Dukes' troubled path far too well traveled

[Capper]

When trouble comes along - and with Elijah Dukes, it usually does - there are only so many ways to deal with it.
You can give it time and hope the trouble goes away. You can give it help and hope the trouble gets better. You can handle it with care and hope the trouble does not blow up in your face.
Or, in the case of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who have tried all of this, you can finally come to an inevitable conclusion:
You can get as far away from the trouble as possible.
If the latest allegations against Dukes by his wife are substantiated, if he indeed threatened murder, if he transmitted the photo of a pistol to her cell phone to intimidate her, then the Rays have no choice but to wash their hands of him.
If the accusations are true, he should be through.

Simple as that.

Here is the full (censored) text of the voicemail message:

Hey, dawg. It’s on, dawg. You dead, dawg. I ain’t even bulls——-. Your kids too, dawg. It don’t even matter to me who is in the car with you. N—–, all I know is, n—–, when I see your m—–f——- a– riding, dawg, it’s on. As a matter of fact, I’m coming to your m—–f—— house.

Dukes has five children by four women, including two who were pregnant at the same time. One of the kids he threatened in that voicemail is his own.


Rays: Dukes' troubled path far too well traveled

[Quakindude]

It's still amazing to me how much shit athletes get away with.

This dude is trash. Nothing but trash.

[Panda Man]

I'd have responded to that message "lol, k, dawg," Just for kicks. I actually had a little trouble reading it, the ebonics were killing me! lol

And I doubt he'll do anything to be honest.

[Hitman]

*uck that dude. I am about sick of hearing about him. Throw his ass in jail already.

[Pete]

That is a legitimate threat. Throw him in jail. Some people are all talk. Not saying he should be killing people but why would you say something like that? I mean you might as well go straight to jail cause if something does happen, its going to be obvious who did it.

[Capper]

According to Abbie Vansickle, of The St. Petersburg Times, a teen girl who lived in the foster care of a relative of Tampa Bay Devil Rays OF Elijah Dukes has told police Dukes got her pregnant. Detectives believe the sex was consensual and no crime was committed, but according to the police report the incident has prompted a state review of the foster home.

[Capper]

ESPN - Dukes in trouble again after violating court order - MLB

Elijah Dukes faces the prospect of jail time after being charged Thursday with a single count of violating a domestic violence injunction.
Dukes, optioned to the minor leagues in June by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and placed on the temporary inactive list as he tries to get a handle on his numerous legal problems, faces a maximum punishment of a year in jail if convicted on the misdemeanor.
His estranged wife, NiShea Dukes, obtained a year-long restraining order in June after she said Elijah threatened her. According to a report in the Tampa Tribune on Friday, NiShea Dukes called the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office to complain that he and an unidentified woman made harassing phone calls to her. Assistant State Attorney Douglas Covington told the Tribune that Elijah Dukes will be issued a subpoena and a court date. Dukes is unlikely to be formally arrested or booked. Ronald Hanes, Dukes' criminal attorney, did not return the newspaper's call requesting for comment. The Dukes' are in the process of a messy divorce case which stems from an incident in which NiShea Dukes said her husband threatened her over the phone and text-messaged her a picture of a handgun. Dukes was suspended for the final month of last season at Triple-A Durham because of a string of on- and off-the-field incidents. He was arrested in January and charged with marijuana possession, but won a spot on the Devil Rays' roster out of spring training and was the club's Opening Day center fielder, homering in his first major league game. His playing time began to decrease in late May, when NiShea Dukes revealed she sought court protection for herself and the couple's children. In June, published reports detailed a pregnant 18-year-old girl's claim that Dukes is the father of her unborn child. Dukes, who earns $380,000, will be paid by the Devil Rays while he's on the inactive list. One consideration in the decision to continue paying his major league salary is the player has several young children. Earlier this summer, Devil Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg defended his decision to deactivate Dukes rather than release him. "This will pass, hopefully, with a very positive outcome for him," the owner said at the time. "If it doesn't, our reputation will remain intact as an organization that's trying to help somebody or did what they think they could to help somebody."

[Zambini]

im so sick of these major league players.

Someone needs to put a salary cap on every single godamn team to 200k a year. Same goes to every other sport where you make the same amount of money no matter how you play. If you decide to give up the last 40 yards while your rushing because you don't want to re-apply your makeup for the after the game interview you get the same money if you push and don't stop because you believe that you are capable of achieving something, even though you aren't known outside the hardcore dedicated team fans

[One4yu2c]

Meh, we're sick of it because this is what gets media coverage. We often complain about over privileged athletes (and most of the time, they deserve the complaints), but lost in the shuffle are all the humanitarian efforts that many of these guys contribute to, and the oodles of money thrown at charities, community development, aid to third world countries, etc.

I don't mind bashing Elijah Duke and other high profile athletes like him (Vick's another piece of work, and the list goes on), but I don't blanket all of sports and all players over the ones making headlines. All one needs to do is head over to FoxNews to see what kind of stories are deemed newsworthy these days.

As for Elijah specifically (as is the topic of this thread), I'd like to the see the proposed punishments a lot harsher than what they are. "Facing the prospect of jail time" with a "maximum punishment of a year in jail" translates into a slap on the wrist in the form of fines and community service.

[Capper]

Great point, its troubling to me that the "NEWS" has decided to go more with a tabloid approach than actually just reporting facts