There is, of course, an update to this story. Both Seravalli and Laperriere explained themselves:

First, Lappy, who told me the following: "I'm so [rattled] right now. I wasn't talking about rape. I would NEVER (emphasis his) downplay such [an] act. I feel like shit."

Was the quote put in the wrong context? "Yeah, I was talking about [how] guys have to [be] smarter about their decision making, never about rape." 

He also tweeted… 

Screen Shot 2013-02-14 at 4.57.52 PM

… and told Broad Street Hockey

"I would never say that rape happens all the time and that you can get away with it. Maybe my English got in the way. What I meant was kids putting themselves in a wrong position, a vulnerable position. Now with the money they make and the phones and the Internet, you can't put yourself in that position."

 

Generally speaking, that’s good advice for a young athlete. But the situation relating directly to Cousins (at least what was mentioned in the article) involves the sexual assault charge. Now, no one actually thinks that Lappy is endorsing rape, and those who know him were quick to defend him. But I’m still not sure his comments weren't entirely ambiguous–"learn from that," "learn from this stuffare referring to something, after all. It sounds like it’s part poor wording, part disconnectedness and part….  the writer, Seravalli.

He tweeted…

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Screen Shot 2013-02-14 at 4.58.19 PM 

and told Broad Street Hockey

"It's not exactly news that it happened," Seravalli said. "It doesn't need to be in the lede. When it happened we ran it in our paper, as did every paper in the area. We dug into the situation with Harry Zolnierczyk too, but we don't mention it in every article we write about him."

 

I’m sorry, but if you’re writing an article about a guy who redeemed himself from off-ice troubles, and those off-ice troubles are highlighted – hell, defined – by a sexual assault charge, you should at least educate yourself on the sexual assault charge, because it makes a difference. And also, not gloss over the charge while grammatically fluffing the guy.

Both from Lappy’s Tweet and from what I’m told by those close to Lappy – that Lappy was pointing to his phone, perhaps referring to Twitter, when he said "stuff like this"– meaning that you can't party and do stupid shit without it blowing up – you get the sense that Seravalli did the former Flyer no favors with what was perhaps an extraordinarily poor framing of his quotes. Of course, Seravalli never admitted that the quotes were taken out of context.