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Connor Wilson lacrosse scam
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Hot Pot: Connor Should Be Fired!

Yesterday I wrote a post about College Lacrosse and Rape. The response seemed to be “Connor Should Be Fired!”

While I noted how the two things are not one and the same, I also stated that we, as a community, can and should do something about this issue. When you consider how the mainstream media loves to connect lacrosse to rape, the latter belief becomes even more evident. But of course, not everyone sees it that way.

I posted the story to my Facebook feed and got solid feedback. Most people took their time to read the article, then respond to my post directly. Only one of my Facebook friends told me the story idea was stupid, but he made it pretty clear that he simply hated the headline and hadn’t read the post.

On the LaxAllStars.com Facebook page things took a very different bend, and it was even clearer that people had not read the article, and were simply reacting to an idea that they didn’t like, for whatever reason. Here is a sampling of some of the feedback I got on that post:

Crystal Gail Mangum falsely accused 3 members of the Duke Lacrosse team of rape on March 16th, 2006. Without treating any of them as innocent until proven guilty, the school cancelled the lacrosse season and forced Coach Pressler to resign. The school turned its back on the Lacrosse team, the prosecuting attorney was disbarred for his gross negligence in this case, and the accuser is now serving an 18 year jail sentence for 2nd degree stabbing murder of her boyfriend.

Women who cry wolf and falsely accuse people of rape should be given a mandatory 10 year jail sentence. Men who rape women should be given life in prison without parole. The end.

Lacrosse players aren’t rapists…rapists are rapists regardless of gender, race, or any other category you want to place them in. The more we indulge the media with articles like this the more we perpetuate the stereotype. This needs to stop.

Well, here’s the interesting thing about the above comments… he’s right!  “rapists are rapists regardless of gender, race, or any other category you want to place them in.” That is totally true and I make that point in my story. But why can’t lacrosse take a proactive role in this situation? Why do we have to throw our hands up simply because ALL lacrosse players aren’t rapists? It’s a larger issue in our society… but does that really mean that we as lacrosse community don’t have to do anything about it?

There is an opportunity to lead here. We can make the world a better place. WHY ARE PEOPLE SO OPPOSED TO THAT?

Make the world better: Coach, think, HELP!
Make the world better: Coach, think, HELP!

Ok, here’s another good one:

This is the worst headline in the history of headlines, you should talk to the New York Post and discuss how you both can stop failing at writing headlines.

I asked a question: Are Lacrosse Players REALLY Rapists? I didn’t say that they are, or aren’t, in the headline. In the article I look at the question and present many sides to the argument. How is that a bad headline? Probably because you didn’t like it… but does that really make it bad? Did you read the article? Probably not. Next.

wow thats a bold headline, why would laxallstars.com even share this? Worst journalist ever who ever wrote this.

It is a bold headline, and it asks an important question. That is why we posted it. I guess I can accept being the “worst journalist ever who ever wrote this”… but maybe if this commenter read the article and didn’t just blast the headline he would see the large point being made… It’s a thought.

Two people who should no longer work for you: Conner Wilson and whoever the hell approved this post…gonna end up losing some followers for this one I’m sure

If you’re going to ask for me to be fired, please spell my name correctly. That’s the least you can do. We are going to lose followers for asking a question? Oh no! Honestly, I’m not that worried about that. There are other sites out there who specialize in giving people what they want and nothing more. Go read those sites and talk about recruiting and swag all the time. This is a serious issue, and one that deserves our attention. You don’t want to talk about it? Well, what does that say about YOU? Seriously, maybe take some time to think about that.

Connor playing for Weston against Concord-Carlisle in 1999. Power cradle. lacrosse
When I was in high school I may have reacted the same way…

This article is ridiculous. Specifically, the headline. How this got approved to post, is beyond me. Worst

No reasons given for why it’s ridiculous, and again, plenty of focus on the headline. It got approved because it’s nuanced and honest. Don’t like it? Write a thoughtful response! Or you could snipe on Facebook and use atrocious grammar. It’s hard to take comments like the above seriously when the grammar is just SO bad. Little effort in grammar usually means little effort in thinking. I’m still confused as to how a headline that asks a valid question can be so ridiculous.

No offense to anyone but this seems to be a puff piece in my opinion. Its jumping on wagon that ESPN and other major networks have championed in the Rice Incident. Is domestic assault a problem, yes, is rape on campuses a problem, yes, is it the Lacrosse community as whole’s problem, no. It’s not the sport’s fault that there are young men, and women, who decide to do these acts. If you look at statistics Football and Basketball have much larger numbers of rapes, specifically, than literally all other sports combined. Yet we never really here how it’s that sports fault that that incident happened, we as a community should not allow ourselves to be discriminated like that when no other sport is treated that way.

No offense taken! I love it when people respond thoughtfully, and this was one of those responses. Let’s be clear, this is not a puff piece in any way. Puff pieces exaggerate situations. This post did not exaggerate anything. Rape is an issue on college campuses. The media loves associating rape with lacrosse. That happens. We can deal with this if we choose to. Or we can choose to not deal with it. If we don’t deal with it, she will:

nancy_grace2_1024

I never said that it is lacrosse’s fault. And I am not interested in determining which sport (lacrosse, football, basketball, etc) is the worst offender. Also, how can you defend lacrosse by saying it can’t be a sport’s fault, and THEN link basketball and football as higher rape incident sports? That doesn’t seem to work. When the commenter says, “we as a community should not allow ourselves to be discriminated like that when no other sport is treated that way.” I couldn’t agree more. That is why I wrote the article. We need to take positive action to change this reputation, and not just say “It’s NOT true! It’s NOT true!” The latter will do nothing for anyone.

At the end of the day, people might find my article headline ridiculous or offensive. People may stop reading LaxAllStars.com because of this. Someone might stop following me on Twitter… but if this article stops ONE rape from happening, or changes anything in our wider culture, I’ll be happy.

I will continue to speak my mind, do my research, and talk about serious lacrosse issues. If you don’t like it, go read another site where you agree with everything they have to say, vote along party lines exclusively, and only drink Coke OR Pepsi, but never both. Buy in to the current system and don’t ask questions. Be a sheep.

OR you can test yourself, and challenge your own assumptions. You can talk about things you don’t fully understand because they are important. You can open up to new ideas and make changes around you. The choice is literally yours.