I just noticed the Sidney Ponson story this morning. It appears to be a combination of "Here come de judge," and "Sock it to me!" that has landed Sir Sidney in jail.

According to police reports, Ponson was confronted on the beach Saturday by a group of people who asserted he had harassed them by recklessly operating his personal watercraft. In the ensuing altercation, Ponson allegedly struck a man in the face, then fled the scene. The alleged victim, who turned out to be a local judge named W. Noordhuizen, was hospitalized, and Ponson was later taken into police custody.

Ponson was/is an island hero. My guess is he'd be very easy to recognize. And hitting a judge just isn't a good idea. They tend to be friends with judges who might hear your case.

In his defense, it's not clear who threw the first punch.

"The people on the beach apparently told him, 'Come here,' " Lejuez said. "They invited him to discuss the matter. So he went to the beach to discuss the matter. He did not go to the beach to fight. But once he was on the beach, the fight started. . . . One of them tried to hit him, and that's when the fight started."

Once the fight began, two people described by Lejuez as friends of Ponson's came to his defense. Lejuez said he has seen their statements to police, and they are "very similar" to Ponson's statement.

While hitting a judge is mistake, my guess is Sidney didn't know at whom he was swinging. But hitting a professional athlete is just plain stupid. I wonder if Sidney took Crash's advice and used his left hand to throw the punch?

It was a bad year on the field for Ponson and it's ending as a bad year off the field, too. Are there undubbings?