Was it worth it?



I was cruising the internet, and came across this story from Florida. Two guys got into a fist fight in public, and one of them got hurt pretty bad before the fight could be broken up. The other one went to jail of course, and the whole incident is going to cost both of them plenty of dough- one with hospital bills and the other with court fees.

Here’s a quote from one of the guys, “I’m not even sure how it escalated so far. One minute we were fine, the next minute we were swinging on each other like madmen.”

Do me a favor. Play along and try to guess what they were fighting about… No, it wasn’t politics. And no, it wasn’t money related, drug related, or in-law related. The two guys- grown men, mind you- were fighting over a referee’s call in a Pee Wee football game.

“It’s silly,” said one witness. “These are eight and nine year old boys. There isn’t even playoffs on this level.”

I’ll bet you something. I’ll bet you both of these guys are really pretty decent guys. I’ll bet you that ten minutes before the altercation, both men were just as normal as you and I. Both of them probably have families, jobs, and friends in the community. Each of them has probably lectured their children on how to act in public, and to treat others with respect. Even when their opinions differ from your own.

I’ll bet you that neither guy ever dreamed that they would be involved in a fight, much less in public and over something as silly as eight year olds playing ball.

And I’ll bet you something else, too. I’ll bet you that ten minutes after the altercation, both guys felt terrible over what happened. They were probably worried, scared, embarrassed, and remorseful.

While we are betting, I’ll bet you that not one kid on either team would have given the referee’s call a second thought after ten minutes. Their minds are more worried about who’s house they can spend the night at, who can spend the night at their house, where Dad is taking them to eat after the game, and how they can talk him into seeing the Lion King in 3D.

At some point, everyone reading this has been at a football, basketball, baseball, softball or volleyball game and has left shaking their heads. There’s always someone in the crowd yelling at a ref, a coach, an umpire, another parent, or even a kid. Sometimes they even yell at their own kid from the sidelines, maybe expecting more than the little fellow is capable of.

“Yeah, but even though they are only eight years old, it’s still important to teach them that second place is just the first place loser,” I can hear you say. “Everyone wants to win, even eight year olds. Besides, what happened in Florida is extreme, it would never happen here.”

I’ll bet you one more thing. Both of those guys probably used to say the exact same thing.