Hamlin Hospitalized

First, the game news... I took the Rams last night, plus 13 and a half. I figured their offense is almost good enough to hang with the Colts, and the Colts are due for a letdown. When I got home from a dinner out, it was already Rams 17-0 in the second quarter. "Great," I thought to myself. "That means, with the spread, it's 30.5-0, I'm in pretty good shape!" Or so I thought. Bulger went down with a sprained shoulder, and the Colts proceeded to outscore the Rams 45-11 in the final 3 quarters. Ouch.

And speaking of ouch…. Bad news out of Seattle..

Safety Ken Hamlin is hospitalized with a fractures skull and a brain hemorrhage after being involved in a brawl outside a club Sunday night. The story goes that Hamlin and his girlfriend were attempting to leave the club, and someone was in their way. Hamlin touched a man on the back and said excuse me. The guy turned around, and pushed Hamlin, and started yelling at him. The bouncers got involved, and broke it up. But they kept yelling at one another. When it finally seemed like things had cooled down, and everybody was ready to disperse, Hamlin broke away from the bouncers, and ran at the man. And sucker-punched him. Two men then jumped Hamlin, and knocked him to the ground. While he was down, a man grabbed what's been described as "a street sign" and bashed Hamlin over the head with it, while he was down. And, sadly, it seems like the club's security video confirms this. You can actually view the footage at this Seattle news website.

Now, without going into too much editorial about young gifted athletes, and how they make mistakes, let me just say I hope Hamlin is okay. He's a promising young player, and hasn't gotten into trouble in the past. This is something that was in his control, he _could_ have walked away from the fight, but he chose not to. And now he's suffering the consequences. Unlike another sad story this week, where that kid from the Atlanta Hawks died from a heart attack. It's just sad when these young men get seriously hurt or even die, and it puts the actual "game" in perspective a little bit.

But the Hamlin story gets even stranger… Apparently, several witnesses at the club did give the police names of the attackers. But they were still on the loose. Or so they thought until this morning. Apparently one of the suspects turned up dead, shot and killed. His body was found at a local park the following morning. And supposedly the corpse's brother told police that yes, it was his brother involved with the Hamlin assault. But the victim isn't exactly a model citizen, he has a long criminal record, and seems like a general lowlife.

So, now what? Well, I guess we wait for the police to sort it out. But there's one big question lingering here: Did the guy's death have anything to do with him attacking Hamlin? Or was it just coincidence, since the guy was obviously a criminal? It could go either way, really. But say, for a moment, that it does turn out that the murderer of the assaulter turns out to be connected to Hamlin? Does that effect his career? I'm thinking no. Considering Ray Lewis was AT the scene of the crime when his boys murdered two men, and he got off clean. Hamlin was unconscious in a hospital bed whenever any "revenge" attack might have taken place.

Still, it's a strange, sad, and scary story. And I'm sure the rest of the media will be all over it soon enough. You heard it hear first!