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PAGING Mark Downs: Your Table Is Ready Here in Hell
2005-07-22 21:50
by Scott Long

If you missed this story, here is quick breakdown of what happened.

A Dunbar man, Mark Reed Downs Jr., is accused of offering to pay a 7-year-old boy $25 to injure an autistic 8-year-old teammate before a June 27 game so the older boy would be unable to play the league minimum of three innings, according to state police at Uniontown.
The 8-year-old boy was hit by two throws from the other player prior to a game, police said. He was treated at The Uniontown Hospital and released the same day after a baseball hit him behind his left ear and in the groin, police said.

Maybe I'm extra sensitive to this story, as my daughter suffers from learning disabilities, but this scumbag is a real piece of shite. Personally, I think a fair punishment would be for this classless douche to get the same treatment he inflicted on the boy, with Randy Johnson being the one to deliver it. (Big Unit circa 1998)
Coach Mark suffers from a Downs syndrome that he was not born with, but developed on his own.

Comments
2005-07-23 00:31:27
1.   10man
That is absolutely disgusting to hear. People like that have no business being anywhere near children. You can bet that if he was in prison, justice would be swiftly given to him and his kind.
2005-07-23 07:58:32
2.   RickM
Doubtless that there is a special place in hell for this guy, and having been through little league with my daughters, I'll refer you to tbogg, who has a terrific atile on his daughter and his time in little league hell.

http://tbogg.blogspot.com/

2005-07-23 12:31:48
3.   Blah Blah Blah
A terrible story, but a word of caution that the story is apparently in dispute as well. Stories have been inconsistent from the victim as to the details. According to league officials, the victim was neither the best nor the worst player on the team, leading one to wonder why this action would have made any sense. Etc Etc.

So, while it may be true or partly true, apparently it may also not be.

2005-07-23 14:49:50
4.   RickM
Weel of course blah, now that Dunbar is looking at jail time, he's probably got a lawyer to parse his, and everyone else's words for him.
2005-07-23 19:28:49
5.   Blah Blah Blah
You're not getting me. It's not a question of this guy and his lawyer, it's a question of the accusation itself. Apparently when the story was first told, it was $5 then it was $25. Apparently there were worse players on the team and all got their playing time. Apparently somebody asserted that it was the mom who declared the kid unfit to play, not the coach.

He said, she said. I don't know who is telling the truth, but nor do you. That's all I'm talkin'bout.

2005-07-24 00:48:11
6.   Pseudonym
Really people.

The story says he's ACCUSED. Innocent until proven blah blah.

2005-07-24 06:33:43
7.   RickM
Pseud - correct you are. But I gotta take the Nancy Grace attitude here. He's been arrested for two counts of criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault, and one count each of corruption of minors, criminal conspiracy and recklessly endangering another person. I'll suggest to you and blah that there is something to this. In any case, the kid got hit twice, and had to go to the hospital. Once in the groin (talk aboput an open stance!), and once behind the ear, obviously on purpose. So says the pitcher. You can question whether or not coach paid him to do so, but if he didn't, why did he let the pitcher hit him twice?
2005-07-25 08:08:43
8.   mwball
I don't get it... Why would he want the kid hit anyway? Just because he didn't like him or what? What was the motivation? I'm missing something...
2005-07-25 08:23:13
9.   onetimer
He'd want him hit so that he's "taken out"--unable to play. Little league rules generally require every player on the team to get at least one plate appearance and two innings in the field. You take out the autistic kid, your chances of winning increase--or so allegedly went the thinking of the coach.
2005-07-25 08:36:43
10.   mwball
Ok, so the kid was on the same team and he didn't wan to let him play. I didn't get that... Is this guy Satan? It's just little league!
2005-07-25 10:37:30
11.   briankopec
sigh. i cant believe im going to weigh in on this one.

im actually from the area where this happened. ive even played some baseball in this town myself. anyway, the local word is that the facts are very much in dispute.

anyway, im not here to defend this jackarse, because if there is even a glimmer of truth to the story then he deserves to hang. but to me, this kind of smells like the typical story for story's sake/truth be damned.

on the other hand, anybody who has ever been to dunbar didnt even have to check the byline to know where a story like this probably took place.

2005-08-01 10:30:10
12.   123
I, too, life in the area. I know FOR A FACT that he beat the crap out of his girlfriend only a few weeks prior to the t-ball incident. I saw the bruises and how he cut off all of her hair. I also know that she dropped the charges. Out of fear?? If it looks like a piece of trash, and acts like a piece of trash, and smells like a piece of trach, chances are...

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