Robservations – Rule-breakers get more and more brazen

In the heat of battle, emotions can run high.

And when you?re watching your favorite team ? and especially your favorite athlete ? being defeated, sometimes you wish there was something ? anything ? you could do to help.

But you don?t do it. You don?t run out and tackle the quarterback from White County when he?s streaking toward the goal line, or jump up and block a shot against Siegel. You don?t interfere, no matter how badly you want to.

That is, unless you?re some kind of maniac.

And, wouldn?t you know it, there was some kind of maniac who made the news at a sporting event over the weekend.

In a youth wrestling match in Aurora, Ill., the father of one of the combatants did a WWE-style ?run-in? to stop his son from being pinned by his opponent. According to reports, he ran onto the mat, picked up the grappler who was taking on his son, and ?launched him out of the ring.?

?Classy? Freddy Blassie would be proud, rest his soul.

By the way, as if this story wasn?t bizarre enough, the wrestler who was launched by his opponent?s father was a whopping 11 years old.

I ask you, gentle reader, the same question I often ask when stories like these break: Are we, as a society, completely off our rockers?

Ray Hoffman certainly is. Ray, the father in question, offered a public apology to the pre-teen he slung off of his son, and said he will no longer be able to continue as a part-time wrestling coach because of his actions.

To speak in the jargon of the 11-year-olds he feels the need to man-handle, ?Duh!?

Being overcome with emotion when your son is in trouble is natural. When it happens on the field of sport, it?s understandable, but the average person knows to control their self. But for a coach ? even a part-timer ? to have no more control than to jump onto the mat and physically attack an opposing team member, that?s inexcusable.

And we wonder why so many young kids these days have no respect for the rules.

? Speaking of rule violators, how about the scandal rocking the NASCAR world?

Personally, I can?t believe that as long as stock car racing has been around, it?s taken this long for someone to get caught adding things to their fuel to make the cars go faster.

Michael Waltrip offered an apology Thursday, after members of his crew were suspended and fined by NASCAR for their actions leading into this weekend?s Daytona 500.

In all, five teams were penalized for breaking rules prior to the season opener, as NASCAR seems to have finally decided its rules mean something and should be enforced.

After all, as Robert Duvall once said, ?there?s nothing ?stock? about a ?stock car.?? But mixing jet fuel in with your gas is obviously such a stretch of the rules, not even NASCAR would look the other way.

Because if they did, what would be next? Putting wings on the cars? Slashing each other?s tires?

Wait, I know. They could hire Ray Hoffman, and during pit stops he could yank other drivers out of their windows and throw them over the wall.