The first apologist I heard just called into Laurence Holmes on The Score… Laura…
"This must've been an isolated incident because those coaches are wonderful men. My son played there for four years and never told me anything like this was happening"
Laura "Paterno", LZ truther!
Catch:
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Although I am not a devotee to sports-talk radio, I can imagine "Laura" was neither the first nor the only parent who attempted to defend the indefensible here. As expected, it turns out some delusional true believers exist despite an abundance of evidence against the perpetrators and a string of adults who now claim they were unaware of the carnival atmosphere which prevailed in LZ's locker rooms.
In addition to some dimwitted parents who will insist this was an "isolated" incident, what I found mind-bending was the poorly-written, almost mechanical statement from the LZ administration, which read:
"
The district is committed to creating a positive culture that does not tolerate hazing of any kind."
Gee...................what a relief!
I am not sure in which corner of the universe the administrators in Lake Zurich live, but what occurred in their locker room is not hazing in the least. To the contrary, it is a monstrous scandal and the actions amounted to assault and occasionally sexual assault and a statement refusing to acknowledge assault won't fool anyone as the drip, drip, drip of facts continue to roll out.
Shoving a broomstick into the rectum of a teen-aged boy is not hazing.
Rather than facing reality, the LZ administration appears to be turning from it with a pledge to mount a hazing-prevention program, which will accomplish nothing. In announcing this unprofitable measure, the district is merely launching a barely-disguised campaign to provide legal refuge for future negligence and forestalling honest public debate or full accountability for what occurred.
These "anti-anything" programs are nothing more than feel-good rituals in which students and faculty are forced to endure tedious lectures from so-called area experts endlessly sermonizing on some social issue. An incident of this magnitude is in no need of a self-righteous orator pounding his fist on a podium and engaging in a logorrheic presentation replete with handouts, pie charts, a PowerPoint presentation and video clips to stir a man's conscience and impress upon an audience what constitutes collegiality among teen-aged boys.
Only through a voluminous and comprehensive investigation followed by vigorous prosecution will incidents such as these cease.
These allegations are hardly sick fabrications. If the gloomy portrait emerging from LZ is a phenomenon which has occurred for two decades, I find it increasingly difficult to believe it was a well-kept secret. Episodes such as this do not remain hidden for very long in a high school setting.
With respect to the administration at LZ, no tersely-worded statement will satisfy: Facts and reason tend to overcome charming public statements.
As far as "Laura," well, one can admire her Borgia-like blind loyalty for so long before it becomes tragic comedy.
