I will call you the most vile thing I can think of, but that's all right because I'm just trying to be funny.

I will tell unconfirmed tales about you, but don't sweat it because I have a catchy screen name.

We love talking sports, and we love to talk sports in any medium. Except more and more, we don't talk sports. We rant and rave and try to one up each other with mean-spirited quips. There's being clever and there's being rude, and sometime in the last few years, we forgot how to tell the difference.

If you don't agree with me, you don't know what you're talking about. If you do agree with me, I might just shout you down anyway. If I'm louder than you, I'm more right than you.

We don't discuss and debate. We taunt and ridicule. Reader comment areas and message boards have become a dumping ground for the most toxic banter we can produce. It's easy to be venomous when you can hide behind a screen name alias.

Recently, Buzz Bissinger, the author of "Friday Night Lights," and Deadspin.com's Will Leitch debated the merits of blogs on an episode of HBO's "Costas Now." You can find the exchange on the Internet.

While Bissinger tried to carry the torch for civil discourse by decrying the proliferation of sports blogs that reach to the lowest common denominator, he brought the discussion into the gutter with his steady stream of profanity. Maybe it was just to prove a point, but by carpet bombing the discussion with swears, Bissinger failed to gain the high ground.

Even when we're trying to raise the bar, it seems to become a limbo contest. How low can we go?

Well, this is pretty low. On the message board of MBR.org, a popular Maine high school sports site, we have grown men and women who should know better ripping high school athletes.

Not all hide behind the veil of the screen name. At least one adult who fancies himself a big shot of sorts, because he's coached a basketball game or two, spent time online ripping a high school player he didn't feel was worthy of postseason honors or a chance at a Division I college basketball career.

For every message board thread that tries to spark serious discussion or debate, there's a clown waiting to rip an athlete for the smallest slight, real or imaginary. For every radio show caller with a valid point, there's one who just wants to scream.

It makes me want to scream.

This past week, we recognized the 20th anniversary of one of the great meltdowns in sports history. New Jersey Devils coach Jim Schoenfeld told official Don Koharski to "have another doughnut, you fat pig!"

Recognized isn't the right word. We celebrated the thing. Schoenfeld was a precursor to the rants of current Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. It's as if Guillen is contractually obligated to have at least one profanity-laced tirade every month.

I will post a comment someplace ripping you, but that's OK. Everybody's doing it.

Travis Lazarczyk -- 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com