Beat the drum and hold the phone: It’s Monday Mail.

Centerfield

In July I returned from two weeks of mountain isolation and asked: So what's going on? Any new homicides? Scandals? Election issues? Any murder cases coming to trial?

All anyone talked about was the Little League brawl. All were appalled by the Little League brawl.

Some feared the Little League brawl's two minutes of shame would forever brand Columbus a place where parents fight at youth sporting events -- as opposed to, say, a place where youth sporting events provoke bench-clearing scrums on the pitcher's mound, or stick fights in the rink, or riots in the street. Or oak poisonings or Sugar Bowl Krystal snack attacks.

Thus we flashed past the fact that we have short attention spans.

Here are some emails contemporary to the brawl. The first apparently is from Mitch Mularkey, from whom previously came a message complaining people here are thin-skinned and can't drive:

Ahh, Columbus Georgia. I would write more but I can't keep from laughing. What a joke … ha ha … Columbus Georgia. The dumbest place on earth! Hahahahahaha.....

Dear Mitch:

The brawl was pretty funny, actually. I posted a link on Facebook and joked that I would pay to watch Little League parents fight, were no children subjected to baseball.

Years ago I got a letter about a Little League dispute and tried to check it out. When I got to the fields on game day, I saw a big guy with an angry woman sticking her finger in his face. His eyes widened and he turned aside and snarled, "You need to get away from me NOW!"

And I thought: "Wow, this really is an emotional issue." Then I found out I was at the wrong diamond. That was some other spat.

Shortstop

Here's an email from former Columbus resident Steve Gordon:

Tim:

Make sure that your readers see this.

Well, Congratulations Columbus! From "America's Brokest City" to "Low Class Little League Parents." Saw the video on, of all places, CBS News This Morning. A NEW LOW for CSG! YAY!

Dear Steve:

A new low? We can do better than that. You aim too high. This is nothing.

You know, it's not like two dads arguing over a call had a fist-fight at home plate and caused a bench-clearing melee, during which the umpire was lucky he was wearing pads, else those boys would have beat him senseless with their bats.

In an era when petty disputes trigger fatal shootings, two guys rolling on the ground at a ball game is pretty tame, no matter where it's aired.

Tim Chitwood, tchitwood@ledger-enquirer.com, 706-571-8508.