No, you didn't say that.

I did read your first sentence, and I appreciate the sentiment. It was, however, the disclaimer before the storm.

A drama professor who directed me once told the whole cast, "Nobody cares if you have a marvelous first act. If the last ten minutes stink, that's all they'll remember." You had a memorable last 10 minutes, and it had little to do with your first act.

Don't tell me about how OK it is to be horrible because someone else is doing it/would do it if they could/has done it in the past. I have four kids and work with children every day. I've heard this maybe a million times before. It gets really old coming from them. Imagine how it sounds coming from adul-- um, grown-ups.

Anyone who wants the high road has to take it. It isn't easy. But people don't earn the right to call attention to how dirty someone else is while they themselves are mud wrestling.

If the boys and girls on your side want to be able to claim injured innocence -- credibly -- they had better head for the showers and clean themselves up now. But they won't, because that's how they like to do business, if past practice is any measure.