In my humble opinion, there is nothing more pathetic than watching a professional athlete injure himself during a team celebration – unless that athlete injures himself while committing a crime.  Just when people in the sports world were about to hand the award of “America’s Dumbest Athlete” to Plaxico Burress, good ol’ Francisco Rodriguez stole the show.

"Dammit! Now my baseball, and UFC, careers are ruined."

The New York Mets closer blew off some steam after a loss to the Rockies by grabbing his girlfriend’s father by the shirt, dragging him into the hallway of the “Family Lounge” in Citi Field, and whaling on him until security broke it up.  K-Rod was charged with third-degree assault and suspended by the team. As if that weren’t bad enough, he hurt himself while dishing out the beating, and is done for the year.

The torn ligament in this thumb resulted in him being put on the disqualified list for the rest of the season, and the Mets are now trying to get as much money back from him as they can.  Guess we won’t be seeing him jumping around and celebrating like he just won the World Series every time he closes a game out again.

Next up: Houston Texans reigning AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Brian Cushing has finally been suspended for his steroid use.  Cushing, who won the aforementioned award despite being accused of using roids, tried to defend himself by saying the positive test results were a result of “Overtrained Athlete Syndrome.”  For those who aren’t familiar with OTS, it is a made up disease that – according to Cushing – results from athletes training intensely for a long period, with the possibility of a testosterone imbalance resulting when an athlete stops training.

Nope. No sign of steroid use here. Just an average guy who works too hard.

Nice try, Cush.  You just came off the best season of your entire career (odd that finally happened at the NFL level and not in college), you now have a box-head and no neck, and you have a jawline like Dolph Lundgren – just admit it, this way you don’t end up like Roger Clemens.

And finally, Tony Dungy.  I loved Tony Dungy as a coach.  Great football mind, first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl, and just great with players.  However, Tony Dungy as a mentor…eh, not so much.

First Dungy was disturbed with the Terrell Owens/Desperate Housewives promo, claiming it was demeaning and had racial undertones.  Huh!?! I guess maybe he saw a different commercial than the rest of the world.  Then he backed Philadelphia Eagles QB Mike Vick when he was trying to get re-instated for killing dogs and gambling.  That move really panned out for him when a year later when Vick hosted a “secret” (yet public) 30th birthday party.  At some point during the evening an ol’ pal of Vick’s who “snitched” on him about killing dogs showed up, so Vick had one of his entourage empty shoot him…allegedly.  However, Dungy rushed to his side again, claiming that this was just a bump on the road for Vick, who is on a “straight path” now and won’t have stuff like that happen again.  I bet.

Now he has spoken about New York Jets coach Rex Ryan (who I’m pretty sure everyone loves, if for no other reason than to laugh at him).  Apparently after watching an episode of the HBO series “Hard Knocks” featuring Ryan’s Jets, Dungy decided Ryan curses too much:

“If I were in charge, I wouldn’t hire somebody like that.  I don’t think our young people need to hear that that’s the way it’s done to be successful.  Because it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Now you’ve gone too far, Dungy.  First, the type of kids that would be impressionable to something like this shouldn’t be watching HBO.  Secondly, I think there are far worse things than profanity, sex, and violence that can corrupt our youth.  The guy has been successful so far, he is talking to his players on his team at his camp.  He doesn’t have to curse like that, but he does and that’s the way it is.  He shouldn’t be fined or corrected for using adult language while talking to adults.

"Physical harm is fine, it's cursing that really ruins the youth of America. These kids see pro athletes gamble on dog fights and beat each other up at training camp and thats fine, but hearing a coach curse...that's the real problem."

So Dungy, take it easy big guy.  Nobody criticized you when you decided to fill the void in your life left by the tragic loss of your son by coming to the aide of every “wayward” African American athlete, so relax.  I am sure that Rex Ryan is the devil for cursing, but Mike Vick stealing animals out of people’s backyards and making them fight to the death is just really misunderstood.

Maybe Dungy will take Tennessee Titans running back LeGarrette Blount under his wing next.  Blount was famous for missing almost all of his senior season at Oregon when he punched an opposing player in the face during the post game festivities, following a loss to Boise State.  Blount read the “sincere” apology that was written for him, and swore he was changed man.  So what did he do when he got a second chance and was drafted by the Titans?

You guessed it.  He punched a teammate in the face at training camp.  Apparently Blount was getting his helmet ripped off by the defense while running plays at practice.  So Blount did what any self-respecting man would do…he punched defensive end Eric Bakhtiari in the face (or helmet, since he still had his on – click here).  Now I know it is training camp, and this stuff happens, but wouldn’t you think if you were Blount and had that history you’d be avoiding instances where you had to “keep it real” and throw punches?  But, if we follow the teaching of Tony Dungy, it’s clear that Blount doesn’t curse, so no matter how much physical harm he causes to other human beings, he’s still a better man than Rex Ryan.