<p>If other posters agree with me, I hope they'll fire off an e-mail to all the sites that had the poor taste to depict and ad for Lacrosse lessons under a photo of the deceased Yardley Love of the UVA Womens Lacrosse team.</p>
<p>As I read the online NYDaily News, under the wire headline there was a large photo of the victim. And...under the photo, among one or two other ads was an ad for Lacrosse lessons. Now I know a lot of this stuff is automated, but really, how awful!!!</p>
<p>I don’t have a huge problem with that. Better than an ad for liquor.</p>
<p>I think there is a matter of more significant gravity at hand. </p>
<p>I think the men’s team must end their season. I don’t come to this conclusion lightly. But this is UVa, and not some athletic factory with a school attached (i.e. as is the case with good number of SEC schools). Treating people right and academics must always come first at a place like Uva - it should not settle for a lower common denominator (I am not a graduate of the school or connected with it - although I did compete there years ago). </p>
<p>There would be no better message sent - to the citizens of the Commonwealth - to the NCAA, who always likes the money and publicity - to athletes on the lacrosse team and other teams - and to the community in general - that its principles prevail over athletics and that negative acts have their consequences. And that being on a varsity sports team means you represent the university 24/7, like it or not. Harsh? Perhaps. Unfair to the good kids on the team? Maybe. But this negative event didn’t happen in out of the blue - many warning events were present. Let UVa take the opportunity to show that this tragedy will move them to make a difference. As painful as it is, I would do it without hesitation at this point. </p>
<p>I doubt that Littlepage (the AD) takes this step - in fact - it appears he won’t. The football and basketball teams are struggling, and he clearly wants a national championship in something. But I think it would be in the long term interest of the university to cancel the season. Littlepage’s job to my mind is on the line anyway - one need only look at the magnificent sports stadiums and see the need to fill them with nationally ranked programs - something that is not happening in the revenue sports (including women’s basketball). I hope he steps up. </p>
<p>To UVa folks who think my comments are unfair, OK. But embedded in them is recognition that I think incredibly highly of the place, and they need to make a tough decision. I hope they do, and refrain from playing the in the NCAA tournament.</p>
<p>I also think highly of UVA and think there are serious, serious problems in the lacrosse program (and probably others), but I do NOT think the season should be ended. I see no point. The problems are long-term and will require a lot of work and a new recruiting focus to correct. Playing another week or two isn’t going to change anything now. The horrific damage has been done. The field of play is not the issue here. The players remaining are not guilty of a crime. Yes, they are guilty of being part of a culture that somehow might have contributed (I believe it did) to a senseless tragedy and the loss of a wonderful young student athlete. Let them play on and then let’s fix this mess.</p>
<p>“I think the men’s team must end their season. I don’t come to this conclusion lightly. But this is UVa, and not some athletic factory with a school attached (i.e. as is the case with good number of SEC schools). Treating people right and academics must always come first at a place like Uva - it should not settle for a lower common denominator (I am not a graduate of the school or connected with it - although I did compete there years ago).”</p>
<p>You obviously are not in touch with the UVA lacrosse program. It is an athletic factory for Lacrosse. It is one of the top programs in the country year in and year out.</p>
<p>The discussion as to whether UVa should continue or cancel their seasons are moot. They will go forward. But whereas the Duke team’s behavior during a team function/party was definitely one of a pervasively misogynistic mentality, this is not even close to the same thing - and this is despite Duke’s players being exonerated of any criminal behavior. In UVa’s case, whereas we can now perhaps see, in hindsight no less, that that there were a number of red flags, this wasn’t a lacrosse issue. It was an interpersonal one and changes need to be made within many universities when it comes to violence against women.</p>
<p>Having no personal connection to UVa, I do however have friends whose children attend and who were friends with both the victim and the accused. No one had the forewarning that we all see a little clearer now thanks to intensive investigative reporting. The lacrosse team wasn’t there in this kid’s summer league. The lacrosse team wasn’t there when he was visiting friends at W&L, nor were any friends there when he wigged out with family in Florida. There were no interventions that we’ve heard of or even a meeting of the minds that suggested this kid was a time bomb. While I am sure there were certain friends that knew he was wound a bit tight, even my husband and I had friends in college who we thought were surely headed for a life of rehab or who treated women less than one would hope, but none of whom ever killed anyone in a violent rage. Not even close. And without a representative contingent from each of this events coming together to put the pieces in their proper order, context and escalation, I just don’t think you can blame an entire institution or even a singular sports team for the choices this one person made in the wee hours, completely on his own. I also think that the some of the men’s team members acting as pall bearers in her funeral also speaks to the fact that these young people care deeply about one another. I see no purpose to canceling their seasons. What happened last week in Va is tragic beyond measure, but this is an opportunity to rise above the ashes if only for a moment. There is probably a lot of guilt for what friends and teammates saw or didn’t see or even more for what they were too young to contextually analyze and now have to somehow find a way to process it all.</p>
<p>My heart breaks for both families, to be honest. And it was Ms Love’s family who felt honored that the school even asked their opinion about continuing the women’s season. They are playing for a lot more than some NCAA notoriety. In a world that is all of a sudden so very far out of their control, this is something they can control. I say leave them to it.</p>
<p>The sites probably didn’t arrange to have those ads display; the “ad software” probably automatically pulls up ads based on what words appear in a story. It’s still worth e-mailing them, though, because pressure from the websites and consumers will make it more likely for the ad-software people to update their products to avoid this sort of unfortunately display.</p>
<p>It’s absolutely correct to say that in Virginia and Maryland some colleges are Division I lacrosse factories. It obviously doesn’t make them bad programs or bad schools, but the intensity of the competition is there. And sometimes such intensity can impede proper oversight of such programs.</p>
<p>why stop at the NCAA Lacrosse tounament? Why not cancel classes and exams? Why should the Commonwealth of Virginia gather evidence and present it to a jury who will decide the fate of the accused - let’s just punish everybody who lived within two miles of the guy? Or just blame society and we will all take a time out. The accused should not be seen as an individual and held responsible for his actions – that is so 18th century.</p>