Satan's Guide To "Taking One For The Team"

This is a local news story, but it's been making worldwide news lately because it's just too shocking and disgusting to believe. A t-ball coach is being accused of teaching his players something that goes beyond the fundamentals of baseball and sportsmanship. You would hope he would be role modeling some good things for these 7-year-olds, but no this coach has decided to show his players the ultimate dirty/no mercy side of winning at all costs no matter what. Don't get me wrong, I'm the most competitive guy you will ever meet when it comes to sports, but even I know the difference between an inner drive to win and being just plain cruel and evil in order to achieve your goal. To say that this guy makes me sick is an understatement.

Many area t-ball leagues have a simple plan: let the kids play, have some fun and at the same time, learn the fundamentals of baseball. In most cases, nobody even keeps score. It's to be a social experience. It's a child's first introduction into organized sports. You want them to have a good experience. For many, the most important part for them is the trip to the ice-cream stand after the game is over whether they won or lost. Although t-ball coach Mark Reed Downs Jr (age 27) has a different t-ball experience in mind for his team.

Downs was arraigned on felony charges that he bribed a 7-year-old player to throw a baseball at a mentally disabled teammate's face to keep the boy out of a game. Just when you thought you had seen everything, Downs offered his star player $25 on June 27 to hit an 8-year-old autistic child with a baseball because he wanted to win the game. Downs' lawyer said his client denies the charges. Police said Downs asked player Keith Reese to hurt Harry Bowers, who is autistic. Reese threw a ball that hit Bowers in the left ear while they were warming up before a game. After Bowers didn't go down, Reese hit the child in the groin with the ball!

When Bowers ran to tell the coach about the attack, Downs suggested that he sit out the game. When Jennifer Bowers, the boy's mother, confronted Reese about the deliberate throws, Reese told her the coach had asked him to hurt Bowers. The boy was taken to an emergency room, where he was treated for swollen red marks on his ear and groin.

State police said she signed up her son for t-ball hoping it would help him overcome some of the social stigma he might face in the future. Downs was charged with criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault, corruption of minors, conspiracy to commit simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.