IS NOTHING SACRED????

We could go on and on about what a dysfunctional mess American politics has become, or how popular culture is reduced to finding out how many hours Lindsay Lohan will have to spend in the slammer THIS TIME. Or how airline flight attendants get berated by irate passengers, then expletive delete the whole airplane, grab a frosty adult beverage, and hit the shoot for the tarmac. But no, it's worse than that.

I refer to this past weekend's Ohio State rout of Ohio University. The game, rout that it was, was played with a decent modicum of decorum. But on the sidelines, Oh My!

This dude, Brandon Hanning, served OU as its mascot, Rufus the Bobcat. Mind you, Mr. Hanning does not even attend Ohio University. But that' s beside the point. Mr. Hanning has plotted, evidently for a good long time, to take out the sacred OSU mascot, Brutus Buckeye. He waits for his moment, then tackles the hapless Buckeye not once, but twice.

Talk about forethought; Hanning said of the twin tackles, "It was the whole reason I tried out last year, and I wanted to tackle Brutus."

As the Columbus Dispatch reports:

As several players watched, Hanning took down Brutus from the side at midfield, then chased him into the north end zone, climbed on his back and rode him to the ground. The two then tussled, with Rufus punching the Buckeye in his oversized head.

After each tackle, Brutus got back to his feet with arms spread wide as if to say, "What's up with that?" Then he put his hands on his hips.

Hanning eventually trotted toward the stands with his arms raised in celebration. Fans - presumably OSU fans - booed him.

Well, justice has been served after a fashion, and Mr. Hanning is pretty well banned from donning the Rufus Head and besmirching another mascot forever.

But I have to ask: What kind of sick society produces a mind that thinks this way? How can this poor excuse of a representative of an esteemed (party) school sleep at night? I am pretty sure that Rufus the Bobcat was probably steeped in wonderful traditions. And now, all that wonderful lore is dashed to the ground, along with poor Brutus.

Where do we go from here? Will we be mowing down cheerleader pyramids? Taking out the tuba that dots the "i"? I fear for our children. And their children.