Thankful it wasn't my alma mater
As some of you may know, the Duke lacrosse team has been accused of raping a 'dancer' (translation: stripper) at one of their parties. The following is the latest discovery in the case, an email from a player just a few hours after the incident (thanks to The Smoking Gun for the documents):
I had tried to reserve judgment on these guys until I saw the entire contents of the search warrant document (linked above). The evidence is pretty solid. The email above certainly doesn't prove guilt, and in fact the guy who wrote it may not have been involved. His lawyer is claiming that the email shows he didn't know what had happened. Uh, no, what it shows is that he'd have to be really stupid to rape the woman and then send that email. But it's entirely possible he is, in fact, that stupid. I lived with lacrosse players my senior year in college. They were generally nice guys, but often were stupid meatheads. They liked to fight and hit things. I watched my roommates knock down a large section of sturdy 6-foot high wooden fence in our yard, they just kept running at it and ramming it until it broke. They got in numerous bar fights. One of them crashed his car into our several of our neighbors' cars, then hid his wreck at a friend's house and was never caught. Not that karma didn't catch up with him. One night he came in covered in his own blood, with his nose flattened, after picking a fight with the wrong guy.
I have to ask myself, were those guys capable of what the Duke players were accused of? I hope not. But I definitely recognize a lot of the same behavior and attitude.
I don't think they were born meatheads. I've seen what the aggressive training does to these athletes, and I've seen the effects disappear once they retire from the sport. Maybe some people don't realize they spend several hours every day training to be more aggressive and hit harder. I don't think college or professional sports teams take enough responsibility for the monsters they help create. I'm not saying that football or lacrosse are bad sports and shouldn't be played. I'm just saying that no one has ever held coaches or administrators responsible when violent aggression leaves the field. Nothing is done to prevent it. I wonder if they've even thought of trying. Maybe some drills of turning the aggression on and off? So that they learn to control it better? Never even been attempted, as far as I know. It's all about on-field results with absolutely no regard for off-field side effects.
To whom it may concern
Tommrow night, after tonights show, Ive decided to have some strippers over to edens 2c. all are welcome.. However there will be no nudity. I plan on killing the bitches as soon as the walk in and proceding to cut their skin off while cumming in my duke issue spandex.. all in besides arch and tack please respond
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I had tried to reserve judgment on these guys until I saw the entire contents of the search warrant document (linked above). The evidence is pretty solid. The email above certainly doesn't prove guilt, and in fact the guy who wrote it may not have been involved. His lawyer is claiming that the email shows he didn't know what had happened. Uh, no, what it shows is that he'd have to be really stupid to rape the woman and then send that email. But it's entirely possible he is, in fact, that stupid. I lived with lacrosse players my senior year in college. They were generally nice guys, but often were stupid meatheads. They liked to fight and hit things. I watched my roommates knock down a large section of sturdy 6-foot high wooden fence in our yard, they just kept running at it and ramming it until it broke. They got in numerous bar fights. One of them crashed his car into our several of our neighbors' cars, then hid his wreck at a friend's house and was never caught. Not that karma didn't catch up with him. One night he came in covered in his own blood, with his nose flattened, after picking a fight with the wrong guy.
I have to ask myself, were those guys capable of what the Duke players were accused of? I hope not. But I definitely recognize a lot of the same behavior and attitude.
I don't think they were born meatheads. I've seen what the aggressive training does to these athletes, and I've seen the effects disappear once they retire from the sport. Maybe some people don't realize they spend several hours every day training to be more aggressive and hit harder. I don't think college or professional sports teams take enough responsibility for the monsters they help create. I'm not saying that football or lacrosse are bad sports and shouldn't be played. I'm just saying that no one has ever held coaches or administrators responsible when violent aggression leaves the field. Nothing is done to prevent it. I wonder if they've even thought of trying. Maybe some drills of turning the aggression on and off? So that they learn to control it better? Never even been attempted, as far as I know. It's all about on-field results with absolutely no regard for off-field side effects.
posted by Jeff at 4/06/2006 09:52:00 AM
2 Comments:
I think it is just as likely that sports like lacrosse attract aggressive personalities as it is that the training promotes aggression. I doubt that participation in lacrosse will turn an otherwise laid back guy into a rapist.
True, the correlation between lacrosse and violent behavior doesn't prove anything.
However, the key piece of evidence here for me, is from my own experience with players. It was very noticeable that they lost their penchant for hitting things, after they stopped playing. That's the smoking gun, in my opinion.
I'm not absolving players of responsibility. And I don't think that anyone can become a rapist just by playing lacrosse. But I think it's a real effect that no one is talking about.
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