The problem with the police reaction here is the same foul up in Columbine - their preoccupation with "securing the parameter."

Instead of going in right away, at the first indication of trouble, they immediately start sealing off the building. While I guess it makes sense in the old-time hostage situation, it is a terrible idea when dealing with the crazed gunman.

When they secure their beloved parameter, the cops are just ensuring that the gunman can shoot and keep shooting until he or she runs out of ammo. Remember how Dylan and Eric were waving to people from the windows, taunting the police?

In the Virginia Tech tragedy, we see all the pictures from this tragedy, why are the police hiding behind trees, and stopping cars?

Go into the school! Even if you are the first cop on the scene, screw the roadblock, run from class to class, trying the draw his fire! Put your life on the line to save those kids.

Police need to be better trained in taking these people down, not setting up damned parameters.

Thanks for allowing me to vent.

Mongo

A great column today, but there is one point that I need to clear up:

"Why don't popular songwriters write about sports now?"

Just off the top of my head, John Fogerty wrote a great song about baseball. And baseball plays a signifficant role in songs by Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon.

Didn't Bob Dylan write a great song about a boxer? But that is not very recent.

We need to step back and take a hard look at the facts.

First, Rasmussen was not in trouble for failing a drug test. When the drug-testing crew showed up at his home during the off season, he was not where he said he was. He was apparently in Italy training when he said he was somewhere else. That's it. They could not verify his whereabouts during two days of the off season.

What other professional sport requires athletes to such micro management?

I believe that with this Tour DeFrance, we are seeing a sanctioning body run amok, trying desperately to prove its relevance. Before judging the cyclists as hopeless drug abusers, read Floyd Landis' book and read some of the comments from Lance Armstrong about the corruption of cycling's sanctioning body.

Secondly, there is nothing scripted about the bicycle race. Indeed, the beauty of the competition is that virtually anything can happen. Teams have strategies they try to follow, but strategies are not scripts.

Mongo