Internet sites poke fun at lax scandal

Performing a simple online search for "Duke" in the past few weeks naturally would have resulted in a litany of serious articles about the recent scandal surrounding the men's lacrosse team.

But there are a few more offbeat findings as well.

A feature published April 6 in The Onion-a nationally distributed humor publication-"exposed" Duke's equestrian team for being "engaged in acts of exotic sexual misconduct during the infamously out-of-control parties at the team's off-campus barn."

An online gaming site was also taking wagers on how many DNA matches investigators would find, and there are several websites selling apparel both in favor of and condemning the lacrosse team.

The Onion's article was full of direct connections to the controversy regarding an alleged rape.

In a reference to the widely publicized previous arrest record of some lacrosse players, The Onion noted that the equestrian riders have their own share of troubles.

The University's top-tier riding clubs are full of "privileged elites," the article noted.

"Duke teams also lead the nation, and organized horsemanship in general, in the sudden destruction of large livestock for unrecorded or sketchily documented reasons," the article explained.

It also described the equestrian team's shindigs in great detail.

"Everyone's drinking, the lights in the stable go down, someone gets some saddle soap and a curry-comb," the article read. "Pretty soon everyone's bareback, they're playing 'strip dressage,' [and] strange lathered-up fillies are prancing around."

The Onion mock-quoted History Professor "Woodrow Peterson"-seemingly an allusion to a real Duke Professor Peter Wood, who specializes in Native American history and has been quoted in newspapers across the country for speaking about his experience with lacrosse players.

"The Duke University community barely tolerated the systematic sexual abuse of two black women at the hands of its students," the fictional Peterson said in The Onion. "If word got out that valuable horses had been treated that way, this place would explode."

Real-life Duke sophomore Lindsley Baker-Baum took offense at that last line; she said the publication "went a little far" by implying that Duke students value horses higher than black women.

Still, that is what makes The Onion a fun read, she admitted.

"It was a welcome relief in that it was a humorous take on the situation," Baker-Baum said.

Beyond the equestrian article, other websites had their own Duke lacrosse features.

Prior to the release of DNA results Monday, gamblers could put money on the the number of matches they expected investigators would find on wagerweb.com.

The chances ranged from even money for no matches to 75-to-1 odds that DNA from all 46 lacrosse players that were tested would be found on the alleged victim.

On cafepress.com, websurfers can buy t-shirts, tank tops, hats and thongs emblazoned with anti-pots-and-pans symbols.

The products are in reference to a protest the morning of March 26, when community members demonstrated in a "wake-up call" in the Trinity Park neighborhood where the site of the alleged incident is located.

Protesters made noise with a variety of objects-including pots and pans.

And on eBay.com-the web's largest store-for $9.95 shoppers can purchase an electronic version of the Durham Police Department's search warrant for the dorm room of Ryan McFadyen, a sophomore and lacrosse player who has since been suspended in the name of safety following the release of an inflammatory e-mail he sent.

According to the seller, the document is "a matter [of] public record but not easily attainable." The warrant for sale is five pages longer than other versions readily available online and in-print.

The Durham Herald-Sun reported Wednesday that a shirt reading, "I was raped by Duke lacrosse" was also on sale on eBay.com, but the item was not available Thursday.

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