A TEACHING MOMENT by Steve Tannen

This whole car wreck of a situation at Rutgers University is certainly disturbing and despicable.  Considering no one was seriously injured or died, it also might qualify as a blessing in disguise.  For openers, let's remember these are kids.  They might be 6'5, 225 with the ability to bench press the rack or jump out of the gym, but at age 21 and under, they are too young to grasp what their idiot coach is doing and how far over the line he is stepping.  Parents should take their young ones, show them the video and leave no doubt should a coach, teacher or anyone else in a position of authority get overly physical or verbally abusive with them, do one thing.  Tell mom and dad.  Or auntie or grandma or whoever is raising you.  The second a situation like this surfaces, tell.  TELL....TELL....TELL....drill it into their heads.  This is unacceptable.  Never stop reminding them.  As always with a negative circumstance, a main goal is future prevention. 
Here are some of the things I'm thinking about.
-My wife and I have to go back and watch the last episode of Mad Men because this hiatus has been so freaking long I forgot what is happening.
-It's not about Oregon being out or my bracket getting a Chernobyl like nuking, but something is NOT grabbing me about this weekend's Final 4.  I'm guessing once Wichita and Louisville tip it off the temp will rise again and I am curious to see how that Syracuse zone will work against those great Michigan guards.
-Out of the gate I'm loving the Tigers in the American League.  Certainly in the division.  Don't buy Cleveland and the White Sox can be anemic at times with the lumber.  Toronto is testing history by throwing money at their issues and that blew up in the faces of Miami a year ago.  Free Agents are a great supplement, but not the be all end all solution.  Still like the Rays in the East.  I'm rooting against the Angels is the West cause I think Josh Hamilton is a self-righteous hypocrite.  The Rangers rescued his career and maybe his life with a personal assistant to make sure he didn't go on one of his booze/drug binges and he showed them very little appreciation.  Texas can rake and if the back end of the rotation becomes stable they're the team to beat in the West.  California has rotation issues and their closer, Ernesto Frieri had one decent year.  Let's see him do it again.  I think New York and Boston are in for long seasons and could run next to last and last in the East.