Dave and Alex Birch

Pewaukee School District Superintendent JoAnn Sternke has an assignment for Pewaukee High School student Alex Birch.

He is being required to apologize for his part in the head-butting and shoving incident at last Friday's football game between New Berlin Eisenhower and Pewaukee.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A Pewaukee High School football player who was pushed to the ground last week by the football coach of New Berlin Eisenhower High School will issue his own apology, Pewaukee's superintendent JoAnn Sternke said in a statement today.

"While it is indisputable that contact between player and coach occurred, it is our belief that the player's actions were unintentional and accidental," Sternke said in a statement. "Regardless of intent, our student/athlete will be issuing an apology to coach Grochowski. Once completed, we consider this issue closed."

Statements can be so lame.

It sounds like Sternke was forced to state the part about Birch's actions being "unintentional and accidental."

Birch did absolutely nothing wrong, yet he must apologize to Coach Grochowski.

That's just stupid.

It seems like the resolution to the issue was arrived at after a good deal of negotiating between the Pewaukee School District and Birch's lawyer.

"You must be certain to say that Birch did not maliciously head-butt Coach Grochowski."

Blah, blah, blah.

Alex Birch, 17, was the player pushed to the ground by Eisenhower Coach Clint Grochowski in a sideline incident Friday. The New Berlin School District investigated the incident and suspended Grochowski for two games, issued a letter of reprimand and ordered the coach to apologize to Pewaukee coach Clay Iverson.

New Berlin police also launched an investigation after Birch's father, Dave Birch, filed a complaint. New Berlin ended its investigation Wednesday after Birch withdrew his complaint.

Meanwhile, video replays of the incident from different angles sparked debate on talk radio programs about who was at fault.

What's with the "debate on talk radio programs" stuff?

Local TV stations urged viewers to contact them and state their opinions on the incident. This wasn't an issue that was fueled by talk radio alone.

Furthermore, who was at fault wasn't the only matter being debated.

Equally important parts of the discussion included whether Dave Birch overreacted by calling police, whether Grochowski's punishment was appropriate, and whether Alex Birch should receive some sort of punishment.

From my viewing of the tapes, I think Alex Birch is lucky that all he has to do is apologize to Grochowski.

Apologize for what?

Why does Birch need to apologize for something accidental and unintentional?

What will Birch say? "I'm sorry that you shoved me?"

That makes no sense.