The lacrosse players have asked Duke to pay their legal fees. No word yet whether Duke will bite, but, if I were Richard Brodhead, I’d jump at it. If he got a deal whereby the players would not sue Duke and Duke, in turn, pays the $3 million in legal fees, it would be a dream outcome for Duke. But they haven’t showed much in the way of good decision-making since this whole thing started. I’m sure they’ll say something stupid and anger the parents yet again. Like, for instance, John Burness’ comments this week in New York Newsday:

Burness said there is a segment of the population that has asked him if Duke will apologize to the players if their legal problems disappear. “I said,” Burness replied, “for what?”

Oops. Burness, senior vp and media manager for Duke, also made some disparaging comments about lacrosse players to that Newsday columnist. What was he thinking? The John Burness I used to know when I was at The Herald-Sun was a savvy media guy. Has the pressure gotten to everyone in the Allen Building? Seems so. A day after that column appeared, Burness had to take back some of his comments. Here’s the addition/correction added to the column:

On Tuesday, Burness stressed that any opinions he suggested did not reflect the university’s administration. “I apologize for the content and tone of my comments,” he said. “They are not consistent with the viewpoint or sentiment of the leadership of Duke University.”

Not a good move to anger people who have already said they’re going to make Duke pay for their irresponsible, amateurish, vindictive and spineless reaction to the rape charges last spring. As I said, Brodhead better jump at that legal-fee deal if it includes a pledge not to sue.