Not Growing The Game: High School Lacrosse Team Suspended After Players Accused Of "Sacrificing" A Guinea Pig In Pre-Game Ritual.

So a small group of players at a Detroit area high school have been accused of "sacrificing" a guinea pig in some sort of, what I can only assume, some misguided team-bonding, pre-game ritual that went horribly, horribly, wrong.  (Ed. Note: Allegedly!) 

According to multiple outlets in and around the Detroit area, the team has already been placed on suspension and an investigation by both the school and law enforcement is in progress.  The story only came out last night but it already made the the Daily Mail, so it's gonna be everywhere.  I bet Deadspin does a post.

NBC 4 WDIV did a segment during their broadcast last night and it included some pretty gruesome alleged details. According to WDIV:

Students and parents tell Local 4 it involves a guinea pig and a few players on the Grosse Ile High School lacrosse team, not the whole team. They say some of the team members decided to sacrifice the animal. Local 4 is told one student actually drank its blood and potentially two or three others decided to smear the guinea pig's blood on their faces.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that this is probably not the best way to grow the game. Additionally, the WDIV report also included a statement from the school superintendent, Joannne Lelekatch, which read in part:

On May 9, 2016, the Grosse Ile School District received information that one or more members of the District’s lacrosse team engaged in cruelty to an animal. The allegations related to the incident have resulted in the lacrosse season competitions being suspended by the District, pending the outcome of the investigations by law enforcement and the School District. At the request of law enforcement, the School District is holding its investigation in abeyance until law enforcement has completed its investigation.

It should be noted that only a few players are accused and most of the had nothing to do with any whatever happened. Nevertheless, the entire team is suspended. Everything's still just an allegation so far, but regardless of the veracity of the claims, how about we all agree that unless it's is your mascot, let;s leave the guinea pigs off the lax field and out of the locker room from here on out.

One last thing, a bit of free lawyerly  advice to any of the accused ....