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Something to read: Northwestern senior, family recounts kidnapping

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!, Nov 28, 2011.

  1. Great, great story ...

    Doug Bartels, a fifth-year senior at Northwestern and his family disclose his kidnapping when he was 14 months old.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-spt-1124-northwestern-football-bartels--20111124,0,3735304.story?page=1

     
  2. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    That is a great lead.

    In this day and age, though, that story almost seems too short. I want to know more about the kidnapping.
     
  3. Yeah, they buried the stuff about the kidnapping and the kid's recovery at the end.
    I love the stuff about how, as a 5-year-old, the therapist recommended the family writing a story.
     
  4. Lugnuts

    Lugnuts Well-Known Member

    That's horrible, but in this day and age... that kind of child abduction is EXTREMELY rare in the U.S. The vast majority of child abductions are done by family members in domestic or custody disputes. Another big chunk is runaways. Total stranger snatches a kid and gets away with it? Very rare. That kind of abduction has been steadily on the decline in this country.

    Still, we as Americans are have so much anxiety about it that we don't let out kids outside like we used to. I walk around my neighborhood, which is filled with kids, and it's like a ghost town. There are kids I haven't seen in months. The kids are inside playing video games, watching TV and/or doing the 3 hours of homework a day that we now give. The only kids in our neighborhood that are out running around are the kids of the family that moved from Israel. And believe me, it's WONDERFUL to see kids outside playing ball, picking up sticks, running around, etc.

    We are letting this fear of child abductions turn us into something that goes against the nature of human beings.

    Sorry for the rant. It's a great story.
     
  5. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    But the guy did not get away.

    I worry more about my kid getting hit by an ahole doing 45 in a 25 than them getting abducted.
     
  6. imjustagirl

    imjustagirl Active Member

    True. Story.

    I thought that was a great piece. Would rather have had all the kidnapping together, or at least smaller bursts of the football so it wasn't kidnapping-football-kidnapping. But I thought it was well done. And "Duffel Bag Boy" made me laugh.
     
  7. copperpot

    copperpot Well-Known Member

    See now, I thought the lead was pretty lame. You have this once-in-a-lifetime story about a player who was kidnapped, and you go with a lead about how they're going to write down what they're thankful for on Thanksgiving? That could have been the lead on a million Thanksgiving features. There were tons of great stories and details in here ... I would have tried to build a lead around something more specific to the kidnapping, the drama of the day or something like that.

    The "they better write small" really bugged me, too.
     
  8. Turtle Wexler

    Turtle Wexler Member

    Yes, this is important, but I doubt this would be the "lesson" if the child had been killed or seriously injured. It rings of the same "God wanted us to win this game" theme -- did God want the other team to lose?

    Also, I tire of the "he's a really smart football player" quote. He goes to f'ing Northwestern. Of course he's smart.

    A fascinating story, but it reads like canned Thanksgiving cranberry sauce.
     
  9. Lugnuts

    Lugnuts Well-Known Member

    Me too!
     
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