As March Madness comes back today, I come back to convince you that some of the stuff we put up with in the name of sport is indeed nothing short of madness.

Meanwhile, we see crime escalate to unprecedented levels on our streets (and even in our dorms now). Sociologists cry foul and constantly blame television for a lot of our society's indifference to violence. It's hard to argue with statistics claiming that television kills off people faster than McDonalds sells hamburgers, but there must be more bringing aggression to our children.

Now, I've gone and abruptly introduced crime, television, sports and hamburgers! But I am sure you can see where I'll connect at least some of these things. Before I go further, I must confess that I am a huge sports fan and spend inordinate amounts of time both watching and playing sports. This column is in no way attacking sports and competition in general. I just wish we'd look a little bit further at a couple of aspects of American sports.

There is no doubt that sports figures are role models for today's children. Though Charles Barkley may not want to be a role model, he knows he is one. Children try to emulate not only their heroes' playing styles, but also their attitudes and demeanor.

Unfortunately, unnecessary and fairly ridiculous violence is very much a part of two major professional sports: hockey and baseball. Yes, I did say baseball -- just read on.

Note that I don't consider stuff like hard tackles in football "unnecessary." Even kids know a tough sack or a strong hockey check are part of the skill of those sports.

But when the all-too-common brawl breaks out in the hockey arena, it's time to draw the line. Now, basketball too is a very physical sport, as there is a constant tussle for inside position. Yet, these players seldom lose their cool. This is probably because fighting is simply not tolerated by the NBA or NCAA. Even a small instigation is usually punished with a game suspension. Best of all, other players usually quickly separate two players and calm them down before an altercation can escalate.

On the other hand, hockey players are punished with a "major" penalty for fighting -- 5 minutes off the ice.

Surely, the NHL tolerates fighting for the money that's involved. Hockey fans almost expect to see a good brawl during a game. Eliminating it from the sport would seemingly lose ticket and TV revenue. So, while the NHL condones the fights, the kids continue to learn that when someone does something we don't like, we go fight them.

After all, that's what my local Eric Lindros does.

And hockey isn't even the sport that irks me the most. That honor belongs to baseball. Sure, for the most part baseball is played in a fun, sportsman-like manner. But, there are some rather ridiculous brawls in baseball too. You know the ones that stem from a batter getting hit by a pitch.

Now, there's this pitcher trying his best to get two extra mph on his fastball. He has an inside zone of maybe 6 inches from the batter to the inside of the plate where he hopes to jam the hitter. In his effort to make a perfect inside pitch, it's inevitable he'll hit the batter on rare occasions.

I'll bet getting hit on the leg by a major league pitch really stings, but it seldom causes real injury. And trust me, it is really, really rare that a pitcher is intentionally trying to hit a batter (unless of course, it's in retaliation, but that's something for the next paragraph.)

So, anyway, we hope that our unfortunate batter keeps calm and simply trots out to first base. Now, he has three options: 1. Think "Good, I'm at first now -- let's try to make the most of it." (Seldom used), 2. Try to recall who leads off the opposing team's next inning (Very often used), or 3. Think "I just better not get hit by a pick-off throw" (Used by batters who've been hit by a Mitch Williams pitch).

By choosing option No. 2, the batter has set off the "retaliation phase." Now that the other team's back up, it's our own pitcher's turn to hit (deliberately this time) the first guy up! What drives me crazy about this retaliation is that it's delivered by a pitcher who wasn't even involved in the first place. Moreover, the victim of the retaliation had nothing to do with the incident either.

Anyway, the brawl phase has been instigated and its time for the batter and then both teams to charge the mound. Of course, the entire dugouts must be cleared as quickly as possible. You'd find it easy to convince a foreigner that the last player left in the dugout loses his annual salary and is forced to hit practice fly balls to Michael Jordan.

Eventually, the dust settles, a couple of players are ejected, and nothing really is resolved. The rest of the game is played.

This baseball brawl is so close to a ritual story line, that it hardly seemed strange that I related it in such a whimsical way. Yet, it should bother us that we condone physical retaliation for what was probably a simple accident. Even worse, instead of being levelheaded about the situation, teammates become abettors in the retaliation.

When we expect our society's heroes to "pay back" a sting in the leg, how can we expect peace and calm in our streets when the issues are more serious and the desperation far greater?