Business…here’s why I think the NFL’s three strikes proposal is a crock.
Well, didn’t get as much mail on Duke as expected. But I got the type of mail I expected, for the most part. The prevailing opinions in my inbox were “thank you” and “why can’t you just let it go?”
Well, I would argue that those that loudly support this team are the ones that aren’t letting go of the case itself. The majority opinion, at this point, is that the accuser was not raped. I haven’t heard too many people saying anything otherwise. The folks wearing the “Innocent” armbands are keeping the case in the public consciousness, which is their right.
Perhaps people like me aren’t letting go of the team’s documented behavior, and we wonder how folks like the vast majority of the crowd at Saturday’s game are letting that stuff slide. I don’t think you can have it both ways. If you let it go, let it all go and treat the return of the lacrosse team like any lacrosse game. To make it into a larger event is to clearly imply that some things aren’t being let go.
Anyway, let’s get into the mail. Here’s Justin.
I’m a frequent reader of your columns, and the briefest of glances at my email
address should indicate that I took a personal interest in your thoughts on the
lacrosse game. As a graduate student, I’m somewhat sheltered from what could be
called “student life” here on campus, but for the first time I’m wondering
whether that’s such a bad thing after all. I’ve been appalled at the openly
racist backlash that’s been going on, led by a few very vocal and well
connected conservatives, and at many of the undergraduates’ refusal to deal
with the questions you’re posing here.
In short, I think you’re asking the right questions, however uncomfortable they
may be for many (I also think you’re going to get a lot of hate mail from the
same folks who would fire half of our faculty if given the chance). Why exactly
have so many undergraduates invested so much in the lacrosse team without
stopping to consider a situation that was so obviously “broken” long before
last year’s incident?
Here’s a student at Scranton that didn’t leave a name. That detail should give you a hint of what’s coming.
You couldn’t be any more biased. Football players and basketball players
are involved in shootings and rapes semingly every day. USC’s backup
quarterback was accused of sexual assault recently, but there was hardly
a big debate over that. How dare college kids drink underage and say
stupid things, because that would be really weird. But a black woman
accuses white kids of rape and all of a sudden its Black vs. White and
Rich vs. Poor. A poor woman who happens to have made false accusations
of rape in the past, and had had sex repeatedly with people other than
the accused.
In case you didn’t noticed. The rape charges were dropped. These
kids lives are tainted for the rest of their lives. One of them lost the
job he was supposed to have after graduation because of this. Getting
strippers and gettin drunk was a bad idea. But is it really something to
hold a life-long grudge over? No. Its not. But because of moronic people
like you it is. College athletes get drunk and do stupid shit all the
time. Give these kids at least some kind of break. Its bad enough that
there always going to be remembered negatively just for being Duke
lacrosse players. These kids are just as guilty as every college athlete
in America when it comes to acting like an asshole when your young. Get
over yourself
Anyone that saw the last interview the accused did with “60 Minutes” would disagree with the notion that these guys will be tainted for the rest of their lives. Hell, I saw a woman at the game with a bumper sticker affixed to her jacket that said “Free the Duke 3,” as if they’re political prisoners. Perhaps there are some that will never let them slide for what they were accused of, but I doubt it’ll be that bad for them in the circles they run in.
This is from Bryant, who describes himself as “A WHITE READER WHO IS BEYOND FED UP.”
You despicable racist buffoon. Your pathetic
race-baiting has continued long enough. I am tired of
your constant articles regarding supposed racial
transgressions and injustices amongst the certainly
non-prejudiced American Caucasian society. The fact I
am finally sending an e-mail concerning this absurdity
subsequent to reading all of the pitiful rants by your
shameful colleague Scoop (whatever the fuck that
means) Jackson should really indicate how fed up I am
by this garbage. The heroic Duke lacrosse team should
be commended for tolerating such nonsense, and after
unequivocally being proven to be the unfortunate
targets of a vast left-wing Negro conspiracy, all you
can do is see black and white in this despicable
series of events.
If you ever stepped foot on a college campus, you
would realize partying goes on among all groups,
including hip-hop aficionados to basketball players to
preppy lacrosse players and frat boys. That team holds
a 100% graduation rate and the majority of players go
on to impressive employment opportunities on Wall
Street and many on to prestigious law school and
graduate programs. Compare this to the anemic
graduation trends saturating high-major college
basketball and football programs and then you may
reconsider your misguided thesis you so haphazardly
just reported. Sure, these goofballs went out and had
a good time once in a while, but public urination and
other goodhearted shenanigans is not endemic to this
squad nor to whites in general. Why don’t you just
admit you have a problem with white society as a whole
instead of camouflaging your prevailing racist
attitudes though something as ridiculous as typical
rowdy college behavior. Get over yourselves as an
oppressed group and maybe a little progress in this
realm may be achieved. It is misguided rants which you
just posted, to a national audience, which perpetuates
racist feelings within the white community. Until you
and all your “brothas” get over the admittedly
horrifying transgressions by my people, albeit DECADES
AGO, the racist tensions will never be soothed or
remedied. As I say to all of my friends who look to me
for advice on how to deal with the constant sophomoric
whining among blacks on our campus, any negative
feelings directed toward them is their fault. We are
ready to move on, clearly you are not. As I like to
say, THE IMPETUS OF RACIAL RECONCILIATION IS IN THE
HANDS OF THE BELLIGERENT BLACK MAN. And you,
sir, are most certainly a belligerent. So next time
you consider raining on the parade of this wonderful
team, or gratuitously incorporating race into one of
your pieces, consider the large number of previously
benign and color-blind fellow white American citizens
you caused to reevaluate their thoughts on race in
America. Just get over it, you have a good job, so
racism and the so-called principles of white supremacy
could not have had much of an impact on your life. Or,
since you have obviously led a successful business
career, does it just make you feel better to convince
yourself that racism exists and you were able to
prevail over this nonexistent facet of America life.
Does it sooth you? That’s a really good question and
something you should deeply contemplate. Anyway, if
you didn’t begin feeling sorry for your pathetic,
non-oppressed self and have made it this long in my
indignant (or is it ignant) rant tell Scoop that in
addition to your needless infatuation with race, he
creates many more racists with his hyper-focus on race
as well. Not a good scenario. So I’m finished with
you, and I will continue reading your still
well-written work just so I can get riled up. Say
hello to Tawana Bradley when you get the chance.
Uhhh, okay.Rodney’s up next.
I do not believe the support was for bad behavior. It was support due to the railroading by the DA, black leaders in Durham, extreme feminist and the group of 88. I think they deserve the support and this is only the beginning. Wait to the civil lawsuits start and you will see these boys, rightly so, made into heros. Also, the movie rights will make them national stars.
Should the lying prostitute be supported for making a false rape claim?
Who’s supporting the dancer at this point? And why should they be national stars? Because they didn’t do something?
Brian places this in a team context in an interesting way.
Nicely written article. I totally agree with you. Coming from a team sport in college, the actions of a few should directly impact the team as a whole. You’re a team and if your captains are the ones involved in something they shouldn’t be doing, that’s a reflection of you.
Regardless of what occurred that night, I think forcing them to take the season off served as a wake up call for those playing today – 36 separate incidents in inexcusable. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that one of the three boys accused had a rap sheet a mile long. The school should not be celebrating the team coming back…they should be holding them over a microscope making sure they don’t slip up again.
Anyway, well written and well thought out article.
Check this from Roger.
I find it very disturbing that your article must redo the redo of the redo concerning kids drinking, sluring, hiring strippers, and being loud. So What!!!???!!! First of all you are a liar. You are a fraud. It has never been proven that one kid delivered a slur to a slurring lying felon. Those were Kim’s words. And she admits on 60 minutes that the slur(if there was one) was delivered by one kid. Your presentation of the facts just exemplifies the length to which your side of the ball will go in order to hold onto the fraud. How low will you go? In the context of rape, sexual assult, and kidnapping, your article is a joke. You are insignificant to life except to the racist radical marxist left. Heil Hitler you facist. Your philosophy is that of the Reichstag Fire!
Thank you, Duke Alum(1976) and a jock and drinker and a poon tang chaser.
P.S.
Are you that bad a writer that your only audience are the agenda driven suckers, losers, and radical racists?
Yes, this was written by a man that’s at least 50 years old.
Say hi to Gil.
How is the lacrosse team bad behavior any different than any other sports? Gee, racial slurs happen all the time. What about black athletes who demean white athletes. Look at the NBA.
Racial slurs or not, the girl falsified her account of what happened. The kids were punished if they were falsely accused.
Do with that what you will.
Tony’s not pleased.
I’m very bothered by your take on the attendance at the Duke Lacrosse game this weekend. It’s a bad thing that 6000 people came out to support a group of innocent kids thrown into the national spotlight by the media for a crime that never took place because an “overzealous DA” saw a chance to get some face time in an election year. A 20 year old kid had his entire life taken away although he has evidence of him entering a cab, stopping at an ATM, picking up food and entering his dorm all at the same time he was raping a very credible exotic dancer who has only changed her story about 300 times at this point. This “overzealous DA” wouldn’t even let the student’s lawyer present this evidence to him. He just indicted him and let ESPN and Newsweek turn him into a national villain by plastering his picture onto every publication out there. A community rallies around this and you bring up the record of a few individuals who committed very minor infractions involving underage drinking to justify that these kids shouldn’t be supported.
Irresponsible reporting led to this mess in the first place. The media saw a chance to play the race card in this “perfect storm” of a case. You continue to pile on even after the DA has been taken off the case and disbarred and the accuser now admits a rape never took place. When and where can these 3 individuals go to get their good name back? It seems to me like Duke Lacrosse and these individuals need support and deserve as much as they can get. They have been put through enough why cowardly members of the media like yourself ignore facts for the sake of a story.
Innocent of the crime they were accused of? Perhaps. Innocent overall? These ain’t babes in the woods, playboy.
Charles is up next.
Your column makes no sense. You feel that Duke lacrosse games should not be attended because some of the players have been involved in sophmoric behavior.
OK, if we accept your argument, then you certainly must feel that Miami should abandon football altogether, as should Florida State and Tennessee based on the arrests and misbehavior over the last few seasons. Is that correct Bomani? Isn’t that what you are suggesting? You obviously have no trouble with the Hurricane’s “7th Floor Crew” do you? Guess we can assume it wasn’t your ho that was being “muddied by 7th Floor Crew”.
Are you suggesting the Cincinnati Bengals fold up their football team. Should fans not attend the games? Surely you must be appalled at the Ravens fans who celebrate Ray Lewis, his dances, and his antics. Lewis, an accessory to murder, was party to the savage murder of two men in Atlanta. Lewis even had blood from the victims on his shirt. Yet Lewis was permitted to slide, and escaped justice. Lewis refused to testify against his gangster friends. Fans celebrate him in Baltimore, and you don’t seem to have any problem with it. Why not? The Ravens fans also celebrate convicted drug dealer Jamal Lewis.
I’d be happy to see Duke abolish their men’s lacrosse team, if we would see similar responses from every sports team college and professional sports that had players who were guilty of anti-social behavior. Are you also advancing the notion that we abolish the NBA as a whole?
No, the only crime committed in Durham was by Mike Nifong. The fact that three innocent young men were “Tawana Brawlied” doesn’t bother you at all. The fact that these peoples lives were ruined by a street whore who was trying to make a buck is OK in your eyes. That isn’ the tune you were singing when an opportunistic whore filed a rape suit against Kobe Bryant, you slimy hypocrite.
Go play a round of golf with O.J.
I love how people say that my being black must fuel my opinion on this. What’s the basis?
Ryan hates Duke, but disagrees with me.
Bomani,
I don’t understand the negativity directed at Duke students in your article. The alledged racial slurs are clearly unacceptable, but outside of that, what exactly are you expecting of the students? They watched their school’s season be cancelled for what appears to be completely bullshit story, further instigated by a DA more interested in his own career than the truth. And you expect the students to be outraged because the lax team partied like, well, college students? If anyone should be blamed for celebrating the return of Duke lax, you should focus more on your employer than the students of Duke University.
Ryan
San Diego
P.S. Dook Sucks!
That crowd wasn’t just students. And students didn’t tell the band to show up. There’s lots to go around here.
And finally, we close with the most ironic e-mail. It’s from Doug.
that article was pathetic and you should be ashamed of writing proffessionally yuo know nothing about lacrosse. you amplify the media crap surrounding that lacrosee team. your a pathetic person and its sad how i feel stong enough to write to you about how much of a joke u are
I dont’ like to pick on people’s spelling, but this is funny.
Wow. I’m blown away by some readers’ inability to correctly assess your main point here. I’m also further baffled by how the writer being black factors into any of it.
The guy who touched on how a team (especially the leaders) should conduct itself and how the suspension should serve as a wakeup call was dead on. The coach of every school team I was ever on always drilled home that we represented our school and team first, and ourselves second(followed by the obligatory “So help me God if you embarrass me I’ll make two-a-days seem like they were a picnic!”).
The actions of the Duke Lacrosse team reached a point where the administration shut them down. It seems contradictory on the school’s part to have shut the team down one year, and then glorified their return the next(with a band, etc.)
Whatever you do with this site in the future, don’t drop the mailbag, Bo. It’s always disturbingly funny.
Even though it’s pretty clear that you picked the worst letters you got, I’d still have to say that on the whole, the letter-writers bitch-slapped you pretty good.
However, I’d guess that the odds of you seeing the error of your ways are about the same as the odds that any of those kids actually having raped the stripper.
By the way, since you’re obviously not so good at math, how does the number of incidents accrued by lacrosse players match up with a random group of college students over the same period of time? Here’s a hint, according to the Coleman report: not appreciably different.
Ooops, sorry, I probably shouldn’t have introduced you to any facts, since they don’t tend to support any of your preconceived notions. I guess that’s why all your writing appears to be long on rhetoric, short on reasoning.
isn’t interesting how many people resort to name calling when they disagree something?
is this kindergarten? it’s okay to disagree, but why not address the logic put forth by the writer?
this makes no sense to me.
There was logic? Not that I could see. Lots of reasoning by anecdote, which is the most basic of the forms of fallacious reasoning.
To use logic, Mr. Jones would need to collect some actual data and compare it to something meaningful. He has utterly failed to do so.
All he has done here is start with a conclusion, and then construct a narrative to fit that conclusion. Were he using logic, he would evaluate the evidence, and from that evidence arrive at a logical conclusion. He has turned that process directly on its head.
Try this on for size instead: Three kids were arrested for a horrible crime, and they and their teammates saw their names and reputations completely trashed by the District Attorney and the national media. As the fats slowly come out, it becomes obvious to anyone who is actually paying attention that the three players are clearly innocent, the DA was lying about virtually everything he said, and the “reputation” attributed to the team was almost wholly unjustified (see the Coleman report). Having lost their coach and an entire season because of something that clearly did not happen, a big crowd shows up to support the team for their first game back.
Not too hard to understand. What does Jones see? A crowd showing up to celebrate misbehavior that didn’t actually happen. Yeah, that’s logic.
Mr. Bomammy: Let me explain this to you:
When people try to exaggerate other peoples crimes to the point where they become obsurd, and the lies are so fantastic and outrageous that the enablers are either going to jail or at least will be sued, then normal people feel that everything less than the fantastic lies is infinitely trival. Do you get it now?
Of course, you are only baiting people with your views for discussion, I can not believe that you are anything other than the “radical token” hired to stur the pot.
Your response?
Dude, Bryant was PISSED! And sooooooo sociologically ignorant. I can’t even begin to talk about his errors.
No, Roger did NOT say poon tang?! LOL. I wonder if he considers himself a sucker or a loser since he’s clearly a part of your audience.
And why, somebody tell me why, so many people feel the need to bring up the activity of football and basketball players (read black college males) when talking about this? As if because other people do it, it’s ok!?
Freekwent pot-sturring is a haynus thing to do. You shuld be ashammed Bonami.
I think all and all, Charles and Rob have great points. You can’t possibly exaggerate how terrible it was that people showed up to the Duke lacrosse game – the kids haven’t been proven to do anything wrong. The same way you’d probably defend Ray Lewis if a writer said “I can’t believe people and the band showed up to that Ravens game.” The logic has to be congruent across the board. I usually agree with 90% of your ESPN columns, but I really don’t think you did a good job on this one. I think you are upset because people aren’t treating these three lacrosse players like absolute trash. You have to understand that just like you still might support Ray Lewis and others who were thought to have committed a crime but then proven innocent, that these supporters feel the same way about their lacrosse players. I mean, can you really not believe it?? Testimony from a stripper is about as credible as, well, testimony from a stripper that makes house calls. I don’t care what color she was or what slurs were used, I think even you know that the bitch ain’t credible. I don’t care if she talking to 60 minutes or not.
And how about the DA? Are you really willing to say this guy wasn’t trying to advance his career? Nothing seems to fit. At the beginning I was outraged by this incident, but as the facts come out, the stripper and the DA are looking less and less credible. The lacrosse players seem like out-of-control, rich, spoiled, lacrosse players – but rape is a different level. You can’t put that on them with the bullshit facts that are out there. Racism is hanus, and so is rape obviously. But they ain’t even on the same level. It ain’t even the same game. Bottom line – they haven’t been proven of anything that warrants anything more than disgust.
Because your mail is always full:
Mr. Bomani Jones,
ESPN.com
In fairness, I should preface this by saying that I am lifelong lacrosse player. That being said I have some different interpretations of what transpired in Durham over the weekend than those that you put forth in your column “Duke Lacrosse celebrated for wrong reasons”.
It is true that this particular game received unprecedented attention both on Duke’s campus and in the national media because of the alleged incident on March 9, 2006 but I believe that your analysis of the reasons behind the celebration and the celebrated themselves was wrong.
Should we be surprised that a portion of the Duke student body chose to come out in support of this year’s lacrosse team? Setting aside the three accused, this team is comprised of Duke students who had an entire season of competition cancelled in an unprecedented example of reactionary decision making. Their coach was forced out and they were all made the scapegoat for what was being perceived as program run wild. These players were slandered in the national press and on television. They were portrayed as rich, white boys who were obstructing justice. The Durham District Attorney minced no words while casting them all under suspicion for a heinous act even as evidence mounted that they were innocent of any and all crimes. So what if some of the fans were not longtime lacrosse fans? What does it matter if they used some of the same traditions made famous during basketball games? When Florida State fans do the tomahawk chop during basketball and baseball games does that mean they are not there because of a love for those respective games? How does any of that signal that the students are doing anything beyond supporting their team?
Your column attempts to continue the effort to paint these young men as a group of hooligans run wild. I do not believe that the disciplinary incidents show them in any more negative light than many of their peers on college campuses and certainly are no worse than incidents we have seen in the recent past among other sports teams. Were there any incidents of drug abuse, assault, weapons charges, or girlfriend beating that are so common on football and basketball teams? Was a player shot? Did the coach fix grades? Was a teammate sexually assaulted? Were recruits given access to drugs, alcohol, or sex? In my opinion, it is quite a stretch to use destruction of campus property, public urination, and “numerous alcohol related incidents” to demonize this particular team. If these incidents are too much to ignore, when should we begin calling for the cancellation of the seasons of higher profile sports? Following your logic, how does Colorado University still have a football team? Does the moral barometer only point towards cancellation when there are no big television contracts?
As for the house party itself, it was a poor choice made by a group of young men. Hiring strippers was, and always is, a bad idea but it is a bad idea that many have had. I do not believe that people have forgotten about the claim that racial slurs may have been used but at this point, so much of what was alleged to happen on that night has become suspect that certainly there is reasonable doubt that those words were even said. Additionally, when one brings charges of rape that may put someone in jail for the better part of their life a few disturbing words become less important. Even if those vile words were said, is that justification for cancelling a season?
To say that “it’s highly possible that Durham Country District Attorney Mike Nifong overzealously pursued allegations…” would be one of the great comic understatements of all time if his zeal had not had such a disastrous impact on the lives of three young men. His actions did not turn the Duke lacrosse players into heroes or martyrs. Mike Nifong turned them all into victims. They were victimized by the law, by the media, and by the administration of Duke University.
Finally, you close by saying that even if the accused are exonerated there have been so many confirmed transgressions that the players should not be praised. How can you equate the false accusation of rape to an incident of public urination? Further, I do not think that Duke students are praising the players for the mistakes they have made. The fans are rather showing their support for their fellow students who have suffered so much over the past year. Maybe it is driven by a sense of camaraderie or maybe it is driven by a sense of personal guilt because so many were willing to prejudge before the facts started to emerge. Whatever the reason, those 6,485 students did well to watch their friends on the field and restore a bit of what makes college athletics so great.
Respectfully,
Clifton Buck
Tallahassee, Florida
Brothers willing to tell the truth on race and its prevalence even in 2007, free on espn.com.
White folks still being racist, priceless.
Off subject, but this is kind of related, did anyone read that piece that Jason Whitlock wrote about All-Star weekend and “the black KKK.” I hope the brothas on this site don’t agree with that shit.
And Jarrett, you know black people can be racist too, right? I’m neither white nor black, but I’ve seen it go both ways.
Some additonal thoughts on Bonami’s Duke lax commentary are at Durham in Wonderland.
Worth reading for a different view.
Public urination has done it again – hang em high, I did not know the band showed up for the game – great news. In spite of all evidence of to prove these guys are not quilty, you keep marching on with your blindness of the true situation. That is your right. I only hope putting the lies in print opens you up to a law suit. TIME WILL TELL. Jason Whitlock , like Bill Cosby and Clarence Thomas are making every effort to help the black community get out of this terrible situation they have gotten themselves into. You of course, like the white liberals know best and condone the behavior that is destroying black folk. This is so sad –
Mr. Jones,
Have no idea if you actually read all of these messages to you. If so, I’d like to simply exchange messages about your article on the Duke Lax team and it’s supporters instead of posting on your site. If that’s amenable to you, please respond. I will, in turn, not forward your responses to anyone either. I truly want to figure out why you wrote it and how you can feel as you do. I will be happy to explain why I went to the game and how I feel as I do about the team and it’s members as well.
Thanks, Don Fowler