Decline in decorum

This week's top 10 (down to eight after two items hitch-hiked to Jacksonville and scalped a couple of tickets, though oddly enough not to the Super Bowl but rather last night's Lynyrd Skynyrd concert at the Veteran's Memorial Arena):

- 8. I learned it by watching you! At one point during the divisional wrestling tournament at Flathead on Saturday, a mild controversy broke out. One wrestler was in the lead, dominating the match, when all of a sudden his opponent rolled him over for an apparent pin. Except that the referee determined an injury led to the pin, taking away the fall and allowing a timeout to attend to the wounded.

Understandably, those associated with the opponent who lost out on a pin were upset, but one person, whom I would assume to be the mother, went waaaay over the line.

While the referee explained his ruling to the enraged coaching staff, the woman - holding a camcorder to record this moment of high class - screamed down from the balcony, hurling at least a couple of epithets that were easily heard from the other side of the gym.

Two things: First, when I hear adults complain about today's kids lacking the proper respect for authority, it doesn't quite ring true. At least teenagers have the excuse that they are teenagers. You can't excuse the things I hear coming out of the stands from allegedly responsible "adults," vanguards of etiquette and good sportsmanship.

Second, when I do see and hear things like this, I can't help but think high school sports would be a lot more fun to be around if the parents weren't involved. From their incessant berating of officials (and sometimes their own team) to their crazed obsession with that one rule out of 10,000 they think they know ("Three in the key! Three in the key!") to their Oliver Stone-like conspiracy theories that referees and newspapers have it in for them, it's a miracle today's athletes are as well-behaved as they are.

- 7. Stuffing the ballot box. Forget Iraq, there needs to be some international monitoring of the NBA All-Star voting process. Vince Carter gets elected as a starter? Are you kidding me? The guy confessed to intentionally dogging it while in Toronto to force a trade! Even if that doesn't bother you, he isn't even that spectacular anymore. He peaked like five years ago when he won the dunk contest and has been MIA ever since.

- 6. Copy, paste, print. A writer covering the New England Patriots at the Super Bowl was recalled from the assignment and later fired earlier this week after a reader noticed he heavily plagiarized from a column by Sports Illustrated's Peter King published online.

Just how lazy (or stupid) do you have to be to (a) steal anybody's work, and to (b) steal from Sports-freaking-Illustrated when you do decide to go down that path? Simply amazing.

- 5. Stuffing the ballot box. Forget Iraq, there needs to be some international monitoring of the NBA All-Star voting process. Vince Carter gets elected as a starter? Are you kidding me? The guy confessed to intentionally dogging it while in Toronto to force a trade! Even if that doesn't bother you, he isn't even that spectacular anymore. He peaked like five years ago when he won the dunk contest and has been MIA ever since.

- 4. Labor pains. I'm still trying to figure out how the NHL and the union can meet for nine hours on Thursday, agree to resume on Friday only to quit after another four hours and say no progress was made. What exactly did they discuss during those 13 hours? How to save Social Security?

Just cancel the season already and let us (me) get on with our (my) lives (life) instead of stringing us (me) along with these glimmers of hope each time they head back to the table.

- 3. Feel like a "Million." Went to see "Million Dollar Baby" earlier in the week, thinking since it's a boxing movie, I could go see it, write about it, turn in the receipt and get reimbursed. In other words, an elaborate plan to get the Inter Lake to pay for my movie-going habits.

(Plus I thought I'd get a chance to rehash the Tonya Harding "fight" I covered a couple years back - a slightly less organized/interesting schoolyard slap fight passed off as boxing.)

And while the movie has boxing in it, it is not, by any stretch, a boxing movie. It's a great movie, and you should go see it. But it's not really a sports movie. (If you do go, be sure to bring a hanky/box of tissues/nasal suction device. Toward the end it gets pretty dusty in the theater, if you know what I mean.)

- 2. Movie plan, part II. Also saw "Sideways," on the premise that there was a golf scene (two, actually), and I could supplement a column on "Baby" with some comments about "Sideways." Ah well. The best laid plans and all that.

Anyway, "Sideways" is a very funny movie, and you should go see it, too.

- 1. Who ya got? It will be a good game. A close game. And like the last two times they were there, the New England Patriots will win on an Adam Vinatieri field goal late in the game.

Andrew Hinkelman is a sports writer for The Daily Inter Lake. He can be reached at hink@dailyinterlake.com