Posted on 03/12/2007 2:20:58 PM PDT by abb
New articles this morning.
Ex-lacrosse coach, reporter team up on book
March 12, 2007 10:05 pm
DURHAM -- Former Duke University lacrosse coach Mike Pressler and Sports Illustrated magazine investigative reporter Don Yaeger are cooperating on a book about the Duke lacrosse sexual-offense and kidnapping case called "It's Not About The Truth."
The book, called "an explosive insider account" of the case by Pocket Books' executive Louise Burke, will be published in June by Pocket Books' Threshold Editions.
Pocket Books and Threshold Editions are imprints of Simon & Schuster.
Pressler resigned as head coach of the Duke men's lacrosse team under pressure after news first broke about the rape allegations -- since dismissed -- against several members of his nationally ranked team.
The publisher said Pressler's book will reveal for the first time what really happened after the off-campus lacrosse party and how a rush to judgment affected the lives of those associated with the incident.
The book reportedly will recount the vilification and ostracization of the team members, Pressler's forced resignation and the subsequent cancellation of the remainder of the team's season and death threats aimed at the players by some of the Durham community.
Mike Pressler spent 16 seasons at Duke, where he compiled a 153-82 record that included three Atlantic Coast Conference championships, 10 NCAA tournament berths and an appearance in the 2005 NCAA title game. Pressler was voted ACC Coach of the Year three times and honored as national Coach of the Year in 2005.
He is now the head coach of the Bryant University men's lacrosse team.
URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-828666.cfm
http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/552972.html
Published: Mar 13, 2007 12:30 AM
Modified: Mar 13, 2007 05:06 AM
Support was absent, coach says
Krzyzewski is to appear tonight on HBO's 'Costas Now.'
By Anne Blythe, Staff Writer
DURHAM - Mike Krzyzewski, the face of Duke athletics, was virtually silent last spring as the lacrosse case put the school and its athletic teams under scrutiny.
Now, a year after an escort service dancer alleged being gang-raped at a lacrosse team party, the men's basketball coach says the university should have shown more support for the players.
"The one thing that I wish we would have done is just out, publicly say, 'Look, those are our kids. And we're gonna support 'em, because they're still our kids.' That's what I wish we would have done," Krzyzewski told Bob Costas, a sports commentator who has a television show on HBO. "And I'm not sure that we did -- I don't think we did a good job of that."
For months, bloggers and others have criticized Duke, accusing the university of not standing behind the players as the judicial process unfolded.
Since the spring, defense lawyers have poked gaping holes in the prosecution's case against three former lacrosse players -- David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann. District Attorney Mike Nifong, the prosecutor who led the investigation, has resigned from the case and is in a battle to save his law license.
One segment of "Costas Now," an hour-long sports program that airs tonight at 10, will be a one-on-one interview with Krzyzewski, according to Kris Goddard with HBO Sports media relations. According to excerpts from the transcript, Krzyzewski criticizes Duke professors for their criticisms of big-time sports at the university.
"We had almost 100 professors come out publicly against certain things in athletics," Krzyzewski told Costas, "and I was a little bit shocked at that. But it shows that there's a latent hostility or whatever you want to say towards sports on campus. I thought it was inappropriate, to be quite frank with you."
Krzyzewski voiced similar feelings in June during his first extensive public comments about the impact of the case. He called those who used the occasion to attack athletics "very narrow-minded."
"I don't think there's a latent hostility," said Paula McClain, a political science professor who has questioned the role of big-time sports programs at top-tier research universities. "The questions about athletics are not just related to Duke. I'm sorry Coach K really feels like it's hostility toward athletics and such, because most faculty really appreciate Duke athletics."
The 'Group of 88'
Dozens of Duke professors have been targets of outrage for the past year for signing an advertisement that ran in the student newspaper shortly after the gang-rape allegations. Critics accuse the 88 professors who signed the ad of being too quick to condemn the players. The professors, or Group of 88 as bloggers have nicknamed them, brush aside the criticism, saying they were speaking out about issues of race, sexual violence and social elitism that plague the campus culture, not taking a stand on the guilt or innocence of the players.
President Richard Brodhead has been under fire, too, for not standing up for the players more. In December, as defense lawyers continued their assault on Nifong's case, Brodhead began to publicly criticize the prosecutor.
Krzyzewski, who also bears the title of special assistant to the Duke president, told Costas he did not speak out last spring because Brodhead did not ask him to do so.
"I met with my college president. I told Dick Brodhead, 'If you need me ... you tell me, and then put me in a position where I'm not the basketball coach. But I am that special assistant to you,' " Krzyzewski said. "Dick Brodhead did not bring me in."
(Staff writer Luciana Chavez contributed to this report.)
Staff writer Anne Blythe can be reached at 932-8741 or ablythe@newsobserver.com.
Staff writer Luciana Chavez contributed to this report.
http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/552956.html
Saunders: Published: Mar 13, 2007 12:30 AM
Modified: Mar 13, 2007 03:22 AM
Milestone for a millstone
Barry Saunders, Staff Writer
Hello, my name is Ba... CLICK. Uh, hi, I'm calling from The News and...
CLICK.
Even when I was able to get an entire introductory sentence out to whomever answers the phone at escort services, the closest I received to a printable reply was from the lady at University Girls. "We're sorry, sir," she said. "We don't want any."
Me: "Want any what? I'm not selling any..."
CLICK.
With today marking the anniversary of what is now universally known as the Duke lacrosse case, we know that Duke has implemented some changes. The school has not exactly cracked down on students -- nor should it have to, since everyone enrolled there is presumed to be grown -- but it is demanding that they behave.
Associate Dean of Students Stephen Bryan told me this week, for instance, about the student government association's "Don't F*** Up" (their phrase and spelling, not mine) campaign, as well as other efforts to urge students living off campus to be "good citizens."
Students will vote next month on a modified honor code regulating image-sullying behavior.
It's a good bet that, since the defense in the case has put both the accuser and District Attorney Mike Nifong on trial, every prosecutor in America will be more circumspect in pretrial statements the next time an incendiary case comes along.
It's an equally good bet, sadly, that the next time a woman is sexually assaulted, she'll think twice -- and twice more -- before reporting it.
But what about escort services? How have they changed?
Hmmm. What better way to acknowledge a sordid anniversary than calling an escort service and ordering up a couple of strippers.
No, please. Don't thank me.
C'mon, now. Not for real was I ordering exotic dancers or whatever you want to call them. I just wanted to see whether escort services have changed the way they operate.
The infamous party where the incident did or did not take place started March 13 when police said someone representing himself as a Duke baseball player called and requested entertainers for a few buddies.
Again, depending upon whom you believe, March 13 was the day a couple of strippers forced their way into a Bible study meeting at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. and forced members of the Duke lacrosse team to watch as they gyrated. Or it's the day a stripper who went by the name Precious said three men sexually assaulted her as she tried to dance her way through college.
The emotions evoked by the charges and countercharges have died down, if not died. In the nights leading up to the anniversary, there've been no teary marches, no candlelight vigils, no chanting protesters. There were plenty of each a year ago, when 610 Buchanan was viewed as hallowed ground in the fight against sexual exploitation and racism.
Duke, to its credit, had already begun efforts to rehab its image and the houses it owns in that neighborhood before this incident took place. Or didn't.
We can all rejoice if the relationship between the city and the school can be fixed up.
Too bad the lives -- of three men or one woman, depending upon how you feel -- had to be destroyed for that to happen.
Call Barry at 836-2811 or send him e-mail at barrys@newsobserver.com.
Funny, they didn't mention some of the "hateful speech" by Edwards' former blog manager, whats-her-name.
No, no bias here. Move along.
(This article, BTW, ranks as one of the biggest pieces of terrible journalism produced so far. What dreck.)
* * * ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE HOAX * * *
WHAT!!!!
there was no "good faith" on the part of the 88...they spoke very clearly IMO about the disdain they had for the LAX players.....there was no waiting for the investigation or giving the accused the nod of innocence until proven guilty....
and of course, now, after the 88 are getting a taste of their own medicine, they want to whine like babies about how unfair it all is....
PHOOEY!
I hope and pray that both Duke teams lose in the first round......I hope, I hope, I hope......
You're right!
The vast majority of reporting that I have seen on this case has a Southern, racial undertone. Beware! Racism still exists in the South! Look at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina... Tobacco Road...
What they never seem to mention is that Duke University is a northeast liberal haven in the vast wild and dangerous jungles of the South. If there is any racism at that school, real or imagined, chances are, it's being generated by someone other than natives to the area.
This is not, and never has been, a South v. north issue.
Side note: In the interest of fairness, I'll mention that we have two young women who work in the office, both Durham natives, one single white homebody Momma's girl, one black lesbian. The white girl attended Duke, the black girl went to NC Central. They are close friends however the black girl always makes a point to tell the white girl that Duke was built by the rich white parents so their kids wouldn't have to go to school with black kids.
Racism? Yeah, we have it... In all shapes, shades and forms.
Duke has to heave a hundred or so of their faculty and then move if they want to survive. Nobody in his right mind would send a kid to ANY school within 30 miles of Durham NC at this point.
No surprise here. The AP greatly prefers "civil" (i.e., controlled) debate to the type where ordinary citizens get to participate.
Sadly, there are many liberal families who agree with the mindset of the professors there.
And then there are the scholarships they hand out to families willing to look the other way in the face of enormous college costs.
All of that is before you even get to the question of legal liabilities. Both Duke and the city of Durham NC are looking at potential legal liabilities large enough to shut both of them down.
You got your wish. Duke lost.
Brodhead you lying sack of do-do. You suspended the students, without even taking to them. Now you are backpedllin' but you can't wash your hands.
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