CNN: Duke kid says, "We're Duke, and we're all awesome"

[BeyondGeography]

Nona something or other...What a fool.

And, because Reid and Colin are awesome, she feels very comfortable saying that they are innocent.

Finnerty, meanwhile was arrested for gay bashing in Georgetwon last November. She's leaving that part of his awesomeness out.

[EFerrari]

1. She had her Kool Aid early this morning.

That was disgusting.

[Thtwudbeme]

2. That doesn't surprise me a bit. While there have been many vocal

Duke fans on DU, the reputation of that school in NC is not good. When I mention this, I get accused of being a Tar Heel sports fan.

[DS1]

3. Organized collegiate sports would be eliminated

in my perfect world. Get your stupid asses back in class.

[FuzzyDicePHL]

4. I would vote

for that to happen too.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

5. I think you're letting anger get the better of you.

Taking part in organised sport in no way impedes one's ability to study - if anything, doing something other than study helps prevent ones concentration. Sport also helps with fitness and avoiding obesity, which is a major problem in America. It's also a social activity, which is a good thing.

Don't fall for the stereotypes about student sporting teams that I've seen being bandied about here on DU.

[DS1]

7. I'm not even talking about that

I'm talking about the mindless beer-drinking morons who get all F'd up on cheap beer and scream bloody murder if you don't think their school is the greatest thing in the world - when you know that they all probably applied to both places in the first place :crazy:

That's why I put the "Organized" tag on the front, if you want to go out and place Ultimate Frisbee, great, I'll even give you a Frisbee.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

9. The fraction of those involved in organised college sports

who are "mindless beer-drinking morons who get all F'd up on cheap beer and scream bloody murder if you don't think their school is the greatest thing in the world" is fairly negligable, in my experience. It's certainly not enough to justify even beginning to think seriously about banning organised college sport. Most of the ones who are would be as bad, and in many cases worse, if they weren't involved in sports.

The amount of sport you can get without organisation is fairly negligable. If you want to do anything involving regular teams, competition, decent equipment, etc you need organisation. Simply turning up to play a game with friends is fun too, but it's something completely different.

Organised sport does a great deal of good, and very little harm.

[T Wolf]

6. As the father of a daughter who plays college sports,

I would amend your statement to say, "organized MALE collegiate sports should be more closely monitored and controlled." My experience (backed up by research on the topic) shows that participation in sports by femailes has a positive effect. But then, women do not do much raping and other offenses/crimes that men commit.

[Bridget Burke]

25. My two nieces went to college on athletic scholarships....

They are both quite bright & fine young ladies.

[novalib]

8. Yes, And In My Perfect World,.....

I would also eliminate fraternities.

[FuzzyDicePHL]

13. I would also

vote for that.

[onenote]

14. what other restrictions on freedom would you vote for

No fraternities. No organized sports. What else that you don't like do you want to prevent others from engaging in?

onenote

[novalib]

18. Voting Republican?

We're talking about my IDEAL world -- where no one would have to be prevented from voting Republican -- they just wouldn't.

[FuzzyDicePHL]

29. Using poor punctuation

and wearing too much perfume.

[rinsd]

20. In my perfect world, other perfect worlds would be eliminated. (nt)

[timber84]

10. Take a look at this:

This story is getting stranger by the minute:

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=local&id=4091290

[marions ghost]

11. fine with me

if they want to run around and beat on each other with sticks for exercise. But it's the culture that surrounds men's organized sports that is the problem. The making of these guys into godlike beings, the hero worship, the win at all costs mentality, the money lavished on it, not to mention the acceptance of dubious forms of male bonding that nobody talks about. Are organized sports an outlet for aggression or a celebration of aggression?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

17. I think that the culture you're describing,

While it undoubtedly does exist to some extent in some places, is easily overstated, and has been repeatedly done so by DUers in the context of this case. For all the students involved in organised sports I've ever met (and I'm a student), it's simply been a fun hobby, nothing more. That's slightly less true at the very highest levels in a couple of sports (rugby and football are the ones I've noticed), but even there it's not nearly as bad as a lot of DUers would have you believe, and that's only a small subsection of student sports.

If it does turn out that the woman at Duke was raped, then the lesson to learn is that the men responsible are bad people, not that all students involved in organised sports are bad people.

[marions ghost]

24. all students should play sports if they want

but the cult of aggressive bigtime team sports makes me gag. People attach SO much importance to it. You must not be at a school with nationally-ranked teams. Everything becomes a contest. I don't think it's such a benign thing when it gets to that level. Like I said...is it an outlet for aggression or is it a celebration of aggression? It's all about how much money can be made from watching The Gladiators go at it.

Of course there's nothing wrong with sports. But this is cultism for profit.

[The Stranger]

12. I thought "Duke" meant "didn't get into the Ivy League."

Hold it, I am only posting in jest. Don't flame me.

[democracyindanger]

16. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

It's 'couldn't get into Ivy League.'

[Neil Lisst]

15. Duke = great athletics, not so much academics

[onenote]

19. really? based on what?

US News and World Report ranking of top universities: Duke ranked 5th in a tie with Stanford, ahead of, among others, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, U of Chicago, etc.

Average SAT 25 - 75 percentile range -- Duke v. Ivy League
Math:

Duke: 670-770
Brown: 650-750
Columbia: 660-750
Cornell: 660-650
Dartmouth:680-770
Harvard: 700-790
Penn:680-760
Princeton: 700-800
Yale: 690-780

Verbal:
Duke: 650-740
Brown: 640-750
Columbia: 660-760
Cornell: 600-650
Dartmouth:650-750
Harvard: 700-790
Penn: 680-760
Princeton: 680-770
Yale: 690-780

Fits in pretty well with these schools...

onenote (not a Duke alum)

[bloom]

21. Well - Duke has hired a PR lawyer

Bennett? - the same one who helped Clinton with his Paula Jones case is how the article put it.

So we can expect more propaganda like this.

[Skidmore]

22. The guy that was identified as the Student Leader earlier said

that this case was a "distraction". That he felt that distracted people from focusing on their studies and career planning and that it didn't have a racial component. That some people had their perceptions but he didn't believe they were accurate.

[KamaAina]

23. Close, but no cigar

The correct quote is "We're Duke, and we're all awful."

(yes, I did grow up in Conn. as a Huskies fan :-) )

[Danmel]

26. Duke is like a cult

My cousins two kids went there- When his daughter got married ( she is a third year law student at Harvard, so she is not an airhead) the bridesmaids wore Duke blue dresses and the groomsmen wore Duke blue ties- pretty goofy if you ask me.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

27. Not goofy

if you've ever lived in that part of NC. Everyone wears school colors proudly, probably due to college basketball allegiances, even if they have never attended the school. A friend of mine had red and white walls in his room for NC State's colors, even though he had never attended the school.

Many in NC proudly display UNC-Chapel Hill colors (light blue/white) and not all are alumni or alumnae of the school. If I had gotten married in a big wedding with bridesmaids, I probably would have made them wear Duke colors, while my husband may have had the groomsmen wear light blue (he's a big Carolina fan).

With this being said, aside from basketball allegiances, I am willing to bet that a lot of people in NC would jump at the chance of attending Duke if they could. It's a great school and most of the student-athletes on campus actually do have a bit of class and incidentally go to class as well.

Some of their teams do well and are nationally well known (men's and women's basketball); some teams do great and are not as well known (women's golf, men's soccer and, yes, lacrosse).

[onenote]

28. chill

I know lots of people who attended schools other than Duke that are fanatic alumni. Your example hardly makes Duke a "cult". Hell, you'd be surprised at the number of people who arrange to get married at halftime of a sporting event. Doesn't make the Timberwolves or the Eagles or the 76ers a "cult".http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/news/2002/02/14/sixers_weddings_ap/
http://www.hometownargus.com/2006/April/4twolves.html
http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc0.asp?docid=1G1:17602468&refid=ink_tptd_np_test2&skeyword=&teaser=

onenote