Three former York College wrestlers sued the college recently, claiming they contracted herpes from a teammate while on the wrestling team. In their civil lawsuit for negligence in Philadelphia County Court, the three claim that they were "forced to grapple" with another infected wrestler.

The three men claim that, in October 2006, one of their teammates developed Herpes Simplex Virus I lesions on his skin and was not allowed to practice for three days. When he returned to practice, Cooke bandaged the wrestler's lesions, according to court documents.

For the next several weeks, other wrestlers developed similar lesions, and all "continued to engage in full-contact practice with bandages over their lesions," according to court documents.

To which I say, is Herpes Simplex Virus I not a small enough price to pay for a conference wrestling championship? The painful itching, swollen lymph glands and inflamed blisters around the infected area will fade in time, but that trophy will last forever. Go Spartans!

Wrestlers File Suit Against York College Over Herpes [The York Dispatch]

Too little too late for the 'rasslers.

"We can't walk down the hallway without someone yelling 'herpes,' " said senior wrestler Zane Atkins. "Kids, teachers who usually shake our hand, they don't want anything to do with us."

One wrestler said he was told by a physical education teacher to sit in the corner with his coat on.

You know, it's a really bad sign, we think, that your team is the first group everyone turns to when there's a herpes outbreak. This never happens with the chess team.

Rash To Judgment? [Merced Sun Star]

A wrestler from Nebraska has been identified as the possible source of a skin herpes outbreak that prompted Minnesota high school officials to impose an eight-day suspension of wrestling competitions and contact practices.

B.J. Anderson, a former wrestler who acts as a health adviser to the Minnesota high school league, told The Associated Press that he would neither confirm nor deny that a Valentine, Neb. wrestler was the suspected carrier. "Will I say which team? I can't. I have to respect these teams," Anderson said. "I can say that all teams involved have been notified of the problem."

The athletic director of the Valentine High School claims that none of his school's wrestlers have been diagnosed with herpes. But certainly, it has been narrowed down to one or two teams, because there were only two Nebraska teams in the Minnesota tournament that started this all. That's about 26 kids, total. Someone knows he is the guy who started all this, and this is high school: Everybody else knows too, or at least thinks they do.

And that kid, right now, is sitting in his bedroom, wondering if college will ever, ever get here.

Nebraska High School Wrestler The Typhoid Mary Of Herpes [Metroville]

At least 24 cases of Herpes Gladiatorum have been confirmed. Officials first became aware of the outbreak after a tournament in Rochester in December. Since, 10 teams have reported wrestlers with skin lesions involving the face, head or neck.

On its website the high school league said it was banning wrestling to prevent transmission of the infection during the upcoming state wrestling meet. The ban ends Feb. 6, and competition can resume on Feb. 7.

Who would have ever thought a high school wrestling gymnasium could be such a virus carrier? Those places are like ICUs, we figured. We'll say this: If we were a Minnesota high school wrestler, or even a "fan," we're not so sure we'd be all that eager to come back on February 7.

Virus Causes High School Wrestling Suspension [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]

(By the way, the worst part about this story: Having to search for a picture to accompany this story. Let us advise you that typing the word "herpes" into Google Images is a very, VERY bad idea.)

You might remember the famous OutSports expose on the words that the NFL won't allow you to print on the back of their jerseys. Apparently, this guy, from the Atlanta game last weekend, was somehow able to iron on this tribute to Ron Mexico himself.

From the anonymous prankster:

I got tons of laughs and comments from the jersey. Pretty much everybody thought it was hilarious — got a lot of "hey, Ron Mexico!" comments, as well as hearty belly laughs. Even got a free beer out of it from a guy who thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen.

Anyway, so when I took the picture, the Falcons were just coming back from the halftime break and I went down to the rail behind there bench and turned my back so they all could see it — I think Vick even is in the background. Had Ashley Lelie yelling something at me, so at least someone saw it and reacted. I'll assume he may have mentioned something about it to Mr. Mexico, if he didn't see it himself.

We appreciate the subtlety of ignoring the easy "Mexico" jersey and just cutting to the chase: "HERPES!" Awesome.

NFL Shop Naughty Words [OutSports]