7.15.2005
:: PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A T-ball coach allegedly paid one of his players $25 to hurt an 8-year-old mentally disabled teammate so he wouldn't have to put the boy in the game, police said Friday.
Mark R. Downs Jr., 27, of Dunbar, is accused of offering one of his players the money to hit the boy in the head with a baseball, police said. Witnesses told police Downs didn't want the boy to play in the game because of his disability.
Police said the boy was hit in the head and in the groin with a baseball just before a game, and didn't play, police said.
"The coach was very competitive," state police Trooper Thomas B. Broadwater said. "He wanted to win."
Downs has an unpublished telephone number and couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday. It was unclear whether he had an attorney.
He was arrested and arraigned Friday on charges including criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault and corruption of minors. He was released from jail on an unsecured bond.
The alleged assault happened June 27 in North Union Township, about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, authorities said.
The boy's mother asked state police to investigate her son's injuries because she suspected Downs wanted to keep the boy off the field, despite a league rule that required each player to participate in three innings a game, Broadwater said.
Eric Forsythe, the president of the R.W. Clark Youth Baseball League, said Downs had two daughters on the T-ball team.
League organizers investigated accusations against Downs before the T-ball season ended earlier this month but could not prove that he did anything wrong. If Downs is convicted of any crime, he won't be allowed to be a coach next year, Forsythe said. The league is not affiliated with Little League International.::
Did this guy have a bet to win the championship? And what about the police officer's comment? Could he lack any more personality and perception? Of course the guy wanted to win! He's HIRING KIDS TO BEAN A MENTALLY CHALLENGED TEAMMATE! The fact that this happened, not once but twice, makes me wonder a few things:
1) How many kids wanted to take the money
2) How many balls they threw at him before they connected
3) Was hitting the kid in the junk part of the plan? Did the kids just find that to be a good idea?
4) Will this become an ABC Movie of the Week? Or, since a man did this unspeakable thing, will it get picked up by Lifetime?
The only thing that doesn't stick out about this story is that it happened in Pittsburgh.
Mark R. Downs Jr., 27, of Dunbar, is accused of offering one of his players the money to hit the boy in the head with a baseball, police said. Witnesses told police Downs didn't want the boy to play in the game because of his disability.
Police said the boy was hit in the head and in the groin with a baseball just before a game, and didn't play, police said.
"The coach was very competitive," state police Trooper Thomas B. Broadwater said. "He wanted to win."
Downs has an unpublished telephone number and couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday. It was unclear whether he had an attorney.
He was arrested and arraigned Friday on charges including criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault and corruption of minors. He was released from jail on an unsecured bond.
The alleged assault happened June 27 in North Union Township, about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, authorities said.
The boy's mother asked state police to investigate her son's injuries because she suspected Downs wanted to keep the boy off the field, despite a league rule that required each player to participate in three innings a game, Broadwater said.
Eric Forsythe, the president of the R.W. Clark Youth Baseball League, said Downs had two daughters on the T-ball team.
League organizers investigated accusations against Downs before the T-ball season ended earlier this month but could not prove that he did anything wrong. If Downs is convicted of any crime, he won't be allowed to be a coach next year, Forsythe said. The league is not affiliated with Little League International.::
Did this guy have a bet to win the championship? And what about the police officer's comment? Could he lack any more personality and perception? Of course the guy wanted to win! He's HIRING KIDS TO BEAN A MENTALLY CHALLENGED TEAMMATE! The fact that this happened, not once but twice, makes me wonder a few things:
1) How many kids wanted to take the money
2) How many balls they threw at him before they connected
3) Was hitting the kid in the junk part of the plan? Did the kids just find that to be a good idea?
4) Will this become an ABC Movie of the Week? Or, since a man did this unspeakable thing, will it get picked up by Lifetime?
The only thing that doesn't stick out about this story is that it happened in Pittsburgh.
7.11.2005
Goodwill Hunting...
I've always stuck to #1. I've always looked out for #1.
Now, there's only #1.
Everything I've done in my life, I've pushed everyone away. I tried to let people in, but obviously I either didn't try hard enough, or I didn't know how. I did it with my family, my friends, my teams, and my wife. Anyway, now I'm completely alone.
Em has decided to go ahead with the divorce. It causes me to have this range of emotions, all of which drive me mad, and none of which I am able to exhibit. I feel like my life is crumbling apart, and everything IN my life is coming to an apex. The combination of the two forces is too much for me to handle.
I saw Goodwill Hunting a few times in the past few days, and Will Hunting has the same complex. The only differences between him and me is, he was brilliant and fictional.
How did I let my life get like this? Seriously, how inept of a person can I be...to have this kind of outlook on life? How can I be this much of a failure?
The funny thing is...I'm *not* a failure...at least, it appears as such. But I am, and I don't want to sway anyone's theory otherwise.
I wish there was a way to go back in time. I have so many regrets right now, it's amazing. I'm living the bizarro world of what I want to live.
And you know what the strange part is? Ten years ago, I thought about where I'd be ten years from then.
And I envisioned this.
And I never stopped it from happening.
(Sorry to bring down the life of whomever reads this.)
(Hell, who am I kidding? Nobody reads this.)
I've always stuck to #1. I've always looked out for #1.
Now, there's only #1.
Everything I've done in my life, I've pushed everyone away. I tried to let people in, but obviously I either didn't try hard enough, or I didn't know how. I did it with my family, my friends, my teams, and my wife. Anyway, now I'm completely alone.
Em has decided to go ahead with the divorce. It causes me to have this range of emotions, all of which drive me mad, and none of which I am able to exhibit. I feel like my life is crumbling apart, and everything IN my life is coming to an apex. The combination of the two forces is too much for me to handle.
I saw Goodwill Hunting a few times in the past few days, and Will Hunting has the same complex. The only differences between him and me is, he was brilliant and fictional.
How did I let my life get like this? Seriously, how inept of a person can I be...to have this kind of outlook on life? How can I be this much of a failure?
The funny thing is...I'm *not* a failure...at least, it appears as such. But I am, and I don't want to sway anyone's theory otherwise.
I wish there was a way to go back in time. I have so many regrets right now, it's amazing. I'm living the bizarro world of what I want to live.
And you know what the strange part is? Ten years ago, I thought about where I'd be ten years from then.
And I envisioned this.
And I never stopped it from happening.
(Sorry to bring down the life of whomever reads this.)
(Hell, who am I kidding? Nobody reads this.)
