For people who think the ordeal that the three Duke lacrosse players went through is over, think again.

Once facing a barrage of charges after an exotic dancer accused them of rape, David Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty now find themselves free. But they are free only as defined by the legal system that tormented them over the last 12 months.

The stark reality is that for the rest of their lives, being free will be a goal essentially impossible to achieve.

By now everyone knows enough about the case and what happened. It has been beaten to death by everybody, everywhere.

News organizations ran with it because of the nature of the story, featuring three wealthy white students raping a working class black girl. Academic organizations talked about it because this incident happened at one of the most respected schools in the nation, and the sports media took advantage because this story centered on varsity athletes.

That’s one heck of a reason for ESPN to finally talk about Duke without even mentioning coach K.

Most news stories eventually die down to discussion among some small groups of people who have a personal interest, then become buried in the past. But the Duke case, though based on something which as far as anyone can prove never actually happened, resonated with everyone. And it will never go away.

Every time a group of athletes is accused of something similar in the foreseeable future, the Duke lacrosse case will be a reference point. And for at least that long, the entire series of events will haunt the three players at the center of the firestorm.

By no means do I think that, 10 years from now, Evans, Seligmann or Finnerty will interview for a job and be denied because of their involvement in this year-long saga. But imagine, for the rest of their lives, having to live with everyone wondering what actually happened that night in Durham, N.C. Clearly the lacrosse players will never be convicted of anything, but in this country, the court of public opinion threw the gauntlet down the day the accuser came forward.

This group of three will invariably be introducing themselves to people or just trying to fit in with everyday society, and imagine the chill that will go up their spines and the horrified look that will come to their eyes when they are confronted with having to answer these questions a million times.

‘Have we met before?’

‘I’m pretty sure I know you from somewhere.’

God help them if they come across people who are good with names or faces. Or if they meet some guy somewhere who is so obsessive that he knows he remembers the name and can’t let it go. So he goes to Google and sees the search results, and the headline reads, ‘All Charges Dropped in Duke Case.’

And it all comes screaming back.

Now imagine you are Evans, Seligmann or Finnerty. You deal with people putting you through this every day, and you have two choices. You have to either make up a story, or explain to people that you are one of three college kids who were accused of rape and were subjected to an ungodly series of events before it was finally made clear you did little, if anything, wrong.

These three have roughly 60 years of this ahead of them, and until the bitter end there is no way for them to truly be free of this horror show they have been subjected to the last year.

This, despite the fact that the accuser had a questionable past. And despite the fact that her story kept changing. And despite the fact that there was little proof to start with, and any evidence quickly crumbled upon examination.

And worse than anything else, they will deal with the repercussions for something that a self-interest hoarding district attorney refused to admit they had no part in.

The rape charges were dismissed months ago, and the remainder of the charges were dismissed last week. District Attorney Mike Nifong is facing investigation for ethics violations for withholding evidence, which could lead to disbarment. Duke lacrosse is back on the field, and the accuser will be able to go on with her life, but will always be responsible for igniting the debate of whether three lacrosse players were worthy of living life in prison, or living life in the shadows.

David Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty are now free of the justice system, but they will forever be free of little else.