sleep, dear pat

The Leafs fired Pat Quinn today. The poor guy did all he could with Toronto, but Ferguson wants his own guy in there, and missing the playoffs was a decent enough excuse to can Quinn. On the bright side, at least now he might be able to sleep! Honestly, I've never seen another human being with bags under their eyes like Quinn. You could carry groceries in those things. Wow. That was some bad writing.

In the Duke Lacrosse rape case, two arrests have been made, though one of the two already claims to have ATM receipts and a cab driver as witness to his being home long before the crime took place. Still, the fact that he was able to perfect an alibi within a day of being arrested is fairly suspicious. The two were charged with kidnapping and rape, and a third party has yet to be arrested. This may be because the prosecution is working with the third accused, and have gotten him to give evidence against the other two. What's complicating the legitimacy of the charges is that the lead prosecutor is running for re-election, and may be trying a case with minimal evidence simply to get his name in the headlines. It's all very confusing, and we probably won't know any more details now until the actual trial in early 2007.

Hockey playoffs start Friday night. I'm going to be in Toronto to watch the Canadiens games which should be interesting, possibly even stab in the face interesting.

RAGE!!!!!!!!

We all hate Duke. We all hate elitism. We all hate Lacrosse. And we all hate rape. These points aside, it isn't fair to destroy the lives of 46 college students without a trial. The alleged rape that took place at a Lacrosse party at Duke University has become a rallying point for students across the country that are tired of the preferential treatment given to student athletes. The debate is also fueled by race and class, as a poor black student was assaulted by rich white athletes.

So yes, it would be easy to lynch the accused, arrest them, cancel the Duke Lacrosse program, and fire all associated coaches and staff. But after all team members (save the lone black athlete) gave DNA samples that turned out negative, the conviction is in doubt. It's degenerated into a 'he said, she said' type of case, with no witnesses or evidence. To add to the prosecution's problems, the accuser has a criminal record and the officer that found her that night described her as intoxicated. The case will be very hard to win, and it is entirely possible that the lacrosse players are innocent.

But no matter the outcome, because of the story being leaked to media outlets, the players will never be able to live normal lives at Duke University. True, the players are guilty of underaged drinking, and had no business hiring a stripper or taunting her with racial slurs (which some players admit happened), but that doesn't mean they should spend the rest of their university lives in fear of their own safety. Even if the crime was committed by three of the team members, the other 43 guys may have had nothing to do with it, didn't know about it, and have no association with the guilty other than playing on a sports team with them.

I agree that something has to be done to change the attitudes of athletes at these schools and their destructive behavior, but crucifying this team in particular based on circumstantial evidence is not right. Wait until the trial. If they're guilty, bring your guillotine. If their innocent, treat them as such, however rich and arrogant the assholes are.

peace and love,

-getupkid