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McCown maintains Crosby had C1 and C2 vertebrae injury

Sid Crosby

Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby skates during practice in Sunrise, Fla., Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. Crosby skated with his teammates for the first time in more than a month on Friday but still has no idea when he’ll be cleared to practice, let alone see action in a game. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

AP

The Toronto radio host who broke the news about Sidney Crosby’s neck injury is standing by his story that the Penguins’ captain had an abnormality in his C1 and C2 vertebrae. Pittsburgh has since said Crosby suffered “a soft-tissue injury of the neck” with “no evidence of a past or present neck fracture.”

“I never reported it as a fracture to the C1 and C2,” Bob McCown told The Globe and Mail today. “I deliberately said it was an injury to the C1 and C2. But [Crosby’s agent] Pat Brisson confirmed it as a fracture. So did Alex Guerrero and Dr. [Robert] Bray who both saw the fractures in the MRIs.

“Just because the Penguins now say there was no fracture, why should we believe them? Why are they the most credible source? They’ve had this file in front of them for months, and the story keeps changing. Are they saying Guerrero and Dr. Bray, who’ve worked with many top athletes and teams in the past, aren’t accurate?

“Look, I’d be okay if someone could prove it one way or the other. But this idea that the Penguins and their doctors are the final word on this doesn’t stand up after all that’s happened in the past on this file.”

Yesterday Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero wouldn’t say whether or not Bray officially diagnosed Crosby with a neck fracture, only that there was something Bray saw in examining Crosby that he wanted to get a second opinion on. The Penguins subsequently consulted with Dr. Alexander Vaccaro in Philadelphia, after which, Shero says, all the doctors had a conference call and concluded there was no evidence of a neck fracture.