Beatdowns

I saw two beatdowns this weekend, one of which matters more than the other. First, the one that doesn't matter so much. The Packers were clobbered at Lambeau 35-0 by a vastly superior New England Patriot squad. The Pack wasn't likely to win this game anyway, but the magnitude of the loss was pretty depressing. Meanwhile, Brett Favre's streak may finally be coming to an end following an elbow injury he suffered just before halftime. Since backup Aaron Rodgers also was injured, we may be seeing the debut of Ingle Martin the next time the Pack takes the field. Who would have bet on Ingle Martin being the answer to a trivia question?

More important, and much closer to home, my son's basketball squad took a 50-12 thrashing at the hands of a St. Anthony squad in his Irondale Basketball Association game on Saturday. Ben's team is inexperienced and lacks aggressiveness. His mates have suffered through three consecutive beatdowns now, with an average score of about 45-14. Not what you want to experience. But hope arises, as his next game is against a team that is even less experienced than Ben's team. The game will be a week from Saturday at 9:45 a.m. at Highview Middle School in New Brighton. You won't want to miss it. Actually, you probably will want to miss it, but let's keep a brave face on these things. For what it's worth, Ben is playing pretty well, considering he's been mostly up against kids who are about three inches taller than he is, and (more importantly, especially at this level) about 25-30 pounds heavier.