If you know anything about the website truthaboutduke.com - and the main thing you need to know is that it was started and is operated by a Maryland grad - then this shouldn't have surprised you. I just hopped on it this afternoon, but I'd guess that the item, photo and link to the news of J.J. Redick's DWI arrest went up within seconds of the story getting out.

First reaction upon hearing the news: J.J. Redick is the luckiest man on the planet. If you're as big a lightning rod as he is, and you're going to do something that otherwise would attract every last miserable amount of attention you'd ever dread, you're better off doing it the day after the quarterback of the Super Bowl champion wipe out on a motorcycle without wearing a helmet. Ben Roethlisberger is Redick's human shield.

Duke haters are, of course, drinking this up. But outside of the obvious polarizing reaction to anything Duke, certain facets of this are really troubling on a lot of levels. For instance, here's what Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement released after the early-Tuesday morning arrest: "J.J. knows he made a mistake and regrets it. He represented the very best in college athletics and exhibited outstanding character at Duke the last four years. He is and will continue to be a credit to the Duke basketball family. As his friend and coach, he has my total support.''

This is the statement released by Redick's agent, Arn Tellem: "J.J. is an outstanding student athlete of the highest character. He is an exemplary role model and is a credit to his family and the entire Duke community. This is nothing more than an isolated incident. Everyone who has come into contact with J.J. as a student and an athlete knows the quality person he is and will continue to be.''

This is the statement Redick released through the university: "I regret what happened last night, and want to apologize  to my family and the Duke community for the incident.''

And this, roughly, is what I heard Mike Golic, the co-host for the Mike and Mike in the Morning national radio show, say this morning: "He doesn't have a history of doing anything like this. He's a good kid, he made a mistake, he'll probably learn from it and never do it again. I can't believe this will affect him (in the NBA draft).''

Wow, where to start?

First, Redick isn't a student-athlete anymore. The reports so far from this story say that he graduated last month, which is good. But that also means that he's a grown man in a grown-up world, a man auditioning for his future employment and trying to impress his employers, i.e., the NBA.

The NBA, like every other pro sports league, doesn't just rely on gushing TV commentary to evaluate a player; they do their homework, they investigate backgrounds, they do interviews with the players in person and with everyone close to him, and they take into consideration DWI arrests two weeks before the draft, a week after the big group tryout camp and in the middle of individual tryout season. It may very well be the very first time Redick has done something like this, but he picked the absolute worst time to do it, and anyone who thinks it isn't having any effect on how teams view him now, is crazy. And truth be told, no one knows what bubbles to the surface when checks on potential first-round picks, especially lottery picks (which he reportedly might be), are done. Teams can't afford to give a player they're investing that much in the benefit of the doubt, or to take the coach's or agent's word for it. We as media (depending on whether you consider a radio talk-show host "media'') shouldn't either.

It's not unreasonable to believe that if this were a football player from Florida State, or a basketball player from Cincinnati, that some talking head wouldn't be giving us the old "he's not a bad kid, he just made a mistake'' speech. And if that coach - a Bobby Bowden or a Bob Huggins - trotted out the lines about the best in college athletics and a credit to the program, eyes would be rolling from coast to coast. This coach deserves no less.

Also, as a graduate and as someone on his own trying to make the NBA, why is Redick issuing statements through Duke? Why is "the Duke community'' invoked by everybody involved here, including his agent? There's nothing wrong with supporting him publicly - after all, Redick made a lot of money for that school and its coach over his four years - but when does the umbilical cord get cut?

Last, and most important, it's way past time to stop referring to drunk driving as "a mistake.'' Calling your coach Melvin instead of Mike is a mistake. Taking a two-pointer when you've down by three in the final seconds is a mistake. You can almost say that walking out of 7-11 with a bag of Cheetos in your hand and forgetting to pay for it, is a mistake. If push came to shove, you could claim that getting behind the wheel without realizing how buzzed you are is a mistake.

But driving drunk and then doing a U-turn in the street to avoid a police checkpoint, as police have said - that's not a mistake, that's a crime. An intentional one. With potentially fatal consequences. And it says a little more about "character'' than either Krzyzewski or Tellem would like to believe.

Maybe this won't affect Redick's NBA future, and maybe it will slap some sense into him. For his sake and for the sake of other drivers, let's hope so. But getting coddled like this by people who are supposed to be helping him can't possibly do him any good. He doesn't need public apologists, he needs someone to tell him he'd better clean this up.