Funerals have been in the news more than home runs and wind sprints this week, but hopefully lessons will be learned from each tragedy.

In Indianapolis, hundreds of mourners packed a church Wednesday to remember 30-year-old NASCAR driver Kenny Irwin, who crashed into a concrete wall and died of a crushed skull last Friday while practicing for the New England 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, N.H.

The fatal crash took place on the same track where Adam Petty also crashed into a wall and lost his life in May.

Safety on race tracks has come a long way over the years, but it’s evident more needs to be done to prevent the type of tragedies we’ve seen this year.

One suggestion has been tires or foam barriers mounted on walls to absorb the blow of automobiles against the wall.

Still another is for tracks to take a closer look at their designs.

Unfortunately, people see auto crashes as spectacular when drivers walk away. It makes for great footage and sensational stories.

The stories have been much more somber over the past few months.

Then there was the incident last week in Massachusetts involving two fathers, upset about rough play in their sons’ youth hockey game, slugged it out in front of children. One of the men died from injuries in the brawl.

I’m sure a lot of folks around here would agree that kind of story could easily have a Natchez dateline concerning youth sports.

If anything, maybe this type of story will make some folks sit up and take notice. Unfortunately, they are usually the ones who are blind to it.

Off the football field, Fred Lane of the Indianapolis Colts was buried this week after being shot to death.

Police said Deidra Lane, 25, fatally shot her 24-year-old husband Thursday in Charlotte, N.C., ending a troubled relationship that was complicated by the birth of their first child two weeks ago.

No charges have been filed against Deidra Lane, who was questioned and released by police.

Also remembered on Wednesday was Cory Erving, the son of basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving.

Erving was the subject of a nationwide search that ended with the discovery of his body and car in a pond less than a mile from home.

Preliminary tests indicated the 19-year-old might have been using cocaine just before his death, although the medical examiner stressed the early results are ”not completely reliable.”

Cory had struggled with a drug habit for most of his teenage years, but his family believed he had turned his life around.

Add to all of this, a youth baseball coach turned himself in Wednesday to face charges he broke an umpire’s jaw.

Orlando Lago, 36, an assistant baseball coach with the Hollywood Police Athletic League, was charged with aggravated battery. Police say he broke umpire Tom Dziedzinski’s jaw during a game against Flanagan Connie Mack PAL. Both teams are comprised of top high school players.

There’s not much more to add to that, or rather there is, but I think we all know the problems.

But the Rev. Horace Hockett probably said it best at Lane’s funeral.

”Humans are mistake-prone and we make bad choices and errors in judgment,&uot; he said.

How we deal with those choices and errors obviously can be a matter of life and death.

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