The Duke Lacrosse Team Hubbub

Unless you have been living under a rock of preternatural size, then you know that in March three members of the Duke Lacrosse team allegedly raped an exotic dance at a party hosted by the team. I cannot think a current issue that irritates me more than this one. I can think of issues that flabbergast and baffle me more, but this one is simply aggravating because of the because of the extreme lengths that the media reaches to make people care.

Richard Brodhead, the president of Duke University, held a press conference yesterday to let the earth know that Duke Lacrosse will return for at least the 2006-2007 season. I am well aware of the racial circumstances and the fact that these players may have done something wrong, but canceling the season in the first place was one of the greatest overreactions in the history of sports administration. Have they been proven guilty yet?

There are 46 members on the lacrosse team, and three of them have been charged. Would it have made sense to cancel the Los Angeles Lakers season because Kobe Bryant was allegedly an evil person? These Duke players are a team, they are not the same person.

Why is the administration backed by the media surprised that athletes in college have parties with *gasp* minors taking in the alcohol? The false incredulity that floods the network and cable news shows with facts of life like these is disturbing. When they speculate on how evil Duke Lacrosse actually is, my eyes literally cannot stop from rolling while I look for something to knock me unconcsious until the segment is over. Thank God for the remote.