Broadway Blues

The world's most famous arena may need to be renamed. It now houses the worst franchise in professional sports, the New York Knicks, and tonight the biggest chokers in hockey. With control of their playoff destiny, the Rangers got throttled 5-1 by Ottawa and have now fallen to the number six seed entering the NHL Playoffs. Instead of hosting their cross river rival New Jersey Devils, they head to the Meadowlands on Saturday for game one of the opening round. Although Ranger fans have to be ecstatic that this team is headed to the playoffs after being projected by some "experts" (no offence to loyal SI readers) to be the worst team in hockey, the way they collapsed at the end of the season is laudible. While some credit must be given to the Devils for putting together an unbelieveable 11 game winning streak to end the season, there is no excuse for allowing this division to slip through the cracks. Losing on Saturday at league bottom feeder Pittsburgh, the Rangers opened the door for the Devils heroics. Coupled with the Flyers win over the Islanders tonight, the Rangers were jumped by two teams on hockey's final night. The Rangers have been riddled with injuries, most notably to star goalie Henriq Lundqvist, but had many opportunities to secure the third seed.

In other sporting news, two Duke lacrosse players were charged in the rape scandal that has torn apart Durham. They were released after posting their $400,000 bail, but still face serious charges. This affair has been a major story for many news outlets because of the wide range of issues it involves. Durham is heavily populated by lower-class African-Americans, and the victim herself is black. Forty-six of the forty seven lacrosse players were white, and the alleged perpetrators are both affluent caucasians. Due to the association with a major college sports program, this issue gets a lot of press. However, while it certainly is a serious issue, it has received far too much coverage. This is not to show a lack of sympathy for the victim, or to suggest guilty parties should not be harshly penalized, but this story has received too much publicity. It is unfortunate, but it is also unfair to Duke students. Now they must be tormented for the alleged mistakes of only a few students. The actions of the accused should not reflect the school as a whole. Cameron Crazies bother me as much as the next guy, but it is unfair that the student body as a whole most suffer through this case.