<p>I know of Huguely’s history as well. And yes, I am very familiar with the lacrosse culture - as well as other, seemingly less intense, “cultures” where most people would be shocked at the degree to which hazing and dirty tricks exist. In fact I’ve heard that the dirtiest sport is water polo (no first hand knowledge there though). That’s why I feel so strongly about stereotyping it as a lacrosse murder. Even the Duke case, different as it was, was labelled “lacrosse” when it could have been any off-campus house. Had it been the French Language house would it have been a French Student incident? What would they have called it if the house had no “theme”.</p>
<p>Most sports rely on aggression. Successful athletes are aggressive - on the field. Had Huguely been at a high school where football was the “in” sport and gone on to play that at college, would he have been less aggressive on or off the field? If he was just one of the kids hanging out with his skateboard by the local 7-11, became enraged and acted in the same way when he found out his girlfriend was cheating, would it have been a skateboard murder? If he had used his prep school/elite college education to become an investment banker and became enraged and acted in the same way when he found out his girlfriend was cheating, would it have been a Wall Street murder?</p>
<p>Aggressive is as aggressive does - maybe the fact that he was able to be aggressive on the field, in an appropriate way, lessened his off the field violence. Who knows.</p>
<p>It turns my stomach when such a broad generalization is made. Ms. Love’s murder was truly a tragic event, and my heart goes out to both families, but it got headlines because they were young, privileged kids. When similar events happen in South Philly the rest of the country never hears about it.</p>
<p>Don’t label it, and thereby put the blame on, lacrosse.</p>
<p>Does anyone refer to the Jerry Sandusky mess without saying something about Penn State football? That was the title of the thread on this board. I haven’t gone back and reread every message, but I don’t recall gusaspara saying how “unfair” that was. </p>
<p>Have you read “I Am Charlotte Simmons?” Of course, it’s not a documentary, but you think it’s just coinincidence that the spoiled brat jocks in the book are lacrosse players?</p>
<p>I absolutely agree that the Sandusky mess should not be labeled Penn State. I know a number of current and former students there. The difference I see though, is that it is University procedure that are also in question and Coach Paterno paid a big price for that. I didn’t comment on that one because it clearly is clearly a more more complicated case, and knowing that I will never know all that went on, I declined to comment.</p>
<p>I can’t comment on the book because I’ve never read it. My guess is though that one reason she chose to highlight lacrosse players is that as lacrosse grows, there are many more references to it - in commercials, on TV shows, than there were before. In other words, there’s a larger market. I am sure that I can find other examples where the “spoiled kids” are frat members, football players, etc etc.</p>
<p>It amazes me about all the ignorant comments made about lacrosse players, wealthy families, etc. on this thread. None of you were there and have no idea how the guy’s brain works (or fails to work) so I will straighten you out. Huguely was an anthropology major. As we all know, anthropology majors are very aggressive and competitive and prone to violence. Huguely’s teachers, parents, and UVA administrators should have forced him into a different major and, thus, would have avoided this terrible event. They are all at fault for creating the horrible person known as Huguely. </p>
<p>P. S. In case you are wondering, my point is that my speculation is just as good as your speculation.</p>
<p>Sorry gusaspara, but based on your comments and analogies, you don’t understand the lacrosse culture. It played a part in the Duke mess and it played a part at UVA. There are cultures around other sports, but lacrosse is unique and the situation at UVA was unique because of the tight knit relationship between the women’s and men’s teams. You won’t find that in many other sports. </p>
<p>He majored in anthropology for the same reason other athletes at UVA major in anthropology.</p>
<p>Got involved with the high school LAX team a couple of years ago. I believe the coach to be a conscientious man. What I couldn’t believe were the attitudes of more than a few players, even down to the junior varsity level. A defining display of boorish attitudes from players was an incident wherein during a time-out a player gave the coach a mouthful of “fresh language.” We were in the 10th row up in the stands but you could clearly hear the coach nearly yelling “you can talk to your father like that but by God you won’t talk to me that way,” and he dismissed the player to the bench. From my experience it sounds like Catera knows what he/she is talking about.</p>
<p>Sorry that it seems to be getting personal Catera, but from your comments you seem to ONLY understand the lacrosse culture. I’ve been around it for more than 20 years and involved in it for about 14. I’ve seen good things and bad things from coaches, parents and players. I think, that much of what you consider to be unique is evident in many other sports, in schools and in other group activities where competition is a major factor. And, pardon me, but there are plenty of schools where the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams are NOT close - in fact the men look down at the women. That may be a UVA uniqueness, but it is not a lacrosse uniqueness.</p>
<p>I should add that I know many really wonderful lacrosse players too - male and female - even though I decry the culture. One of my best friend’s daughters played lacrosse at the top level and there is not a more wonderful young lady anywhere. Her mother was never happy when she hung out with the men lacrosse players, although she married another fine player from a rival school. My neighbor coached lacrosse at the elite college level and is a great man. His sons played lacrosse - one at the professional level and coaches at a college now. They are all fine people, but the parents made sure those kids were grounded. They were fortunate to have the means to support the sport but they knew they were fortunate. </p>
<p>I can tell you just as many horror stories about lacrosse shenanigans. Perhaps the saddest is the number of men locally who had their glory days as lacrosse heroes in high and college and are languishing in lacrosse watering holes as we speak. The same can be the case in other sports, we just have more of it in lacrosse where I live. </p>
<p>MOWC, Huguely is not from Northern Virginia. He was born in DC and lived in Chevy Chase,Md. He attended a private school,Landon,in Bethesda,Md. He was an OOS student at UVa and a recruited athlete.</p>
<p>There was (is?) a similar culture with one of the teams where my son went to school. My son was a recruit in a different sport. This team had known steroid use and 3 of the seniors one year were arrested and charged with aggravated assault for beating the cr$p out of someone in a bar fight. The victim’s teeth came through his cheek. One of the athletes had been a close friend of my son’s from boarding school. My son said it happened a lot with that team and attributed a lot of it to the steroids. Eventually there was a plea bargain, community service and probation, I believe. </p>
<p>I am a huge sports fan- especially college- so I am not one to condemn athletes. However, I also understand how a certain culture can become part of a sport or team. Look what happened with Tennessee football (seems like half the team got arrested one year).</p>
<p>Yes, they were both from Maryland, but not really similar backgrounds. Yeardley grew up a few miles from where I live. We are inundated by the news of the case. I feel badly for the students at UVA having to be surrounded by the press. </p>
<p>It seems that UVA has responded to this in a way that is as good as can be expected. I also stated that the closeness of the teams may be unique to UVA but that does not reflect poorly on the school in any way. It is not necessarily a bad thing but I believe it contributed to the desire of the kids wanting to protect each other. Both teams were headed into playoffs and no one wanted to do anything at that time of year to jeopardize that or graduation.</p>
<p>First, Tom Wolfe wrote “I Am Charlotte Simmons.” He’s not female. The fictional Dupont U in the story is widely believed to be based in large part on Duke --and it was written a long time before the Duke lacrosse scandal. It is supposedly based on what students at Duke told him about the campus culture, including the lacrosse culture. When it came out, some UVa students claimed it was based on UVa. </p>
<p>Yeah, if the anthropology department had an all day drinking session for the graduating anthropology seniors and their dads and one of the students who had been drinking all day later hurt someone while drunk, I think it would affect my opinion of the UVa anthropology department.</p>
<p>Huguely had played lacrosse at the Landon school in Maryland, where there was a cheating scandal involving mostly lacrosse players. The 2 students who withdrew under threat of expulsion were not lacrosse players, had not entered the test intending to cheat, but were not informed of a mass confession event that might have resulted in their receiving a less harsh punishment (the others were suspended for one month). </p>