This week, I was leaving a business in the Old City when a skinny fellow came walking toward me. My eyes must have instinctively rolled back into my head, because Gordon, as I would come to know him, immediately started shaking his head.

"I don't want any of your money, sir. I just want some food. I'm hungry. Just a cheeseburger, anything. You can buy it and hand it to me, I don't want the money for liquor or anything else, sir."

Gordon was a pretty normal looking guy. Late 40s. Well spoken. Intelligent.

I walked Gordon into a neighboring restaurant and let him order up some dinner. Then I sat down with him and chatted for a while. He told me his story and how he ended up living on the streets.

It was sad stuff. Sadder still when he told me how he and some other homeless had learned of the Virginia Tech shootings while gathered around a bus station TV.

This was a man who, for one reason or another, has to spend a lot more time worrying about life and death than folks like you or I have to.

But he'd clearly spent a lot of time thinking about the pain of those in Blacksburg.

As I talked to Gordon about the shootings, about his life and bad choices, and about all those folks who've refused to give him a buck or two, it dawned on me that there's a culture of "mean" in our society.

From the nutjob who thinks that a gun is a proper way to display one's strength, rather than using, oh, I don't know, maybe his mind ...

To the bullies who laughed at said nutjob in high school, saying, "go back to China," when he tried to speak with poor English.

Bullying is no excuse for picking up two guns and destroying hundreds of lives. There IS no excuse for that. But the bullying certainly didn't help matters.

Personally, I can't comprehend any of that ugliness. Not any of it.

Halfway into this column, you may be asking, "what's this have to do with sports?"

If you've listened to sports talk radio or read a sports message board on the Internet, then you know.

You know that 95 percent of the people calling into talk shows or typing Web messages do so because they love their school, love their team or love their sport. To them, sports are a diversion from real life.

And you also know that about five percent of the folks on these stations and Web sites are there because they're angry.

Angry that the coach hasn't been fired. Angry that a 19-year-old fumbled at the wrong time. Angry that ticket prices are going up. Angry that someone likes UT football coach Phillip Fulmer, black chairs in an arena, or, God help us, women's basketball.

Angry that someone has a tattoo or a headband.

Angry that the world doesn't spin the way they want it to spin. Just plain angry.

As I talked to Gordon about the job he had lost at UT, on the cleaning and maintenance staff at Thompson-Boling Arena, it was clear that this man had a lot of things in perspective, even if he didn't have his life in order.

This man used to clean up after the crowds at games. To most of us, those crowds are like a family, even if just for a few hours.

Sports is a type of communion where everyone is brought together. A good example was the crowd of fans gathered at "The Frog, Bear, and Wild Boar Bar" in Columbus during the NCAA tournament.

I looked around that site, where Tennessee's alumni gathered, and saw Vol fans happily mingling with fans of Illinois, Virginia, Long Beach State and, yes, Virginia Tech.

To me, THAT'S sports. The building of new friendships. A shared experience.

But to a few, it's about building walls. It's about the bragging after a victory ... on the opponents' fan Web site or call-in show.

To me, and to the vast, VAST majority, it's about saying, "Hey, nice game, you guys played well."

To others, it's about saying, "We're better than you, loser," which, I suppose implies "I am better than YOU."

Just as holding a gun somehow makes a coward feel strong.

I don't get it. But I sure do read it. And hear it.

Voice an opinion in the media and you'd better be prepared for a pretty vicious attack. Last year, one gentleman e-mailed me to tell me that "somebody should burn" my house down because I was a "mouthpiece for Fulmer."

My immediate thoughts were twofold: One, it sure is a rotten time to be a mouthpiece for Fulmer and, two, could I forward this e-mail to all those folks who've said I'm anti-Fulmer?

But I get paid to take shots from people. What's sad is hearing fans turn so viciously on other fans ... just because they state a differing opinion.

To some of these folks everything is fair game. From someone's accent, someone's race, someone's sexuality, to someone's speech impediment.

It's angry. It's mean. And it somehow has drifted into sports via the anonymity provided by talk radio and the Internet. It's also stirred up by cheap, shock jock radio hacks.

As I left Gordon, I knew full well that I might have fallen victim to his con. I knew that he might have laughed at the guy he got a dinner and 10 bucks from.

But I also knew that, if he's having to con people for 10 bucks and a dinner, well, he needed that money more than I did.

I didn't feel bad about helping him. In fact, I felt pretty good. Especially this week.

In light of what's gone on, maybe a few more people should be reaching out, rather than closing off. They should be patting a back, rather than pointing a finger.

And that's especially true in the sports world. Sports are a diversion. Sports are fun.

It shouldn't be just another opportunity for lonely, angry people to cut loose with their miserable rants. Their anger just ruins it for the rest of us.

And it really sounds ridiculous when real outrages and disgraces wallpaper our television screens.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.