Did the Mumps Sidelines Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby? Star Center May be the Latest Victim in NHL Outbreak

Mumps or not, Pittsburgh Penguins star center Sidney Crosby needs a few days off. Crosby will sit for two games, according to ESPN, due to an illness that may or may not be related to the mumps outbreak that is oddly spanning the NHL in 2014.

Crosby's face looked seriously skewed during an interview earlier this week. Hopefully for everyone involved, the star wasn't contagious as he discussed his swelling cheekbones with a horde of reporters.

Crosby didn't play Friday against the Calgary Flames and he won't play tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets due to illness, although the Penguins won't commit that its related to the outbreak.

It started with the Anaheim Ducks, then spread to the Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils, with at least 12 players and two referees infected, according to CBS Sports.

Mumps is rare in adults. It's something we have had a vaccine for since the 1960s. But once it gets into a sports clubhouse, the disease can find itself in a hotbed of sweat, showers and unsanitary conditions.

CBS found a doctor who says the outbreak doesn't surprise him, even thought we've really never seen anything like it before.

"You see the hits that they have, and sometimes the spraying of saliva," Dr. Judith Aberg, chief of the infectious diseases division at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, told CBS. "I think they are high risk. I am surprised we haven't actually seen this before."

Here's to hoping someone puts a stop to it.