The cover up.

Some of you may or may not of heard of the allegations of rape against Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. (Big Ben)The woman claims, in a civil suit, that Big Ben raped her some time last year, and that her employer, Harrah's of Lake Tahoe, covered it up because Big Ben is friends with the company's president.

Of course Roethlisberger has vehemently denied the charges and he has vowed to defend his name and his honor.

Now here is the thing: I love sports, and I pretty much have ESPN on one of the televisions in my house 24/7. But I didn't hear about this story on ESPN. In fact, I am pretty sure no one has ever heard this story on ESPN, because they have never carried the story. Not one mention of the alleged rape charges against the quarterback of the Super Bowl championship team.

So, you have to ask yourself, why is that? When Kobe Bryant allegedly raped that young lady in Colorado it was wall to wall coverage until his accuser failed to follow through, and the charges were dropped. So why no mention of the alleged rape and civil suit forthcoming against Big Ben? Oh ohh, here comes field with the racial angle. Nope, there won't be a racial angle to this one. (Although, do you think that if this was "5" and not Big Ben we wouldn't be talking about it at water coolers from California to Maine? Not to mention the 24 hour cable channels who would be giving us constant McNabb chatter) This is about the press and the way that news and information is controlled in this country. They decide what becomes a big story and what doesn't. And the folks in Bristol are doing their best to make sure that this does not become a big story.

Why? Well it depends on which story you believe . Apparently Big Ben is really close to the folks over at ESPN, and he even has a reality show in the works with ABC which owns; you guessed it; ESPN.

Now this story might or might not be true. The woman could be making the whole thing up. But even if she did, an allegation has been made. Shouldn't it be reported and we, the public, decide how valid we think the story is? Hey, the story is out there, a lawsuit has been filed. Since when is it a news organizations job to decide the validity of a story and not run with it because they want to protect some jock who they happen to like?

Hey, all I am saying is that if this was Pac Man Jones or Michael Vick.....oh, sorry, I promised that I wouldn't play the race card tonight. *putting them down and going off to bed*

Did he deserve it?

I am wondering if I had children if this next story would affect me in a different way than it has so far.

So there is this man who allegedly brutally raped an 11 year old girl after she dropped off a sibling at a day care in the middle of the day. She was found bleeding and dazed. The police were outraged, the poor girl's family was outraged; and, understandably, the citizens who heard the story were outraged, as well.

But here is where the story gets a little crazy: The police union issued a statement naming Jose Carrasquillo as a person of interest, and they offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. They even said that there would be a pay out within an hour of his capture. In effect, they put a bounty on his head.

Thanks to the publicity (Or no thanks, if you are Jose Carrasquillo) some folks in the Kensington neighborhood where the poor child was raped, spotted a man fitting the police description,chased him down, and delivered street justice by beating him within an inch of his life. Finally, the police came on the scene and rescued and arrested Jose at the same time.

Most people are saying serves him right, and if he is in fact guilty, I am too. (All indicators are pointing to the fact that he is the right guy) But what if this wasn't the right guy? Is it right for the police to issue a statement such as this and photos of a suspect for this type of a heinous crime? Was he just a suspect or a lot more? The police are saying that they did have every right to act the way that they did because the man was wanted on a bench warrant and had seventeen prior arrests. But did they?

Maybe it's the lawyer in me, or maybe it's because I have seen mob violence and street justice carried out in my native country in ways that you can't imagine. (Believe me, it's not a pretty sight. That stuff can have a lasting effect on you.) For whatever the reason, I have never liked when mob justice ruled the day. I understand anger and I understand raw emotions, but I also respect the rule of law, and no matter how despicable the act itself was, we have rules in this country that must be followed before we punish the actor.

Jose, if you did rape that little girl, you deserve everything you have coming to you. If you did not,well, just remember; street justice doesn't only happen in Third World countries.

Another Alleged Rape On Campus

I have been trying to find out more about this story before I posted on it. But I can't get anything other than what everyone else already knows, so I will give you my thoughts.

Unfortunately, It seems there was another alleged rape on another upper crust American college campus. This time the alleged rape occurred at Villanova University -or as I like to call it; Vanilla-Nova-which is located on the "main line" section of my hometown of Philadelphia. Now for those of you familiar with Philly, you will know that the main line is Philadelphia's equivalent to Beverly Hills, or West Palm Beach, if you get my drift.

As the story goes, three randy freshman football players did indeed have sex with a college coed in one of the dorms, while they should have been learning their play books and getting ready for the rigors of college life. (What the hell is wrong with these kids? Rape or no rape, could you keep your dicks in your pants until you have played one home game at least?) Now here is what bothers me about the whole story: After an internal college investigation all three men were booted off campus and their football scholarships rescinded. Coach Andy Talley, who has been at Nova since 1985, says he spoke to all three of the players and got their side of the story. I for one am really curious to know what that story was. And, I hear the Radnor police won't be pressing criminal charges because the victim in question does not want to press charges. And frankly, without the victim's cooperation in these cases you have zilch. So why isn't the victim pressing charges?

Now let me say for the record; that if these young men did rape this young lady, she should press charges, and they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for their alleged criminal behavior. See, I am consistent, I felt that way about the Duke case too. Oh, did I say the Duke case? Well so far the only similarity this case has to that one is that they both occurred on a college campus of the privileged, and multiple athletes are being accused of rape. I wish I could tell you about some of the racial similarities, but every one is clamming up on this one. I mean everybody. The local press, the University, the families involved, everybody. Even my contact in the prosecutor's office out there isn't saying anything about these individuals. So what does that tell you? It tells me that they don't want bloggers like the damn field Negro making a racial issue of this. After all, it was just an unfortunate incident with some college students right?

Boy I sure hate to speculate....but....hey, we will wait to see what happens. Somehow I doubt the victim involved here will press charges, and somehow I doubt the players involved will make an issue of it, because they are not being charged criminally. They will pack up, go home, and hope for another chance somewhere else. And the alleged victim will chalk it up to a bad experience, go on with her life, and just hope it all goes away. Kind of like those Dukies wish that stripper had done in their case.

Let's hope that this is the last of me blogging about this, although somehow I am feeling like Arnold in the Terminator when he said: "I'll be back."