[SanDiegoSteve]

There is no reason for thread closure. Nobody is arguing over religion here. At least I'm not going to. I have already stopped short of going in that direction in two posts, when I refused to "go there." We are still discussing the coach slapping the player. We have not gone off-topic in any way, so this thread should remain wide open.

We have a difference of opinion as to what constitutes abuse or violence. I say the little slap was a lapse in judgment, not a violent act. Now, if he decked the kid with a right cross, by all means, that is violent, and child abuse as well. What it was was the coach saying, "shut your mouth, boy, you're on National TV." I'm sure as soon as he slapped the kid, he realized it wasn't a good thing. I don't think he "didn't control his anger" as Garth says. He didn't have time to get "angry." It was a knee-jerk reaction of disbelief for what his player just said into a microphone on ESPN. It does not excuse what he did, but it does explain what he did, and he did not do it out of anger.