January 31, 2007

Think twice before you try to pin these guys: Minnesota high school wrestling programs were suspended Tuesday because of a widespread herpes outbreak.

posted by louisville_slugger to other at 07:59 AM - 19 comments

Scot Davis, who coaches wrestling at Owatonna High School No, not Scot Davis... Bubba Rwanda. And Steve Larsen, wrestling coach at Century High School in Rochester, well he's actually... Victor Denmark. Dr. Henry Balfour? Well, you may know him as Dante Armenia.

posted by SummersEve at 08:12 AM on January 31, 2007

Eeeewww.

posted by Fence at 09:27 AM on January 31, 2007

That happened in the league my HS was in too, back in the day.

posted by jerseygirl at 09:54 AM on January 31, 2007

With wrestling's Greek origins, this story could have taken a more dreadful turn.

posted by gradys_kitchen at 10:38 AM on January 31, 2007

Eh. Big deal. If you've had a cold sore, you have herpes.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:41 AM on January 31, 2007

Yeah - and if your genitals look like they read in braille, you have herpes. "Herpes Simplex?" - "More like, Herpes not-so-Simplex"

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 10:56 AM on January 31, 2007

Eh. Big deal. If you've had a cold sore, you have herpes. Maybe not to you, O Mistress of the Blase, but try telling that to a 16-year-old kid who suddenly develops painful lesions all over his back, neck and face for no good reason at all, and who can't explain the fact that he's got herpes to his girlfriend, parents, doctor, or priest. Now, if Barbaro had herpes, it'd be a friggin' crisis.

posted by The_Black_Hand at 11:21 AM on January 31, 2007

Maybe not to you, O Mistress of the Blase, but try telling that to a 16-year-old kid who suddenly develops painful lesions all over his back, neck and face for no good reason at all, and who can't explain the fact that he's got herpes to his girlfriend, parents, doctor, or priest. He could always say it's leprosy. That'd shut 'em up.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 12:15 PM on January 31, 2007

Big money potential...rubber wrestling suits???

posted by Warrior50 at 02:02 PM on January 31, 2007

The singlet's already fetishtastic. What does rubber really add that vinyl wouldn't? And maybe bunny ears and a diaper.

posted by yerfatma at 02:18 PM on January 31, 2007

The Minnesota State High School League already runs tests for skin herpes at all meets and the outbreak began after a meet involving schools from Wisconsin and Iowa, which do not require the testing (even if the meet takes place in Minnesota). Thus, there is a great deal of speculation that it sourced from an outstate school. And before people say it's no big deal, the decision affects roughly 7,500 athletes and certainly a parent or two may start asking questions. I doubt any substantial changes will come as a result of this; if any, I would expect outstate teams to be forced to be tested.

posted by PublicUrinal at 04:07 PM on January 31, 2007

hmmm...we have an outbreak of herpes and take every precaution to contain it, yet when it comes to another more contagious disease, we just live day to day without containment. We wouldn't want to offend those with the disease due to its origins. So tell me, why didn't we contain the AIDS strand when we had the opportunity? Thumbs up for the schools that do test.

posted by bavarianmotorworker at 05:56 PM on January 31, 2007

The same thing happend to the wrestling team at our local school in December and a couple of matches were canceled...cept they just called it an unknown skin rash.....

posted by shudacudawuda at 07:33 PM on January 31, 2007

bavarian, first off, AIDS is not more contagious than herpes. Not even close. You can get herpes by shaking hands. Not so for AIDS, which generally requires a transer of bodily fluids, whether from sexual contact, shared hypodermic needles, or tainted blood products. Plus, in this case, the disease can be controlled by limiting skin contact. Therefore, organizations which oversee youth athletics prevent said contact. Stopping AIDS will require legislating behavior, which is notoriously difficult to do in a free society.

posted by The_Black_Hand at 05:28 AM on February 01, 2007

I see a marketing/product placement/sponsorship opportunity for Valacyclovir here.

posted by psmealey at 06:42 AM on February 01, 2007

This is why I swim.

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 04:58 PM on February 01, 2007

This is why I pee in the pool

posted by mick at 06:35 PM on February 01, 2007

No big deal. It sinks anyway.

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 07:03 PM on February 01, 2007

I used to mop the mats for High School practice damn I could've helped this out not being funny but I hated doing it

posted by luther70 at 11:50 PM on February 02, 2007

You're not logged in. Please log in or register.