NCAA grants Duke lax players year of eligibility

The NCAA granted 33 players an additional year of eligibility after all but 8 games of their 2006 season were cancelled. The only ones who will not get an additional year were those who were seniors in 2006. This all came about because Duke cancelled the season due to the criminal investigation into the rape allegations made by a stripper against some of the players. Most people agree this was the right thing to do and I, for one, applaud the NCAA for making a smart decision and allowing these kids to get another year whether at Duke or elsewhere. Of course there's always some moron who has to open his mouth rather than keep his comments to himself. Rest assured, he'll be issuing some kind of retraction or clarification when the fact he's a dickhead is now out in the open.

Virginia's coach, Dom Starsia, stated, "'Everybody in the lacrosse world was embarrassed by what happened,'" he said. "'But it almost feels now as if nobody's really paying for this thing. I would've been the first to say that Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty probably deserved another year. But I'm not sure that everybody involved here should be painted with the same broad brush and it just seems that's what the NCAA chose to do.

'Most of these wounds seem to be self-inflicted at Duke. I'm not sure if the institution has kind of held itself accountable for everything that happened,' he added."

Smooth move. I'll tell you who is paying for this--every single guy that was on that team and is now viewed in a different light by people on campus. Seligmann and Finnerty can't go back to Duke. They now have a stigma they'll be associated with for the rest of their lives. Innocent kids (okay, there was underage drinking) were punished for nothing. His statements about Duke's wounds being self-inflicted is another stupid comment. I remember the lacrosse guys at Auburn and their parties weren't exactly clean and innocent. This guy is living in a dream world if he thinks universities and coaches can control every hour of the players' lives. I bet if we went to a UVa party the same thing would be going on. The only person that should be paying is the stripper who decided to make all of this shit up and ruin the lives of the accused players. That's where justice would be served.