One morning last week, every single child at the bus stop was a boy. A first or second-grade boy, to be exact. And what did these eight boys do while waiting for the bus? The jostled. They bounced off each other. They body slammed.

I was the only male parent at the stop, and one of the moms turned to me and said, "Whenever {her son] and his friends get together, this happens. I was really worried about it, but my husband just shrugs and says 'that's what boys do.'"

As an ex-boy (perhaps not quite "ex," I suppose), I was happy to concur. When boys get together, they get physical. There are a number of girls this age (some of them as much into princesses and pink as can be) who are more than happy to get physical as well--but only when they're with the boys. Wrestling, karate chopping, punching...that's what boys do.

Most moms try to limit this aggression, generally to no avail. What the boys should know are the proper places for this behavior (not in class, for example) and to chill out when asked to do so by an adult. That second part is an almost eternal work in progress, of course.

In the past couple of months, three coaches in the Big 12 conference have gotten in trouble for aggressive behavior against a player. The two football coaches, Mark Mangino of Kansas and Mike Leach of Texas Tech, lost their jobs. The basketball coach, Frank Martin of Kansas State, escaped almost unscathed.

While the situations aren't identical, anyone who is in the public eye ought to take notice of how Martin approached his "problem."

During Saturday's loss at Missouri (MIZ-ZOU!), Martin whacked Chris Merriewether on the side during a time out. Martin was mad at Merriewether for committing a turnover (or something) and got a little out of control. Unfortunately for Martin, the game was on ESPN2 and a lot of people saw him go Joaquin on one of his players. Very, very bad.

So what did he do? He apologized to Merriewether immediately after the game, and then he apologized during the mandated post-game press conference. Then he met with K-State's athletic director and apologized again. John Currie, the AD, gave Martin a full vote of confidence. No more drama.

Contrast this with Mangino and Leach, both of whom hired lawyers well before they were actually fired. I understand the need to protect yourself, but if you hire a lawyer to protect yourself from the institution that's paying you two or three million bucks a year, you have to know that your goose is fully cooked.

More importantly, Mangino and Leach simply don't seem to understand that added responsibility comes with the increased paychecks. When you're making 25 times the amount of an average professor, it's safe to say that you have a much greater responsibility to represent the university in the way that the university desires.

This distinction, of course, is also the difference between men and boys. Both have similar aggressive urges, but most adults understand that there's a time and a place for that aggression. When you are the coach of young men, you shouldn't be the one dealing out the punches.

Not all adults have figured this out. In decades past, coaches like P.J. Carlissimo, Bobby Knight and Woody Hayes all had public violent confrontations with players. There will be more coaches in the future. I guarantee that at some point a female coach will have a similar meltdown. After all, we're all human, even if gender does seem to provide some general differences amongst us.

The easiest rule of thumb is this: Don't act like an asshole. And if you do, apologize. The boys at the bus stop know that, even if they don't practice it nearly as well as parents might hope.

Jon Worley doesn't think Harry Reid has mastered the art of the public apology.