[greymule]

I admit I was thinking very generally and not in the context of coaches.

I think we have to be careful when we make laws that treat the same act as lesser or worse depending on the victim or the motive.

"Did you crush his skull with that baseball bat because he is [name your protected group]?"

"No. I crushed his skull because he likes the Red Sox."

"OK. You get a discount on your sentence."

But I do think an assault on a sports official deserves special treatment. Officials by nature immerse themselves in controversy and cannot operate effectively under fear of violence. Interfering with, threatening, attacking a sports official is much like doing the same to a meter maid or a tax assessor or a court clerk or someone else performing official duties. And for such acts there are penalties beyond what there would be if it was just two citizens involved.

More than 25 years ago, a friend of mine was officiating a high school basketball game here in NJ and toward the end was engulfed by a rioting mob. He suffered severe head injuries, mainly from an attack from behind. He was knocked unconscious and never even saw the blow coming. (From what I gathered, there weren't a lot of controversial calls beyond the usual in basketball. These people simply decided to riot.)

He recovered physically, but it took years for him to shake the mental trauma. I don't know that he ever shook it entirely. He was scared to death, and I can see why. I know he had lawyers working on his case, but I never did learn exactly how it came out.