So there's another case of a football coach licking the wounds of his players. Of course the mainstream media has to act like there's something wacky about that. We don't call them mainstream for nothing. I mean, come on. As soon as a community leader steps out of what is deemed to be mainstream bounds (to unabashedly use a sports metaphor) the reporters step in and begin the proverbial lynching.

[From San Francisco Chronicle]:

A state board voted to publicly reprimand a Central Linn High School teacher and football coach for licking the bleeding wounds of several student athletes....Reed must attend a class on the risks of blood-borne pathogens within the next two months and furnish the commission with written verification of his attendance....It was not clear why he licked the wounds. The Linn County Sheriff's Office investigated the case last year. No charges were filed. Sheriff Dave Burright called the behavior "bizarre" but not criminal, since the contact wasn't forced. Two students who reported licking incidents and another who witnessed an incident said it seemed that Reed was "just joking around."

We at cakehead like to keep an open mind and embrace all forms of sipping, slurping and chewing - even if it involves human flesh. We understand why he did it. It's hot. He was thirsty. The bloody wounds, a logical thirst quencher.

Of course we are glad the community intervened to advise the coach about the health risks involved with this quirky hobby. Hopefully, from now on he'll cauterize the wounds before licking. But did the poor man need to lose his job for two years? The next thing you know wound licking is going to be criminalized and deemed a Freedom Hater's sport by the Bush Administration.