Santa, all I want for Christmas is for you to take this insanity, bury it deep in your bag and let Rudolph and crew fly it to Mars where we certainly will never find it. A football player is arrested and charged with conspiring to kill his pregnant girlfriend; Cecil Collins gets arrested again and a football player pushes an official down.

First we had Carolina wide receiver Rae Carruth, who jumped bail and was captured in Tennessee, hiding in the trunk of a car.

Carruth was charged with a single count of first-degree murder. The charge was filed after Cherica Adams, 24, wounded in a Nov. 16 drive-by shooting, died last Tuesday.

Here’s hoping that baby finds a good home. Consider no mother and a father who apparently wanted them both dead. Merry Christmas.

And while the results were not as serious, the implications of a freak accident at the Cleveland-Jacksonville football game on Sunday will certainly be.

Offensive tackle Orlando Brown was hit in the eye by a flag thrown referee Jeff Triplette.

Triplette’s 3-ounce flag – weighted with BBs – struck Brown directly in his right eye. Brown walked to the sideline and then turned around and attacked Trillette.

My first thought was to ban this maniac from the league forever. But hold up, there’s more to the story.

The reason he shoved a referee became much clearer Monday when it was revealed that Brown might have permanent damage in the eye. Brown said his family’s medical history is what drove him to storm onto the field and confront Triplette. Brown’s father lost his sight to glaucoma in 1993.

Brown apologized to Triplette, his teammates and Cleveland fans.

”My actions yesterday were based upon an incredible amount of pain, which affected my judgment,” Brown said. ”This situation was very scary due to my father’s blindness and having to deal with that for many years. My injury and those facts still do not justify pushing an official. I regret what happened a great deal.”

The NFL is considering disciplinary action, which could include a fine and suspension. The minimum fine for physical contact with an official is $10,000.

I don’t argue with that, but certainly the NFL can do something about it’s lethal weapons known as flags. My brother went up to the Baltimore-new Orleans game Sunday and said on one play an official standing on the 18-yard line threw his flag 12 yards to the 30-yard line, close to the players.

Local official Merriel McCellis tells me he has beans in his flag and other officials use rubber balls like you get with a jacks game, but those become ineffective after a couple of games in the rain.

&uot;Officials are told to throw near the player or at the yard line,&uot; McCellis said. &uot;Personally, I don’t like the flags they sell at stores because they just don’t go anywhere. I know some officials who even had lug nuts in their flags.&uot;

Personally, I never had much trouble seeing those yellow flags, so I don’t think they need to be launched like scud missles.

And finally Cecil Collins.

I’ll say it again. I still don’t understand how an athlete who has everything going for him or her cannot control their personal lives.

Surely, Collins did not pay too many checks at restaurants if there were Dolphin fans around and he had to be getting first-rate service on everything.

Unfortunately that wasn’t enough. I can’t help but think of all the players with much less talent busting their tails for their teams but still getting pushed around because they are not blessed with all the talent in the world. These are the guys who deserve the attention Collins was getting prior to his latest arrest.

Joey Martin is sports editor of The Democrat. He can be reached at 446-5172, ext. 232, or by e-mail at joey.martin@natchezdemocrat.com.