Randy Moss makes headlines for throwing a tantrum and getting thrown in jail for a timeout. Ho hum.

A woman accuses Jerome Bettis of sexual assault and a slew of groans escape from the Steelers’ brass. Tim Couch squirts some tears because Cleveland fans hurt his feelings, and Andre Rison tries his hardest to grow dreads. Whoop-de-do.

Trying to find a streak of blue sky while scanning the NFL news wire would be like running into Deion Sanders wearing plaid at a Miami nightclub. The NFL’s numskulls, mixed with the right combination of beer suds and nacho grease, inflict the average fan with a nasty case of heartburn. Then, I stumbled upon a story I never expected to read about in the pages of today’s No Fun League: “Thomas helps rescue man from burning car.”

Chicago Bears second-year running back Anthony Thomas pulled a drunk and bewildered Mark A. Moore out of his burning 1990 Oldsmobile Royale on Route 60 in Vernon Hills, Illinois. Now there’s a page stopper and a breath of fresh air.

Thomas, his wife Hayley and a friend planned on meeting up at fellow Bear and wideout David Terrell’s house last Sunday night during the Bears’ bye week, when Thomas spotted Moore’s car smoking on the side of the road at around 11:20 p.m. The A-Train acted quickly, turning around to see what he could do to help.

“When I got there and pulled over, it was like – boom,” Terrell said. “Then the tire popped and blew out.”

Thomas and his friend helped pull the man away from the surge of bursting flames, and Thomas called the police on his cell as soon as he and his wife had moved a safe distance away.

“Train saved somebody’s life. I’m at home waiting on him. I’m like, ‘Man, when is this guy coming,'” Terrell beamed to the Chicago Sun-Times. “Train got the guy out of the car, and the car blew up. I said, ‘Man, isn’t that something.'”

“We’ve got a superhero on the team now.”

Not only did the A-Train help save someone’s life, he quietly left the scene before the hordes of responding police and media would arrive. He acted humbly and responsibly.

Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Werner arrived on the scene after Thomas split.

“Even at 11 at night, Route 60 is a busy road; but only [Thomas] and another guy stopped,” Werner told the Chicago Tribune.

If Terrell, a former college teammate of Thomas at Michigan, didn’t tell the media, no one might have found out about A-Train’s selfless act. At a time where most football news is bad news (Chicago’s lost three straight, for crying out loud!), I’m glad this story slipped through.

This world, not just the NFL, needs more guys like A-Train helping people when they’re down. And somebody please give Couch a tissue.

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