Bad News for Duke

[Sonny]

what was it that got the NCST program disbanded in the 80s?

I believe it was drug related. But not 100% certain on that.

[laxfan25]

From FoxSports.com "The circumstances of the rape indicated a deep racial motivation for some of the things that were done," District Attorney Mike Nifong said. "It makes a crime that is by its nature one of the most offensive and invasive even more so."

Nifong said the team members are standing together and refusing to talk with investigators, and he warned he may bring aiding-and-abetting charges against some of the players.

Angry over the team members' silence and the university's handling of the case, Durham residents have demonstrated on and off campus in the past few days. They rallied outside the house where the alleged attack occurred, and gathered outside of Duke Provost Peter Lange's home, where they banged on pots and pans until he emerged to answer questions.

Lange said Monday that he believes "the students would be well-advised to come forward. They have chosen not to."

So it would appear that they're not talking is not on the advice of the University...

[Sonny]

I should probably revise what I just stated. They probably were "threatened" with legal proceedings if they (i.e. the team) didn't cooperate with the investigation.

Whether or not that evidence is admissible is another story....

[PigPen]

guilty or innocent-this doesn't look good for the sport in the public eye. Remember St. John's back in the 90's, the St. Paul's, now this. I actually saw it on the national news tonight-you know its's pretty bad when something has hit the network national news.

[Lax_Stats]

Some of the posts I found to be distasteful, specifically the stripper is just a prostitute comment, and the conjecture involving why they didn't clean up the mess. Perhaps I'm just sensitive, my mom always said I was sensitive.

The behavior of the captains I was referring to was the hosting the party to begin with. I expect better of our captains, and would think Duke's coach would as well.

I wasn't trying to be distasteful in the least. i was simply trying to point out some facts I felt had been overlooked. I will try once more.

(1) Articles in this thread have referred to the "dancers" as "escorts". "Escort" is not only the name of a Ford automobile, it is also a term used for a woman who exchanges sexual acts for money. That is called a prostitute according to websters dictionary. Acts of prostitution are illegal and are thus criminal in nature. A person who is knowingly committing criminal acts on a daily basis and doing so is the "sex for money" industry has already shed some doubt on their credibility as well as integrity IMHO!

(2) Concerning the "conjecture" as to why the players or whoever it was didn't clean up the mess? I brought out this point as a point of thought that perhaps there was never a crime committed, as common sense tells me that if these guys had in fact committed the alleged crime in question, which is a pretty horrific crime IMO, wouldn't they be smart enough to clean up afterwards and get rid of any potential evidence??

Someone here is guilty as sin! I'm just trying to point out that the crime committed might be the crime of filing a false police report by the dancers/escorts and not the allegations against the party goers. These accusations are against our lacrosse brethren and I say if you cant at least stand by them until they are proven innocent or guilty, at least don't condemn them along the way and before all the facts have come out!!

[Gregg Pathiakis]

New story on ESPN.com about the backlash the school is taking...

Both taken from: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2389518

Duke president discusses rape case with students

DURHAM, N.C. -- The president of Duke University met Wednesday with students who feel his suspension of the lacrosse team during a rape investigation was not enough, urging them to be patient while police look into the matter.

"I don't want to say I'm satisfied, but I will say that what happened in there makes me feel like we're moving in a good direction," sophomore Bridgette Howard said after the roughly hourlong session.

And here is the 911 call (unlrelated to the charges, but related to the party)

Emergency 911 tapes revealed that on the night of the alleged incident March 13, a black woman tearfully reported that a man came out of 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. as she and a friend passed by and shouted a racial slur at them. Please note: The caller is NOT the accuser.

12:53 A.M.

TELECOMMUNICATOR: "Durham 911, where's your emergency?"

CALLER: "Hi, I don't know if this is an emergency or not, necessarily, but I'm in Durham, and I was driving down near Duke's campus, and it's me and my black girlfriend, and the guy -- there's like a white guy by the Duke wall -- and he just hollered out 'n-----' to me. And I'm just so angry I didn't know who to call. [Crying]

"I don't know if this is an emergency. They're just hanging out by the wall on Buchanan [Boulevard]."

TELECOMMUNICATOR: "On which side?"

CALLER: "It's right outside of 610 Buchanan [Blvd]. And I saw them all come out of, like, a big frat house, and me and my black girlfriend are walking by, and they called us 'n------.' [Sobbing]

"So I don't know what's gonna happen. I'm not gonna press the issue, I guess. But I live in a neighborhood where they wrote KKK on the side of a white station wagon, and that's near right where I'm at, you know what I mean. And they didn't harm me in any way, but I just feel so completely offended, I can't even believe it. I thought, you know what I'm saying, times have changed, and I don't even know what's going on.

"It's right in front of 610 Buchanan. I saw them coming out of this frat house. 610 North Buchanan. …

"So, I'm not going to press the issue, but, whatever, however Durham city feels about racial slurs and stuff, however you guys want to handle it, you can handle it however you do. I'm not hurt in any way, OK.

"Thank you ..."

[Lax_Stats]

I see the race card is getting played now. If these allegations prove to be true, I want to make it clear that rape is rarely about a persons race and it is always about violence!!!!!!

[DanGenck]

The Smoking Gun now has information, including the names of the players who are accused.

www.thesmokinggun.com

[Adam Gamradt]

A couple of articles everyone should consider reading.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/columns/story?id=2389669

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/w ... index.html

[Has No Left]

Duke has removed the lacrosse roster for their official website. Unfortunately, anyone with access to a "Faceoff Yearbook" can determine at least who two of the accused players are. These situations do such incredible damage to programs and individuals; that is the take-away for all of us to remember.

[Danny Hogan]

i don't know that you can assume what individuals are accused. too many variables in the situation (fake names, non players, foggy memory...)

[AflacLax]

Laxpower has removed the picture with a Duke player from it's men's ranking page.

Check it out:http://www.laxpower.com/common/college_men.php

It's now a Maryland photo.

[jessexy]

Male treatment toward women is horrible these days, especially at the college level. We are way past "boys will be boys"... this is the issue I want to talk about... not who is guilty or who is going to jail.

Listening to some of the songs being played during the summer league games in SoCal was quite eye-opening. There were multiple references to abusive treatment of women and denigrating comments about their sole function in the eyes of the singers. To the guys' credit who were running the event, they did offer to change the music and did in fact do so when more female fans arrived (I told them not to worry about it--on hindsight I probablyshould've gone up and asked them to change it). It did, however, leave me wondering how this type of music colored their own opinions of the women around them. Yes, I know it's called gangsta rap and supposedly reflects views of those in the ghettos, but I can't help but feel that it sends a negative message to the subconscience about the value and worth of women as a whole in our society. Just my opinion on that.

The sad thing is that female rappers often perpetuate these same stereotypes and attitudes in both their own music and their contributions to other artists' songs.

As far as the Duke thing goes, it seems odd that they are focusing all DNA testing solely on the team. Perhaps the woman has ID'd specific players, but it would seem very reasonable that other white males (non-Duke players) would be present at the party and mistaken for Duke players. Innocent or not, news like this is always bad. A lot of people may not follow this story all the way through and will regard Duke Lacrosse and lacrosse players in general in a bad light.

how does rap music get pulled into this discussion? is all of this raps fault? first we have copkiller and now we have "lacrosse team rapists"? i dont understand.

[packlax]

Interesting article regarding the first 911 call. It was made by a woman who 'claims' to have been driving when residents of 610 Buchanan Dr. yelled racial slurrs at her. She stated that she was driving in front of the house when this happened, and that she was sure it was 610....however, as the article states, there are no address numbers on the house or anywhere around it. There is a "faded imprint of the numbers is halfway down the front door of the house, a location obscured by the railings on the front porch of the house". Either she was very familiar with the area, or something else is up. Just a thought.


http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-718588.html

[Danny Hogan]

do most defense attorneys use profanity on the record?