Lax Standards

The Grillmaster has been resisting the urge to post on the Duke lacrosse saga. It's a story that has left me torn from the beginning, and hasn't gotten any less troubling now that the defense claims that DNA tests have cleared all their clients.

Like most white middle class kids in Baltimore, I played lacrosse early. From 6-16 I played in some form, from winter soft stick clinics through a brief and hilariously injury prone high school goalie career. I love the speed, power, and skill of the game. I love watching goalies throw themselves in front of shots that hurtle towards net in excess of 100 mph. I love that the first warm Saturday afternoons of spring mean lacrosse season is in full swing. And I love that both my alma maters (Loyola High School Baltimore and UVA) are at the top of the lacrosse world year after year.

But there's no getting around the fact that many of the best lax players are rich white guys who can be loosely described as 'assholes'. The Grillmaster has himself certainly done some asshole things in his day, but lax guys tend to take it to another level. This is a long way from saying that they are all aspiring sex offenders, but there's no doubt in my mind that a sizable chunk of the best players in the high school and college game cultivate an air of preppy jock untouchableness. Dave Jamieson's article over at Slate is WAY over the top (at least based on living in the lax mecca that is Baltimore), but most honest players would probably acknowledge he has a bit of a point.

All of these thoughts jumbled together when the initial allegations around Duke's excellent men's team came into the open. I wasn't particularly surprised, although I was really saddened for the sport and most of the guys on the team. I thought that some sexual assault probably did occur, although I was sure they'd have lawyers who would fight tooth and nail to protect them. Now it looks as if the evidence is pointing away from sexual assault, although we'll have to see how the story plays itself out.

It's been morbidly amusing to watch every social theorist in the country link this incident to their cause celebre. When guilt seemed assured, race theorists ranted, feminists fumed, and Marxists muttered. Even conservatives like David Brooks got in on the act, linking this incident to the fall of values-based education. If these allegations are dismissed in coming days, you can rest assured that other 'theorists' will chalk this up to the fact that poor black folks just can't be trusted.

Regardless of what happens at the end of this case, a lot of damage has been done to a good sport and the vast majority of good guys who play it. When over 40,000 fans crowd Ravens' Stadium to watch the Final Four, this will rival the main storyline. 'What if Duke's season hadn't been cut short,' commentators will ask to no end. 'Will the sport's image ever recover,' an earnest sideline reporter might ask. Virginia has one of the most dominant teams in men's lacrosse history (knock on wood), but no one will remember that as the top story of the 2006 season.

And probably most depressingly, this story will set back some of the progress that had been made towards diversifying the game geographically, racially, and economically. You probably haven't heard this on CNN or MSNBC, but lacrosse was actually becoming less of an elite-cornered market. Kids beyond Baltimore and Long Island are starting to play at earlier ages, which in a decade or so almost certainly means that the best players will come from a much more diverse pool. Hopefully the universally despicable actions of one night won't do irreversible damage to the game that reminds me so much of home.