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Percy Allen
A night we'll never really know about

By Percy Allen

Seattle Times NBA reporter

After more than 15 years in journalism, I still don't understand how this business operates sometimes. I don't get how some stories become national stories that warrant hourly updates from the major networks, while others barely make the tiny print in the back of the newspaper.

In Durham, N.C., for instance, the accounts of the rape accusations involving a 28-year-old African-American female stripper and three white Duke lacrosse players became one of the biggest news events in 2006 when the story broke in March.

We know the accused just as we know their accuser and the ambitious local prosecutor, Mike Nifong.

We've seen both sides on television repeatedly. We know their stories. We've seen that city and the university become divided as people take sides. We know that rape charges were dropped, but the kidnapping and sex charges remain.

Perhaps the alluring mix of athletes, alcohol, a stripper, alleged sex and violence, race and privilege has kept this story alive for so long.

Meanwhile, a similar story in the Northwest has gone largely ignored by comparison, even though it contains the same explosive elements.

This week in Portland, four Utah Jazz players accused of raping a Portland woman at a downtown hotel were cleared of any wrongdoing.

One could argue that the absence of evidence, perhaps proven by the prosecutors' decision not to pursue criminal charges, suggests that this is a non-story and it got the attention that it deserved, which is little to none.

But I'm not so sure.

(snip)

And yet, despite their missteps early in the evening, I'd like to think that Williams and Milsap were thinking about the Duke lacrosse team when they walked out of that room.

I'm hoping Brown had Price or the Vikings' fallout in mind when he decided not to get involved.

And maybe Bryant's ill-fated actions influenced Brewer in some way.

We'll never know, and this sad, little story quietly goes away as if it never happened at all.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sonics/2003512937_allen07.html

Percy Allen missed an important point. Reade Seligann, for one, had walked away from that house.

A snide little attempt to smear all athletes, by I would guess someeone with an axe to grind. It is just as possible that:

1. The money of professional athletes attracts false charges.

2. The allure or sex with professional athletes leads to more casual sexual interactions that means more opportunity for post sexual remorse, especially when just how casually they regard the interaction become apparent.

3. The race of many professional athletes leads to more post sexual remorse when friends or family find out.

I would guess all three play a role particularly number 1.