Wayne Simien suffered a shoulder injury. I know it, you know it and the people of Kansas know it.
We probably know more about Simien’s shoulder injury than we know about the pledge of allegiance. We know Simien, a Kansas University basketball player, dislocated his right shoulder in a game against Missouri-Kansas City just after the turn of the year. We know about Simien’s aborted comeback, the options he faced, his eventual surgery and his rehab.
Bill Whittemore also suffered a shoulder injury. I know it, you know it and the people of Kansas know it.
But we probably know less about Whittemore’s injury than we do about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. All we know is whatever happened to the Kansas University quarterback occurred just before the end of the first quarter in Saturday’s game at Kansas State.
Without question, Simien and Whittemore are the highest-profile KU athletes to suffer an injury this year. Yet we know almost everything about one of those injuries and next to nothing about the other.
Why the open book on Simien and the stonewall on Whittemore?
You can thank or blame — depending how you feel about it — a government ruling called the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act that went into effect in April. In other words, before Simien and after Whittemore.
Under terms of the HIPAA, universities must ask student-athletes to sign a waiver form before their injury information can be released to the media and other individuals not associated with health care. Each injury requires a new form to be signed before any information can be released. If the student-athlete declines to sign the waiver, KU officials can discuss playing status only — such as probable, doubtful, questionable or out.
At the same time, KU football coach Mark Mangino wouldn’t release any information about the injury even if the student-athlete signed the waiver. That’s Mangino’s policy and he’s sticking to it. That’s fine in most cases. Few care whether a backup linebacker has a turf toe or a hangnail.
Yet when the best and best-known player on the KU team suffers an injury that will sideline him for perhaps the remainder of the season, doesn’t Mangino owe it to the KU fans to tell them everything he knows about Whittemore’s injury and what will be done to expedite the healing process? Don’t the people who have backed the Jayhawks through thin and thin deserve that much?
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Everybody who saw Saturday’s game in Manhattan witnessed Whittemore jog off the field without moving his right arm. Then they watched as KU sideline medical personnel probed under his right shoulder pad. Then they saw Whittemore jog to the dressing room in the south end zone at KSU Stadium, again with his right arm immobile.
In the press box, speculation began immediately. Whittemore’s shoulder had been damaged — that was obvious — but what kind of damage and how severe? It was also clear Whittemore hadn’t suffered a dislocation. We had seen Simien’s right arm after his shoulder had popped out, and Whittemore’s shoulder wasn’t skewed at a grotesque angle.
With dislocation ruled out, we were left to mull about whether Whittemore had a possible separation or maybe collarbone damage. One newspaper later speculated Whittemore had separated his shoulder. However, the Journal-World reported, based on secondhand information, that Whittemore had suffered collarbone damage. But had he broken the clavicle? And if so, was it a small or a large break?
All Mangino has told us is Whittemore’s recovery could take from three to 12 weeks. I respect Mangino’s policy on injuries. He has every right to keep injuries secret because the buck stops with him. But why not make an exception in this case?
Whittemore isn’t Joe Doaks. He is as well known on campus as the chancellor. If Whittemore doesn’t want the information released, that’s different. Just say so and we’ll learn to live with Internet rumors. But if Whittemore is willing, let’s stop the speculation.