Sadly, they'll learn...

The Pats had a bye week, so I was able to spend a Sunday in non-football activity. So I went to a baseball game.

Sure, it was little league, and yes, it was October. I had a winter jacket on for the last few innings. Baseball is a summer sport, but New Englanders are tough.... we represent, even when it's -20 degrees (Ok, it was 51 degrees... but it was windy, and I'd been into the booze).

We had the Steelers/Chiefs game on the radio, but it wasn't anywhere near as compelling as the kid game. Tie score, bottom of the 6th (short kids, short games), man on first, two outs.... FOX would pay a zillion dollars to get the Yankees/Dodgers in that kind of scenario. A simple grounder should have ended it... but nothing is simple in Pony League, and a bad throw to first ended the tension.

That's why I always liked kid sports. I coached kids for a few years, and I can honestly say that I was more worked up for games during our 0-16 season than I was for the Patriot Super Bowl victories. But that's just me.

Still, kids are generally in it for fun. You don't see the nastiness you see with pro athletes. No kid at yesterday's game did anything like what we've seen in pro sports in the last few weeks, such as:

- Albert Haynesworth stomping on an opponent's face with his cleats.  This was nasty... see for yourself: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=172003507700369246&q=haynesworth&hl=en

I've heard various justifications for this act, but the only ones that worked for me are:

a) "I thought the victim's face was the ball."

b) he was upset that he didn't get his Vince Young bobblehead doll, despite being one of the first 10,000 people in the arena. Technically, he's right.

c) Haynesworth felt that his foe needed a "more open mind," and started the process off with 20 stitches to the temple.

d) "There was a scorpion on the guy's face."

e) "Times are tough. and I can save a lot of money on costumes by being scary enough IRL that I can just dress up as Albert Haynesworth for Halloween."

f) "There is a sizable cash award for being 'America's Scariest Black Man,' and they vote in October."

g) my favorite... "because I can."

- Troy Pomalu was running the ball, and Larry Johnson was just a hair away from catching him. Larry rectified this situation by yanking Pomalu down by the dreadlocks. In case you're wondering why this is funny, here's what Pomalu looks like:

Much like Steve Irwin being killed by the animals he surrounded himself with, this was one of those "it wasn't a matter of  if,  it was a matter of when " scenarios.

In case it ever comes up in conversation... tackling a guy by his wicked nappy hair isn't a penalty in the NFL.  Refusing to let go after is, and LJ took 15 yards for the team. "I swear I couldn't get my hands out of that mess," said Johnson, who professed to having great respect for Pomalu.

The Stee;ler's won, 45-7. No one was yanked down by the dreads at the Pony league game, btw.

- Steven Jackson lets off a few shots outside a strip club at 3 AM.

Jackson (who you may remember as the guy who landed the really nice haymakers during the Ron Artest crowd melee a few years ago) is doing his best to restore the image the Pacers had before the brawl. I may have the timeline wrong, but I think it went:

A) talking sh*t in the strip club

B) fistfight starts outside the club, with Jackson being punched in the face out of nowhere

C) Jackson gets hit by a car, and rolled over the hood

D) Jax gets his gun out of the car, and starts shooting.

E) The Pacers flee in a car, which the cops pull over. They find 3 guns and sack of the Kind.

I'd be armed if I were a millionaire, too.... especially if my fun often involved me being in the seedier parts of town. Still... if I were a millionaire, I'd stay out of the seedier parts of town to begin with.

I do like the fact that Jackson stayed in the brawl after he was struck by a car, and that his foes stayed in it long enough for Jackson to get off 5 shots. That's the kind of intensity that Larry Bird wants him to bring to the court. 

I also like the fact that Jackson has again shown that he will fight to protect his teammates. He went after 10,000 Detroit residents to protect Artest, and he took a car hood to the chest in this melee. Whatever his faults may be, Steven Jackson most definitely has your back... against anybody smaller than a large city.

Still.... few feel-good stories involve the lead-in of "I loaded my gun, picked up some weed, and headed off to the strip club."

I usually enjoy the dark side of sports, and these events listed above are no exception. I could watch that guy get yanked down by the mane 50 times and still laugh at it. But you need to balance it all off with a bunch of kids playing the game because they like it, and there's little else to do on a cold October afternoon in a small town.

I know, because I was there.