It’s a tough day to think about sports.

My daughters were at a midnight premier of The Dark Knight Rises in a West Side suburb of Cleveland Thursday night. What happened in Colorado hits hard, though it’s tough to say why it hits harder than a fatal car accident because one of my daughters drives as well. Perhaps it’s because madness cannot easily be explained.

Those who would never do such a thing can’t grasp what happened because they don’t think in those terms. The resulting emotion usually leads to sorrow, confusion or anger. Writing about it is even difficult.

Clearly, the thoughts and prayers of anyone who has even clicked through this blog go out to the families of the victims. If only there were a way to remove their grief.

At some point, one of these events will prompt serious thought and refelection. But already misreported information about the gunman’s political ties (on both ends of the spectrum) have been broadcast on air or on the web. It’s irresponsible and wrong to even go there when a dozen are dead and 50 are wounded. The Obama and Romney campaigns have said they will cancel negative ads in Colorado in light of the shootings. But they’re OK to run in Iowa and Ohio and South Carolina? And they’ll be OK to run in Colorado in a couple weeks? When does it end? Columbine. Tucson. Toronto. Virginia Tech. Oakland. Chardon. Now Aurora.

And people are still talking about a statue.

Today it seems best to pause and take a break from games, and simply offer a thought for those suffering in Colorado right now.