domeless in the c.f.l....

We have become so calloused and cynical from the endless number of police-blotter stories filling today's sports pages that little shocks us anymore.

An athlete charged with sexual assault? Yeah. OK. Who this time?

We're lax to even process the facts. Our thought process simply goes one of two ways: A) He's just another idiot who can't keep his pants zipped, or B) She's just another gold digger trying to get into a rich athlete's wallet.

But this week comes a story out of Regina, Saskatchewan, that leaves us shuddering -- both in its alleged cruelty and its sports-social ramifications:

Linebacker Trevis Smith of the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders was arrested Friday on one charge of aggravated sexual assault on a Surrey, British Columbia, woman. The "aggravated" aspect of the charge has nothing to do with anything being forced upon the woman, but rather the accusation that Smith, 29 and married with two children, had unprotected sex without revealing he was HIV-positive.

Smith on Wednesday pleaded not guilty and was released on $10,000 bond.