'Last Dance' needlessly re-opens Duke LAX wounds

2008-10-26T13:40:53-04:00

2008-10-23T23:38:20-04:00

106

2008-10-23T23:38:20-04:00

2008-10-24T13:20:45-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/194/411/thumb/SW_basketball.jpg 32783 NC

Porkins: Container not free?

The Triangle 194711

As bad as she is, those guys aren't victims either. One was a gay basher, they had made racist comments towards the strippers, and they were underaged college students that had hired prostitutes in the first place. If you spend a few days in the criminal justice system you will see men that are railroaded far worse than these clowns. Guys that spent 20 years on death row to get exonerated later on DNA evidence. White and black. Like the white guy in Colorado that spent decades in prison for a crime he was clearly innocent. Cry for guys like that, not these guys.

100 Dude, strippers are not prostitutes. 3142759

2008-10-26T13:40:53-04:00

340

lvguy

Las Vegas 584221

Dude, strippers are not prostitutes.

107 I work in a strip club and I give it about a 98.4% chance that she is one. 3154133

2008-10-25T18:41:36-04:00

halides1

Wilmington 592325

106 McLeary, Collin Finnerty is not a gay-basher. He was convicted for throwing fake punches and menacing behavior (he never threw a real punch). He was the first person to be hit in what was nothing more than a garden-variety, outside-the-bar scuffle. Neither he nor Reade Seligmann had any role in organizing the party, and David Evans (who did) has apologized and called it his worst failure as a leader. Most importantly, all three young men have taken a consistent interest in other cases of false accusation adn conviction. They learned something, unlike some of their tormentors. 3151375

2008-10-24T20:55:58-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/265/50/thumb/Ric_20Flair_20Old_20Pic.bmp 1636 NC

Slick Ric is DaMoFo

Southern Pines 26590

105 Yea, too bad North Carolina isn't a bastion of racial harmony like the states up north right? The only people that turned this into a racial issue were Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and some of the clowns that run the city of Durham. Also, most of the Duke lacrosse players were from that great Southern state...New Jersey. The Durham DA, Mike Nifong, was up for reelection and hoped to win the votes of the blacks in Durham that blame the "rich white kids at Duke" for the fact that their city is a crime ridden cess pool. One witness that provided an alibi for one of the accused was threatened by the DA's office with jail time over basically a parking ticket. When the DA did a lineup, the only people brought in were Duke lacrosse players. Ask an attorney to explain why that is totally unacceptable. From the beginning, even the other woman that danced with Mangum that night said nothing happened that night. The three accused came from families that while not poor, were certainly not rich. Second mortgages paid for much of their attorney fees. The chancellor of Duke University is a spineless joke that threw the lacrosse coach and team under the bus from day one and basically declared the three accused as guilty. 88 members of the Duke faculty also declared in a newspaper ad that they were guilty and this was another example of the racism at Duke. Of course none have apologized since the accused were cleared of all charges. From day one, it was clear that this whole case was a sham. 3147100

2008-10-24T14:09:02-04:00

108

arkay

Skillman 139927

104 Baltimore Truth : You are clueless, before you comment and show your ignorance, read the whole background. 3143340

2008-10-24T13:32:32-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/576/543/thumb/bourbon.jpg 581 NC

Bourbon:TheAnswer

Titletown 577083

103 I'd like to go on record by saying that Crystal Mangum is a worthless piece in our society. And coming from a North Carolinian I would like to also state that nobody cares whats been going on in her life since the trial, and no one cares what happens to her in the future. This book will not sell, because her life story and her side of the story are two things that nobody with a good head on there shoulders would pollute there mind with. 3142915

2008-10-24T13:21:41-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/194/411/thumb/SW_basketball.jpg 32783 NC

Porkins: Container not free?

The Triangle 194711

102 ANd to be clear for the 50th friggin time, there is no "if" she's lying. She lied. On the stand. In court. When you tell 5 versions of the same story, they can't all be true. 3142768

2008-10-24T13:20:53-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/194/411/thumb/SW_basketball.jpg 32783 NC

Porkins: Container not free?

The Triangle 194711

101 Well, sometimes. 3142718

2008-10-24T11:57:28-04:00

Fleur de Mexico

New York 468511

90 As bad as she is, those guys aren't victims either. One was a gay basher, they had made racist comments towards the strippers, and they were underaged college students that had hired prostitutes in the first place. If you spend a few days in the criminal justice system you will see men that are railroaded far worse than these clowns. Guys that spent 20 years on death row to get exonerated later on DNA evidence. White and black. Like the white guy in Colorado that spent decades in prison for a crime he was clearly innocent. Cry for guys like that, not these guys. 3141527

2008-10-24T13:20:45-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/194/411/thumb/SW_basketball.jpg 32783 NC

Porkins: Container not free?

The Triangle 194711

100 Dude, strippers are not prostitutes. 3142759

2008-10-23T23:57:16-04:00

Baltimore Truth

Baltimore 45877

1 Oh the poor Dookies. They have a stripper come in and abuse her. Such a surprise that they were exonerated in North Carolina, that bastion of racial equality. They got an extra year of eligibility, plenty of their blue blooded fans money and are off on other yuppie adventures. 3137621

2008-10-24T12:52:47-04:00

251

browniefan98

Martin 210548

Oh the poor Dookies. They have a stripper come in and abuse her. Such a surprise that they were exonerated in North Carolina, that bastion of racial equality. They got an extra year of eligibility, plenty of their blue blooded fans money and are off on other yuppie adventures.

99 Any other baseless accusations, and class warfare nonsenese you'd like to spew? 3142335

2008-10-24T12:52:12-04:00

sjthor

San Jose 591363

98 QUOTE(#1):Originally posted 11:57 PM ET 10.23 by Baltimore Truth Oh the poor Dookies. They have a stripper come in and abuse her. Such a surprise that they were exonerated in North Carolina, that bastion of racial equality. They got an extra year of eligibility, plenty of their blue blooded fans money and are off on other yuppie adventures. IDIOT! Read up and get your facts right before making a comment. 3142370

106

<div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/john_donovan/10/18/game.6.preview/T1_1023_mangum.jpg" alt="Double Click to select a Photo" width="298" height="414" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes">Crystal Mangum wipes away tears at Thursday's presser. AP</div> </div> When I was younger, I used to think you had to be someone special to write a book. That it was a privilege afforded to the Hemingways and Fitzgeralds of the world. I always viewed it as the last vestige of intellectual thought, rising above the riff-raff that usually floods our airwaves. Of course, as I’ve grown older, I've sadly discovered that it’s as easy to get a book deal as it is to make a sex tape. The only difference is those grainy home videos are usually far more entertaining than some of the books that have come out in recent years -- "written" by the likes of Jose Canseco and Pete Rose.  The latest example of this is "The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story," which comes out Friday. If you don’t know who Crystal Mangum is, that's fine. You shouldn't. She's nobody. No, I take that back, she's something. She's a liar. Mangum was the woman who prosecutors determined falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of sexual assault more than two years ago when she was hired as an exotic dancer at a team party. She single-handedly ruined the lives of Reade Seligmann, Dave Evans and Collin Finnerty, the three players accused and later cleared in the case, and Mike Pressler, the coach of the Duke lacrosse team at the time, who was fired after the team’s season was suspended. If it wasn't so sad, the absurdity in which the case was handled and how most of the media vilified the players during the process, it would have been laughable. When the charges against the players were finally dropped last year, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said the players were victims of a "tragic rush to accuse." It was a rush that caused the initial prosecutor of the case, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong to be disbarred for "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation." He later served one day in jail after he was found guilty of criminal contempt. Most media outlets refused to publicize Mangum's name and photo after the case was dropped, even though they had no problem continually showing the names and images of the wrongly accused during the case. They probably thought they were doing Mangum a favor, allowing her to disappear and move on with her life. She apparently couldn't do that. Mangum appeared before the media for the first time Thursday, not surprisingly, to promote her book. Listening to her skirt questions about the case while Vincent Clark, the co-author and publisher of the book, continued to say "the case is closed" was almost as bizarre as some of the experts. "I want to assert, without equivocation, that I was assaulted. Make of that what you will. You will decide what that means to you because the state of North Carolina saw fit not to look at all that happened the night I became infamous," writes Mangum. "Even as I try to move on with my life, I still find it necessary to take one more stand and fight.” So she was assaulted, but she refuses, at least in the press conference, to say by whom. She says “the state of North Carolina saw fit not to look at all that happened” that night despite the fact that she, according to The News & Observer, gave at least five different versions of the incident to police and medical interviewers. She says she wants to move on with her life but threw away whatever privacy she had by holding a press conference and writing a book to make one last buck off her story.  Don't you think if she wanted to take one more stand and fight, she should have done it two years ago? The only intrigue left in her inconsistent story is if her book will be placed in the fiction or non-fiction section of book stores. The problem with Mangum isn't only that she's a liar but she's the worst possible thing that could happen to actual victims of sexual assault. It's already hard enough for rape victims to come forward, but Mangum's lies have made it doubly hard for future victims who are actually telling the truth.  Mangum claims she is not "looking forward to opening old wounds" with her book; unfortunately, not only has she opened old ones, she has created a whole new batch with her fabricated story and insistence on being a celebrity. http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/396/7/thumb/markazi_arash.jpg 118 CA

Arash Markazi

Los Angeles 3987 17141 <div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/john_donovan/10/18/game.6.preview/T1_1023_mangum.jpg" alt="Double Click to select a Photo" width="298" height="414" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes">Crystal Mangum wipes away tears at Thursday's presser. AP</div> </div> When I was younger, I used to think you had to be someone special to write a book. That it was privilege afforded to the Hemingways and Fitzgeralds of the world. I always viewed it as the last vestige of intellectual thought, rising above the riff-raff that usually floods our airwaves. Of course, as I’ve grown older, I've sadly discovered that it’s as easy to get a book deal as it is to make a sex tape. The only difference is those grainy home videos are usually far more entertaining than some of the books that have come out in recent years -- "written" by the likes of Jose Canseco and Pete Rose.  The latest example of this is "The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story," which comes out Friday. If you don’t know who Crystal Mangum is, that's fine. You shouldn't. She's nobody. No, I take that back, she's something. She's a liar. Mangum was the woman who prosecutors determined falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of sexual assault more than two years ago when she was hired as an exotic dancer at a team party. She single-handedly ruined the lives of Reade Seligmann, Dave Evans and Collin Finnerty, the three players accused and later cleared in the case, and Mike Pressler, the coach of the Duke lacrosse team at the time, who was fired after the team’s season was suspended.