Lacrosse ugliness at U.Va.

Damn, DD, he figured out the plot!

 

You do realize, DD, that my left-right back-and-forth regarding dools' take was specifically about his thoughts on the Duke case after the fact and had nothing to do with the current UVa tragedy, right? I have made no political judgments, and may never do so, regarding this latest case.

 

This is perhaps the only silver lining -- not enough of one to overwhelm the tragedy, don't get me wrong -- that it is a national story because of the sports angle. If it were two chem majors, it wouldn't bring to light the fact that there is way too much violence against women that goes under- or unreported in the university setting. This case, on the other hand, could shine some spotlight on that.

 

After reading about the 2008 arrest and conviction-- a case in which he plead guilty...

Here's a question:

What was he still doing on the team?

And if UVA had kicked him off the team, would she have been dating him? Would the course of history be changed?

Maybe these universities and the NCAA need to quit enabling violence.

 

I think that we lack the context to make that determination. In light of what we know now, that incident was telling. He fought the police, right? That wasn't just your standard-issue DUI or pot charge or minor intoxication that draws a couple games suspension and rightly so. He resisted arrest pretty violently. Now we look at it and say, "Wow! A clear sign that this kid had a dark side!"

At the time, though, if he was generally well-behaved and had a clean track record, it's just as easy to view it as an out of character lapse in judgment, exacerbated by alcohol and a volatile situation.

 

Excuse me?

He was so belligerent with a police officer, he had to be tased. He shouted obscenities at her. He plead guilty, was convicted and sentenced.

How about an NCAA rule that if you are convicted of a crime, you don't get the privilege of playing collegiate athletics on scholarship or otherwise anymore?

Is that really asking too much?

 

Yes, that is really asking too much. That would be an absurd, draconian rule to place on college athletes.

 

But once you have paid your debt to society, you should, in my opinion, be able to continue.

I agree, though, once the arrest has been made, you should be off the team until the case is settled.

 

Which he had. While allowing for the possibility that more information about him will change this point of view, there is really nothing more to see here as regards the prior arrest. Just some Monday morning quarterbacking. Thousands of college kids get DUI's, P.I.'s, resisting arrests, etc., etc., etc., every weekend. About 0.0000000000001 percent of them probably go on to brutally murder their girlfriends in a fit of rage.

 

I really hope a school psychologist does not have this kid's folder sitting in a box at his or her house.

 

So to take it one step further if your are arrested for say a DWI should you be fired or suspended from your job?

 

Which is why I allowed for the possibility that there's more than we know. But the idea that one arrest for being a belligerent drunk should have alerted UVa. to remove this kid from his society, without context, is just too much for me to accept.