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Alright, Fine. Let's Talk About It.

I was asked recently what the biggest benefit of writing a blog was and conversely what is the biggest drawback. The way I see it, the answer is the same for both.

Lack of accountability.

At the end of the day, I answer to no one when I write this blog. I have no editor. I have no advertising department (sadly...). I have no boss. I can write whatever I want about whatever I want. It's the single most appealing thing about writing a blog no matter what the topic or the motivation. As far as writing a Syracuse blog goes, I can hype up a story as much or as little as I choose. I can feed rumor or I can try to squash it. I can react to any athlete, coach or DOCTOR however I see fit.

On the other hand, I can also make a complete fool of myself any time I want. I can make outlandish comments about how horrible a coach is and how he should be dead and his children should be castrated simply because his team loses a game and there's no one there to tell me it might not be a good idea. There's certainly a bunch of bloggers out there that do this and these are the people the "mainstream" points to when they talk about how disrespectful and hateful the blogging community is. Sure I've been known to post some fairly negative things about certain people but I try to make it fun and glib when possible and even when I am angry or upset I do my best to back it up with facts.

And so that leads up to the rumor no one wants to talk about. The rumor that certain members of a Syracuse athletics team were involved in a sexual assault of some kind. I'm not going to name names and I'm not going to go into detail because it is, at best, speculation and at worst, a horrible falsehood that could ruin reputations. If you visit certain Syracuse-related message boards online you'll get a feel for what's out there at the moment.

Certain people seem convinced the story is true and that it's about to get really bad. Like, Duke lacrosse bad. Many others scoff at the ridiculousness of it, especially since no hard facts have leaked or even been mentioned in any paper or news source. I've had reputable people in the SU community tell me they're hearing bad things but I've heard just as many tell me it was all made up and/or a false claim was made.

I guess the point is, I feel like it's necessary to acknowledge that a truly terrible story is bubbling below the surface but until someone, anyone confirms anything resembling a fact, it's way too soon to be dropping names and hearsay. Hopefully, this will all be revealed as an evil hoax and/or a situation that was misinterpreted from the get-go and we will all be able to move on and enjoy us some SU sports. If that's not the case, well then it's just something we're gonna have to deal with. But until the facts are known, I don't think it's fair for us, the anonymous masses of the Internet, to publicly speculate about the fates of those possibly involved. We already do that way too much about the things we do know.

If the Duke case taught us anything, it's to think about accountability. From the press to the bloggers to the district attorney. Lack of accountability will always come back to bite you in the ass if you abuse it. Remember that if this rumor makes it way to you.