SAM SCHWALB PUNCHED A WOMAN!!!!

Last night was perfect. We couldn't have asked for better weather as Sam, Jorge , Elliott and I loaded into the car and headed for Turner Field. I had gotten some free tickets from a supplier at work and we were excited to see if the Braves could pull off a two-game sweep of the Rockies.

The two teams exchanged leads all night but the Braves finally pulled ahead on Marcus Giles' double in the bottom of the 8th. At that point I was thinking the night couldn't have possibly gone any better. And then it happened.

In the top of the ninth, with one out, a left-handed Rockies batter hit a foul ball in our direction. Actually, let me rephrase that...AT us.

As you can imagine, we had the usual jockeying for position as the ball came down into the stands. Unfortunately though, nobody caught it on the fly, and a few people scrambled for it in the row in front of us.

At that point, things turned ugly. Once the melee was over, a woman struggled to get up. We hated to think it, but we knew the worst had happened. Elliott turned to me with a horrified look on his face and screamed, "SAM SCHWALB JUST PUNCHED A WOMAN!!!"

I hated to think it was true as I watched her husband and a few ushers rush to her side. They helped her up and asked her if she'd been hit by the ball. She said she wasn't sure and still had a confused look on her face. Then they shuffled her out of there before any more damage could be done.

Silently, we all backed away and looked at Sam. He was grinning from ear to ear and trying to look completely oblivious to the situation. He even yelled "Hit us another one," and clapped weakly a couple of times to try to throw us off.

We were on to him though and each of us thought, "Sam, how could you? It was just a foul ball, why did you punch that woman? She didn't deserve it."

He looked at us and said, "What?" "Why did you punch that woman," we asked. He denied it then, and still does. In fact, all during the ride home he insisted she was hit by the ball.

Fortunately, it made the news this morning, so the court of public opinion will decide Sam's fate. Maybe he's right and he never did punch that woman, but all I can say is, watch out for Sam Schwalb. You could be next.