Brandon Sutter and the Lightning’s Brian Boyle focus on the puck during a first-period faceoff Monday. — GETTY
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
Allow me, please, to be maybe the one person in Pittsburgh who accepts the Penguins’ explanation for how doctors missed Sidney Crosby’s mumps last week.
It’s an embarrassing mess, both for the franchise and the NHL.
It could still prove enormously costly, pending the health of kids exposed to players last week at Children’s Hospital, as well as others in the daily working environment.
But it also, at the very least, can be explained — and I use the term advisedly – if one considers this chronology put forth by Dr. Dharmesh Vyas, the team physician who oversaw the process:
• In the Nov. 29 game against the Hurricanes in Raleigh, Crosby was struck on the salivary gland on the right side of his neck. Upon returning home, doctors checked the gland, including with a CT scan. They also checked for mumps, for no real reason, via blood tests. Those were negative.
• He was given medication to reduce swelling in the area. Once the meds were stopped early last week, he developed new swelling next to the original area. Again, he had a CT scan and another round of blood tests for mumps. Again, those were negative.
• At that time, the entire team was tested for mumps. All tests were negative, and all players were symptom-free.
• A DNA test on Crosby was sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for a highly advanced test late last week. That was Friday afternoon, after Crosby had been cleared to face the Flames that night at Consol. Doctors decided to go with an extra precaution and wait for that test.
• On Saturday night, the CDC test came back positive.
As is plainly evident from all of the above, the problem hardly was ignored or buried by the Penguins’ medical staff. If anything, the response was robustly aggressive.
The problem absolutely was missed. That’s obvious now. But it’s equally obvious that the problem, at its core, was a disease that’s been all but eradicated from modern society, one that only 438 people in the United States contracted last year, according to the CDC.
It was a mistake, but one born of extraordinary circumstances, hardly negligent or malicious.
Now, here’s the part I don’t like, and I’m going to phrase this in the form of a series of seriously irritated questions:
What could any sane person have been thinking to clear Crosby for that Calgary game?
Did they not see what the rest of us saw in that now infamous interview session Friday morning?
Sidney Crosby speaks to reporters Friday morning at Consol. — ROOT SPORTS
Did they not look at that face?
What was so critically important about facing the Flames in mid-December or, for that matter, any game at any time in a circumstance so severe that the bleeping CDC was being contacted?
Where were the adults?
And never mind piling on the doctors. Where were Jim Rutherford and Mike Johnston?
Do you mean to tell me a GM and/or coach couldn’t have looked at that neck and thought, hey, maybe we could squeeze by against the Flames and Blue Jackets without this guy?
That’s what I want to understand better about all this: How does that happen?
And what can be done to change that mindset?
Rutherford hesitated his way through another uncomfortable press conference Monday, perhaps aware that by dusk he’d show up on the nightly network newscasts, explaining that Crosby passed the infectious stage of mumps Sunday and that he could have been around the team Monday but for extra precaution. He also mentioned that beleaguered Beau Bennett, a human checklist of maladies, might be the next to be afflicted.
Oh, and that Bennett was among the players visiting Children’s, where testing is now being done on all the kids who came into contact with him.
“We feel bad about that,” Rutherford said. “We tried to do a good thing and go to Children’s Hospital and do different things in the community. But at that point in time, obviously, he was not tested to be positive.”
No, actually, there was nothing obvious about the situation. Mumps symptoms can stay latent for several weeks before emerging. That didn’t require a CDC test. That’s a routine Google.
I’ll ask again: Where were the adults?
Where were the grown-ups when the Penguins allowed two pregnant women, one a team employee and the other a beat reporter, to be around the locker room daily?
Did anyone check into what mumps can mean for the unborn child?
That’s another routine Google.
Here’s another that I’m betting you’ll hate: Where were the adults in deciding whether or not the Penguins’ 4-2 victory against the Lightning on Monday night should have taken place?
Not being hyperbolic, I swear. Totally legit question, in light of all else.
Sure, it was a wonderful outcome for the home team: Marc-Andre Fleury was magnificent from the start, Brandon Sutter and Steve Downie were beasts, and Bryan Rust and Brian Dumoulin both scored their first NHL goals.
It’s always a pleasure to see the latter, in particular, especially since both looked so mature in how they scored:
But there’s no question this game was played under a pall, one that Johnston acknowledged afterward by saying, “We’ve been dealing with a lot lately, with all the injuries and now the mumps. We’re giving everyone tomorrow off and, hopefully, we can come back Wednesday recharged.”
That was in response to a question from a dispatched reporter from ESPN, of all outlets. That network long ago discarded hockey but apparently felt this was newsworthy enough to send … oh, never mind. I can’t attach any gravity to this one. This reporter was so lost in this setting that she actually asked the Penguins for an afternoon one-on-one with Crosby. Who happens to be, you know, in quarantine.
She later asked Downie how he managed to play through the mumps scare.
“I don’t know,” he came back. “I guess I just stayed away from people’s sweat or something.”
Nice.
Anyway, this was no more or less important than those games against the Flames and Blue Jackets, with precious little assurance for the Lightning, in particular, of being infected.
Did you hear what Alain Vigneault, the Rangers’ head coach, said over the weekend when learning that center Derrick Brassard had contracted mumps?
“Maybe it’s because we played against Pittsburgh on Monday, and he goes head-to-head against Sid. Maybe Sid gave it to him.”
Never mind the inherent unfairness in the remark. Or the ESPN comedy. That’s the state of affairs.
Let me be very clear here on the distinction I’m making: It’s one thing for doctors to miss a diagnosis of a rare disease that might have been obscured by a very real injury in the exact same area of the neck. But it’s quite another for those same doctors and the Penguins themselves to react as slowly as they did to the environment, especially in the wake of a mumps outbreak in the NHL and the league placing all 30 teams on high alert.
Maybe the league itself should take some blame, not so much for the specific handling of mumps but for the broader culture it’s created of lying about injuries and ailments. That’s what goes on, too: It’s lying. It isn’t just saying ‘upper body’ or ‘lower body.’ Actual lying and deception goes on here far more than most in the public ever find out. All completely acceptable.
I don’t know that anyone lied in the Crosby case. I’d like to think they didn’t.
But I do know that all concerned dealt very poorly with the truth once faced with it.
Annoyed with referees, Penguins secure point
12:54 am 
DK's 2016 ballot for Baseball Hall of Fame
12:00 am 
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5:21 pm Tuesday
December 15, 2014
Column: Where were adults in mumps mess?
by Dejan Kovacevic • Columns • Penguins
Brandon Sutter and the Lightning’s Brian Boyle focus on the puck during a first-period faceoff Monday. — GETTY
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
Allow me, please, to be maybe the one person in Pittsburgh who accepts the Penguins’ explanation for how doctors missed Sidney Crosby’s mumps last week.
It’s an embarrassing mess, both for the franchise and the NHL.
It could still prove enormously costly, pending the health of kids exposed to players last week at Children’s Hospital, as well as others in the daily working environment.
But it also, at the very least, can be explained — and I use the term advisedly – if one considers this chronology put forth by Dr. Dharmesh Vyas, the team physician who oversaw the process:
• In the Nov. 29 game against the Hurricanes in Raleigh, Crosby was struck on the salivary gland on the right side of his neck. Upon returning home, doctors checked the gland, including with a CT scan. They also checked for mumps, for no real reason, via blood tests. Those were negative.
• He was given medication to reduce swelling in the area. Once the meds were stopped early last week, he developed new swelling next to the original area. Again, he had a CT scan and another round of blood tests for mumps. Again, those were negative.
• At that time, the entire team was tested for mumps. All tests were negative, and all players were symptom-free.
• A DNA test on Crosby was sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for a highly advanced test late last week. That was Friday afternoon, after Crosby had been cleared to face the Flames that night at Consol. Doctors decided to go with an extra precaution and wait for that test.
• On Saturday night, the CDC test came back positive.
As is plainly evident from all of the above, the problem hardly was ignored or buried by the Penguins’ medical staff. If anything, the response was robustly aggressive.
The problem absolutely was missed. That’s obvious now. But it’s equally obvious that the problem, at its core, was a disease that’s been all but eradicated from modern society, one that only 438 people in the United States contracted last year, according to the CDC.
It was a mistake, but one born of extraordinary circumstances, hardly negligent or malicious.
Now, here’s the part I don’t like, and I’m going to phrase this in the form of a series of seriously irritated questions:
What could any sane person have been thinking to clear Crosby for that Calgary game?
Did they not see what the rest of us saw in that now infamous interview session Friday morning?
Sidney Crosby speaks to reporters Friday morning at Consol. — ROOT SPORTS
Did they not look at that face?
What was so critically important about facing the Flames in mid-December or, for that matter, any game at any time in a circumstance so severe that the bleeping CDC was being contacted?
Where were the adults?
And never mind piling on the doctors. Where were Jim Rutherford and Mike Johnston?
Do you mean to tell me a GM and/or coach couldn’t have looked at that neck and thought, hey, maybe we could squeeze by against the Flames and Blue Jackets without this guy?
That’s what I want to understand better about all this: How does that happen?
And what can be done to change that mindset?
Rutherford hesitated his way through another uncomfortable press conference Monday, perhaps aware that by dusk he’d show up on the nightly network newscasts, explaining that Crosby passed the infectious stage of mumps Sunday and that he could have been around the team Monday but for extra precaution. He also mentioned that beleaguered Beau Bennett, a human checklist of maladies, might be the next to be afflicted.
Oh, and that Bennett was among the players visiting Children’s, where testing is now being done on all the kids who came into contact with him.
“We feel bad about that,” Rutherford said. “We tried to do a good thing and go to Children’s Hospital and do different things in the community. But at that point in time, obviously, he was not tested to be positive.”
No, actually, there was nothing obvious about the situation. Mumps symptoms can stay latent for several weeks before emerging. That didn’t require a CDC test. That’s a routine Google.
I’ll ask again: Where were the adults?
Where were the grown-ups when the Penguins allowed two pregnant women, one a team employee and the other a beat reporter, to be around the locker room daily?
Did anyone check into what mumps can mean for the unborn child?
That’s another routine Google.
Here’s another that I’m betting you’ll hate: Where were the adults in deciding whether or not the Penguins’ 4-2 victory against the Lightning on Monday night should have taken place?
Not being hyperbolic, I swear. Totally legit question, in light of all else.
Sure, it was a wonderful outcome for the home team: Marc-Andre Fleury was magnificent from the start, Brandon Sutter and Steve Downie were beasts, and Bryan Rust and Brian Dumoulin both scored their first NHL goals.
It’s always a pleasure to see the latter, in particular, especially since both looked so mature in how they scored:
But there’s no question this game was played under a pall, one that Johnston acknowledged afterward by saying, “We’ve been dealing with a lot lately, with all the injuries and now the mumps. We’re giving everyone tomorrow off and, hopefully, we can come back Wednesday recharged.”
That was in response to a question from a dispatched reporter from ESPN, of all outlets. That network long ago discarded hockey but apparently felt this was newsworthy enough to send … oh, never mind. I can’t attach any gravity to this one. This reporter was so lost in this setting that she actually asked the Penguins for an afternoon one-on-one with Crosby. Who happens to be, you know, in quarantine.
She later asked Downie how he managed to play through the mumps scare.
“I don’t know,” he came back. “I guess I just stayed away from people’s sweat or something.”
Nice.
Anyway, this was no more or less important than those games against the Flames and Blue Jackets, with precious little assurance for the Lightning, in particular, of being infected.
Did you hear what Alain Vigneault, the Rangers’ head coach, said over the weekend when learning that center Derrick Brassard had contracted mumps?
“Maybe it’s because we played against Pittsburgh on Monday, and he goes head-to-head against Sid. Maybe Sid gave it to him.”
Never mind the inherent unfairness in the remark. Or the ESPN comedy. That’s the state of affairs.
Let me be very clear here on the distinction I’m making: It’s one thing for doctors to miss a diagnosis of a rare disease that might have been obscured by a very real injury in the exact same area of the neck. But it’s quite another for those same doctors and the Penguins themselves to react as slowly as they did to the environment, especially in the wake of a mumps outbreak in the NHL and the league placing all 30 teams on high alert.
Maybe the league itself should take some blame, not so much for the specific handling of mumps but for the broader culture it’s created of lying about injuries and ailments. That’s what goes on, too: It’s lying. It isn’t just saying ‘upper body’ or ‘lower body.’ Actual lying and deception goes on here far more than most in the public ever find out. All completely acceptable.
I don’t know that anyone lied in the Crosby case. I’d like to think they didn’t.
But I do know that all concerned dealt very poorly with the truth once faced with it.