Nobody got hurt.
That is the most important thing about the charity basketball game last weekend between former New England Patriots players and the Nashoba Regional High School boys basketball team that, by all accounts, got rougher than it should have.
Still, it was not one of the finer moments for Garin Veris, a former New England Patriot who is the new athletic director for Haverhill High School.
According to one of the students, Rory Leland of Bolton, Veris threatened to knock over one of his teammates, and then did so on another play.
Veris hasn't spoken about the matter locally, although he told a Boston television station that there was no intent to hurt anyone, and that he and the other Patriots simply tried to "put on a good show" for the spectators.
But Superintendent Raleigh Buchanan said Veris had called him after the game and expressed regret about how rough the game had gotten, but added that the students had played rough as well.
Leland agreed that the magnitude of the event had been "blown a little out of proportion."
Perhaps so.
But Veris should not have to be told that in his position, he has a responsibility to set a good example. If the kids got a bit rough, surely a former pro football player should be able to handle that without knocking them down. This was basketball, not football.
There is a difference, which Veris surely recognizes, between playing hard and playing too rough. Based on what he told Buchanan, he crossed that line.
If so, he owes more than an explanation to Buchanan. He owes an apology to the entire community of Haverhill High School, which he represents.
There is no shame in admitting a mistake in public. It takes courage and strength. Now is the time for Veris to display some of that.
