Coach's attackers must get their due

Sports Illustrated has a regular feature entitled, "This Week's Sign that the Apocalypse is Upon us." (The Mahoning Valley Scrappers' "Jim Traficant Night" was so honored recently, but we digress.)
Thursday night in Chicago, a father and son made their bid to retire the award permanently, after they were arrested after they jumped out of the seating area at Comiskey Park and began to pummel the first base coach of the Kansas City Royals.
Their reasoning for such an indefensible action: The coach, Tom Gamboa, flashed them an obscene gesture earlier in the game, a charge the Royals coach flatly denied.
What taints the story of the father, William Ligue Jr., is that published reports indicated that he called a female relative earlier in the game and alerted her to watch the game on television. When she said she couldn't find the game, Ligue supposedly responded, "Well then just watch the news."
Stories don't add up
There also have been conflicting reasons for the attack by Ligue himself. Ligue reportedly told police after he was arrested that he ran onto the field because he was angry the White Sox were losing the game.
Ligue, in custody since Thursday night, faced a judge Saturday to answer a felony charge of aggravated battery. He was held on $200,000 bond.
Ligue's 15-year-old son was charged with two juvenile counts of aggravated battery, one for attacking Gamboa and the other for hitting a White Sox security guard, an off-duty police officer.
(In a moronic sort of way, though, give Mr. Ligue some credit; in an era when absentee dads are at an all-time high, here's a guy who takes his son to the ol' ball game.)
Our guess is that the son, who remains unnamed because he is a juvenile, and who was released for a short while before being taken back into custody, will receive some sort of probation and avoid jail time.
For the father, well, our hope is that he receives the stiffest fine and the maximum jail time. Anything less will send the message that this sort of behavior should be tolerated in any way.
Personal life
Ligue's sister, Kimberly Richardson, was interviewed for a story in the Chicago Tribune, in which she apologized for his behavior.
She also said that in the last year Ligue lost his job and his month-old daughter died in May.
It's doubtful Richardson was attempting to make any excuses for her brother, and one certainly can't imagine the grief Ligue went through at the loss of his young child.
As painful as his life's experiences have been, though, there is no excuse one could fathom to defend his actions on Thursday evening.
(Personally, I would have liked to have heard that security officials at Comiskey Park, before remanding the father over to police custody, allowed the Royals players a few more whacks at him in the clubhouse.)
More delays
To their credit, the White Sox organization immediately implemented heightened security measures, which were in place for Friday's game. Sadly, it's also going to mean more restrictions for the rest of us when we take our families to the ballpark.
I'm not sure which video was more shocking and disturbing -- the Ligues' attack at Comiskey or that of the mother in Indiana punching her daughter.
Both stories are certainly a striking (no pun intended) commentary on the sad outlook on life of some so-called "adults" in this country.
XRob Todor is sports editor of The Vindicator. Write to him at todor@vindy.com.