Duke Lacrosse Again?

Would the Duke Lacrosse team please return to the obscure reaches of second tier sports they occupied before their party involving strippers and criminal charges launched them into the spotlight. They seem to have taken a page out of the Brittany and Paris' handbook that says, "In order to gain or sustain public attention you must demonstrate your lack of moral compass."

Now the lads at on the Duke Lacrosse team who were forced by Duke to miss last season have been granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA. The request was made by Duke University on behalf of the players. I find the request and granting of the year of eligibility absurd.

Duke University decided to end the season, not the NCAA. So why is the NCAA involved? The NCAA should have responded by saying, we didn't end your season, so we have no power to grant the players another year of eligibility. Had you wanted your players to play that season, you should not have cancelled the season.

The players on the Duke Lacrosse team do not want to be accountable for their actions: having a party with strippers that brought criminal charges, shame on the university and caused the university to cancel the season.

Duke University doesn't want to be accountable for having decided, perhaps before the question of the criminal charges was settled, to cancel the team's season.

So the NCAA gets to play God and absolve the players and university of their poor decisions. In the end, the NCAA will regret their decision, as more universities ask the NCAA to abolve them of their liabilities. Because next time, if the NCAA decides not to absolve the players or school, they will be legally liable for that decision.