You have to wonder where that whole “Kellen Winslow’s balls have swelled to the size of grapefruits” rumor originated.
If you follow football, even remotely, you probably heard something like that floating around the last couple of weeks.
Supposedly his issue was a staph infection.
This could have easily came to a head in the groin area but regardless, Winslow is the sixth player within the last couple of seasons on the Browns roster to have a staph infection.
Yeah, when you think staph infection, you probably think of a teenage girl with a boil or something…but staph infections are no joke.
If you have one and let it go without medical attention (as I’m sure many tough athletes would try to, thinking “oh, it’s just a cut or a bump, no big deal”) it can lead to serious illness sometimes requiring amputation or, if untreated for an absurd amount of time, death.
Edwards says that the reason why his condition was withheld was not because he was hiding behind HIPAA (which, by the way is his medical right, and not ‘hiding’ as so many asshole/moron journalists and fans believe) but because the upper management of the team didn’t want it to get out that yet another one of their players contracted a staph infection.
“They didn’t even want me going to the Cleveland Browns’ facility because they didn’t want me to get re-infected. Something is wrong up there. It needs to be fixed.”
“Nobody knew that I had staph on the team because the Browns didn’t want it to get out,” Winslow said. “But it’s my teammates’ right to know what’s going on at the facility to protect them. Their safety is at risk, too, and I didn’t agree with the Cleveland Browns, because they are protecting the organization and not the players.”
“I didn’t get a ‘How are you doing Kellen? It’s good to have you back.’ Nothing like that,” Winslow said. “I was very disappointed. I basically told him I don’t feel appreciated on this team by you [GM Phil Savage], and I feel like a piece of meat sometimes.”
To all of the brilliant ESPN commenter’s who wittily replied “you is a piece of meat Braylon”, for one, he’s Kellen Winslow, not Braylon Edwards. Secondly, the best example I can think of is if you work in an office building that is not being properly maintained (trash not being removed, bathrooms not being cleaned, backed up toilets spilling on the floor all the time, lack of hand soap int he bathrooms, nothing being disinfected ever) and you get severely sick as a direct result of the office environment, you would probably call your office out on it (to HR or whomever) or call the state board of health. You deserve a clean workplace that will not inhibit your ability to do your job.
The Browns are obviously a little different since you know, guys are constantly coming into the locker room caked in dirt, blood…etc., but it is the responsibility of the organization to keep that environment clean to not inhibit their employees from doing their job. Plus, just form a business perspective, it is to the extreme detriment of the organization (business, football team or any other organization) to not foster a clean working environment when it ends up causing you to be shorthanded due to preventable sickness (at the VERY least).
The Browns have had almost a year and a half to figure this out.
This is a situation where Roger Goodell should step in and fine the responsible party (probably the GM) for not acting appropriately to solve this issue after staph infections had happened FIVE TIMES ALREADY!
Think about it, Adam Pacman Jones gets suspended for not meeting professional levels of conduct befitting NFL players. The Browns have clearly not met professional levels of conduct befitting their work environment. It is just as negligent. Obviously there might be an infection every now and then due to the nature of the game, but this is out of hand.
Reported by Chair.
