the way, nose — oops — knows what he will be doing now that he is gainfully employed by the Green Bay Packers. “I block very well,” he said. Maybe he can show some of his new teammates how to do that.

The softball game did produce some glorious moments.

Davon House turned back new quarterback DeShone Kizer in the Home Run Derby. Kizer socked 11 circuit clouts during the qualifying round. You always like a quarterback who can go deep.

And the day did have a happy ending. The charity won.

In addition, Robert Tonyan hit a walk-off home run to give the Matthews squad to a 10-9 victory over Adams’ charges.

You mean they won by a nose? Tweet in mouth disease

Our long lost friend Damarious Randall created quite a stir last week.

And just wait until the folks in Cleveland see him attempt to cover someone.

Randall, in his infinite wisdom, threw a tweet out there saying, “If the Cleveland Cavaliers win the 2018 NBA finals I’ll buy everyone who retweet’s this a jersey...”

A lot of people retweeted this because the only free thing they get is the white pages on their front porch.

There were well over a million people that retweeted it.

This would cost our man Damarious over $40 million. His base salary for this season will be $1,090,381.

As it turned out, he wasn’t serious. Much like his pass coverage.

“I definitely didn’t think it would go as viral as it did,” he said. “I definitely didn’t think the Cleveland fan base would go this crazy about it. Obviously, it was a joke, but just to know how passionate this fan base is, I mean, it’s just really encouraging.”

One can only imagine Damarious putting on a Golden State jersey before he plopped down to watch the games. See that basket! See that rim! Come on Steph, put it in!

VineLines

Browns quarterback Tyrod Taylor on what Randall’s tweet taught him: “Don’t hit send.”... Jim Barach, comedy writer: “Aaron Rodgers was given an honorary doctorate from the Medical College of Wisconsin. Which he always wanted to be a doctor so people would stop calling him Mr. Rodgers.”... Steve Rosenbloom of the Chicago Tribune: “Brandon Marshall signed with the Seahawks, who apparently have given up making the playoffs this season.”...

Norman Chad, syndicated columnist: “Ben Roethlisberger is under fire for kind of intimating he won’t be helpful to rookie quarterback Mason Rudolph. I know football is a team sport and art is not, but you think Henri Matisse gave Pablo Picasso endless postmodernist painting tips for the good of the culture?”

Seahawks broadcaster Steve Raible on the late Chuck Knox’s superstition of changing road hotels if his team had lost there the previous season: “We stayed every place but the YWCA in Kansas City.”...

Comedian Argus Hamilton: “The NFL just slapped a 15-yard penalty on players who don’t watch Fox News in their hotel room.”...

Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “The cheer squad for the CFL’s B.C. Lions is called — we kid you not — the Felions.”...

RON PAGE / USA TODAY-WISCONSIN Packers linebacker Clay Matthews is hit by a line drive while pitching during the Green & Gold Charity Softball Game on Saturday.