brawling, links and more outrage

By now, everybody's probably already seen this.



Obviously, just about everyone's already offered his/her opinion about the incident. And thus, allow me a few thoughts of my own:
-- Take it from someone who played both Carver and Valley as a high-school student-athlete: it's a miracle no one was killed in this thing. Just trust me.
-- The fallout from the fight ended with both teams disqualified from the postseason, meaning the Talladega boys -- one of my old teams -- is now in the Final 4. Second time in 4 years.
-- Strangely absent in all the outrage -- and really, it's been somewhat hilarious to watch everyone work themselves into a lather, as though fights at sporting events have never occurred before -- has been a complete lack of outrage at Montgomery's role (or lack of it) in the fight. I covered that regional the last two years, and I was struck by the relative lack of a barrier between fans and the floor, as well as the glaring lack of security (the only thing that might've corrected that fact). Watch that tape again, and tell me how many uniformed cops you can spot. I saw one. That's not acceptable, particularly in a game involving a home team (Carver) that was bound to fill the gym. If I'm the AHSAA, I'm seriously thinking about moving that regional, maybe back to Troy, possibly to Auburn or somewhere similar.
-- One other point -- this incident illustrates something I've noted during several seasons of covering high-school basketball, and people who watch a lot of high school ball will understand: there's a certain bizarre contingent of people -- I don't even think it's fair to call them "kids" because most of them appear to be well over high-school age -- who go to these games for no discernable reason, except on the off-chance a fight breaks out. Katt Williams described the phenomenon thusly (language NSFW).



Truly, this sub-culture is somewhat head-scratching -- they're like Matt McConaughey's Wooderson character in "Dazed and Confused," only much more dangerous. Unfortunately, I have no idea whatsoever how you could solve this problem, save playing games in empty gyms at 2 p.m. Which is probably where we're headed, anyway.

Anyway, we're overdue for some links, so here goes.
-- Last night's "Lost" blog got eaten up by my real job, but I can provide you with links to people much better at reviewing the show than I: the ew.com crew. Here they provide you with Easter Eggs.
-- Alabama football stuff: only 11 years after it went up, the jumbotron at BDS caught fire (sadly, it wasn't me); Andre Smith addresses the media for the first time since he left Alabama; OTS reviews NSD, 2009; and 8Box continues its outstanding assessment of positions for '09 -- today: tight ends.
-- Checking in from the blAUgosphere, Jerry of the JCCW discusses the necessity of the MSM.
-- Finally, preparing for the '09 season in Atlanta, gondee flips out on Ken Griffey Jr. Hey, he was just gonna get hurt anyway.