Just a Reminder: Don't Be This Guy (or Other Adults Like Him)

There were a couple storylines to come out of the Penguins-Sabres game Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

Former Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma, who now coaches Buffalo, returned to Pittsburgh for the first time since his not-so-smooth firing back in June of last year, Pittsburgh won 4-3, but it wasn't an impressive performance against an inferior Sabres team, and this happened, too. You've probably seen this already. I showed my dad this video when I saw met him for lunch Friday. He thought it was awful, and he's almost as old as the guy in the video.

Yes. The classic case of an adult snagging a puck (or in most cases, a baseball) from a kid. He's that guy. A balding, probably in his 60s, adult. What's even worse, the man turns and sees the kid after snagging it out of the air, and instead of going "I'm sorry son, here you go," he puts it in his pocket. Probably next to a couple salt packages he took at the condiment table on the concourse.

Now, the Penguins saw this and gave the kid a puck and a Sidney Crosby jersey. Bylsma also gave him another puck. If you didn't know, the team has a good public relations team.

I could imagine that the old man received some grief from the fans sitting around him and he had to be humiliated when the organization had the mascot Iceburg bring a puck and a $150 hockey jersey down to the kid, so that 18,000 plus people could shame him even more. If you have seen the South Park episode "Safe Space," and the scene where Randy is shamed into donating a dollar to hungry children at a Whole Foods, you may know how the old man might have felt after that moment. Or maybe he doesn't give a damn. Also, the woman right behind the Sabres bench who reached out for it too was probably really happy she didn't catch it.

When it comes to getting items like balls, bats and pucks at games that come into the stands, why do some adults have to be, how do I put this nicely? Jerks. Why do theses jerks fight a kid for something like a foul ball or one that is lobbed to them by the ball boy or a player in the stands?

Every so often, stories like the one in Pittsburgh Thursday night appear. A selfish adult intercepts a baseball intended for a kid and won't give it to them.

For example, this adult woman who took a ball intended for a three year-old, wouldn't give it to him as he cried, and then had her friend take a picture of her with it. She should've just looked at the kid and said "f*** you, crybaby". It's just as bad as what she originally did.

How about this one? This woman is worse than the one in Texas. Takes it right out of her hands and shows no remorse.

Here's another one from Miami. A grown man taking a ball from a girl. Is there something in the water in South Beach?

Wanna feel even worse, adults? Here's a young fan, giving a ball to a younger fan.

Now, these moments of adults being horrible human beings are shown on television and make it onto television, and I would suspect that there are moments when adults do give kids a ball or puck that goes into the seats. Unfortunately, those don't become viral or get the media's attention.

Either way, don't be the guy at the Penguin game and don't grab baseballs and other items out of a child's hands. You are only a kid once in your life, and they will have more than enough time to be a miserable adult like some of you out there. Also, why not teach kids how not to be jerks? In a world full of them already, why not make an effort to limit those numbers from increasing in the future?

Drink your overpriced beer, eat your $15 sandwich and give the damn ball (or puck) to the kids.