I deliberately avoided the story of Chris Benoit.

I didn't read the stories in the paper or online, and I changed channels when it was discussed on radio or television news programs.

I couldn't bear to hear how or why a beloved and successful athlete like Benoit could kill his wife and his 7-year-old son.

So I tried to ignore the story.

I tried to pretend that fathers don't betray their children like that. I tried to forget that husbands try to control their wives by killing them in the most painful, brutal ways. I tried not to know the darkness of the human heart.

But I could not turn away for long. It was the story of another father and son on HBO's Real Sports that prompted me to pay attention to Benoit and to wonder how two fathers, who love sports and their sons, could end up in such different places.

Dick Hoyt's son Rick was born in 1962 with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. The Hoyts were told Rick would never walk, talk or develop much beyond infancy. And while the first two predictions were correct, Rick did develop and the Hoyts helped it happen. The Massachusetts boy grew up watching Red Sox and Bruins games with his dad.

When Rick was 10 years old, his parents raised enough money to buy a machine that proved he was capable of communicating. He tapped out messages using his head, and his first message to his parents was, "Go Bruins!"

Sports would continue to be their connection. Two years after those first words, Rick asked his father about participating in a five-mile run that was being held to benefit a lacrosse player who'd been paralyzed. Dick, a self-described couch potato, obliged, and the two ran the race with Rick in a wheelchair being pushed by his father.

Now they run marathons, triathlons and have competed against the world's best in the Boston Marathon and the Iron Man. Dick pulls Rick in a raft when he swims, he carries his son to a bike and rides with him on the front in a specially made seat. Dick pushes Rick in a wheelchair when they run, and the father claims it's the son's energy that keeps him moving.

So after I watched the story of Team Hoyt, I forced myself to listen to the story of the Benoits. It appeared the WWE champion loved his son as well. Daniel Benoit's room was decorated with wrestling paraphernalia. He had toy championship belts and life-size wrestling buddies. His room was a shrine to how much he loved and admired his father. Video during the story of the deaths showed Daniel, in his father's arms, kissing him as confetti fell around them.