I don't write much about sports on this blog these days since I streamlined all my thoughts to sportsperspectives.com.
However, from time to time, the line between culture and sports and politics and sports blurs enough to merit a post here.
Like Duke lacrosse. I watch lacrosse from time to time. Heck, I even tried it a couple of times way back when. Tough game. Not surprising it's Canada's official sport.
I caught the Duke-Virginia semi-final won by Duke in a 14-13 thriller. In the final, Duke took on Notre-Dame and eventually won 6-5 a few seconds into overtime.
All I have to say is F-you Al Sharpton and Mike Nifong.
Morally depraved opportunistic jerks and liars.
The accuser, by the way, who led an exemplary life, was arrested for attempted murder. By the way.
Good for Duke.
Durham's crony political system was in full bloom during the lacrosse scandal. Amazingly, by the narrowest of margins, three innocent students didn't get convicted for a crime which never happened.
ReplyDeleteBut that railroading almost made it to the station. And a lot more has to be done to make sure it can't happen again.
A lot more about the Durham "system" has to be exposed, before the public comes to understand how "Scottsboro II" could take place once again in the American South.
Interesting. Didn't realize how bad it is.
ReplyDelete"Didn't realize how bad it is."
ReplyDeleteDuke is alleged in the current lawsuits to wanted them to go to trial (and maybe even be convicted) for the sake of the school's PR relations with Durham. The school turned over student records to Nifong in violation of FERPA and then lied about it to the court (with Nifong's cooperation).
And the Chairman of the Trustees, Robert K. Steel (formerly of Goldman-Sachs and the US Treasury), is alleged to have explained the school's position this way: "Sometimes good people have to suffer for the good of the organization."
(That line would have looked good in the Dreyfus trial, and some others.)
To further that, he is also alleged to have instructed Duke university police to lie; and faculty and staff to harass the accused (several such incidents were reported).
Needless to say, the relationships between Duke, Durham politicians, and local political groups, is a very tangled web...
Tangled web indeed. I hope it gets cleaned up - to the extent these things get "cleaned" up.
ReplyDeleteLooks as though things are pretty incestuous down there. Although, things are pretty corrupt up here in Quebec too. Although, when it comes to railroading the legal system that's a little harder to do. I don't know if a Duke case can happen up here.
Look up Guy Paul Morin. (Oddly, that was in Durham, Canada...)
ReplyDeleteThe Kaufman Commission (1998) made some excellent recommendations about how police procedures should be improved to prevent wrongful prosecutions, which have been cited as being needed in the Durham to the south.
(doubt if they'll be implemented, though...)
I know the Guy Paul Morin story very well. Now that I think of it, a few high profile miscrarriages of justice happened Steven Truscott and a couple of others that escape me now.
ReplyDeleteYou seem invested in the case, may I ask if you're just an active citizen? A lawyer? Something else?
"You seem invested in the case, may I ask if you're just an active citizen? A lawyer? Something else?"
ReplyDeleteJust an average citizen [insert here sound bite of insane laughter...] who used to believe the courts always rendered justice, juries returned true verdicts, judges were upright and unbiased referees, and the tooth fairy came at night to reward you for a lost tooth.
(I still believe in one of the above...)
Yeah, the tooth fairy still seems a reality to me next to how justice is dealt with.
ReplyDeleteOne story that drove me absolutely insane was the one where three innocent day care owners were sent to prison in Massachusetts and Martha Coakley did nothing to stop the evil plot to ruin their lives.