By TERRY NAU

Sports editor

Some things I think I think:
Well, the Rhode Island Interscholastic League has handed down its decision in the Tolman-Woonsocket girls soccer melee. Executive Director Tom Mezzanotte did what he had to do, delivering suspensions of varying lengths to nine different players. Very impressive. I just have one question. If a similar fight breaks out in a hockey game this winter, can we expect the same kind of penalty? Even if there are no television cameras around?
There’s no question that Channel 12’s film footage of the fight, which has been re-run for the past week, placed pressure on the RIIL to put an end to this kind of unsportsmanlike behavior among its athletes. That film provided a handy tool for Mezzanotte and his staff to study. And they knew they had to make the penalties swift enough to deter athletes in other sports from going overboard when things get physical on the gridiron, or at a hockey rink.
Bottom line: The nine players from Tolman and Woonsocket are being held up as poster girls for bad behavior. No way nine of them get banned if Channel 12 wasn’t around.
They are like celebrity entertainers who get caught cheating the IRS, and earn harsher penalties, just so that a message can be sent to lesser-known folks who might want to cheat on a smaller scale.
Is the penalty fair? I don’t think so. But I’m just a sports writer who has seen a lot of similar stuff happen over the past 40 years. Mezzanotte, who is trying to run a league that includes teams from more than 40 schools, must stand up for what he believes. And the RIIL for years has been proud of its sportsmanship program that honors teams every season for keeping their poise in the heat of competition.
Nobody ever said life is fair. The nine girls who got suspended have to turn this incident into a positive for themselves. Maybe they can learn a lesson about life. Keeping your head while others are losing theirs is an asset that can be used to great effect as the years pass by. Losing your composure never wins any battles, on the field or in life.
And maybe a more subtle lesson is this one. You can’t beat the people in power. It might be fun to try when you’re young. But the bottom line is that authority always wins. John Mellencamp wrote a song on the subject a long time ago.
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In all the brilliant analysis of Bill Belichick’s costly decision not to punt on fourth down late in Sunday night’s game against Indianapolis, one piece of business has not been touched upon. Nobody has talked about whether the Patriots’ defense was so weary that Belichick had little confidence that his unit could stop the Colts from anywhere on the field.
This has happened before, of course. Playing indoors inside a controlled climate is a whole different kind of physical experience than playing outdoors in autumn weather. The Patriots and Colts have played at least two other down-to-the-wire games in the  RCA Dome. The Colts rallied from 18 points down in the 2006 AFC Championship game as the Patriots’ defense went belly-up in the second half.
Everyone also remembers the “Willie McGinest Game” back in 2004 when the Colts rallied and had a chance to push across the winning touchdown in the waning moments. McGinest, who had faked an injury to buy some time on second-and-goal, made the game-saving tackle with an amazing burst from left end to tackle Edgerrin James short of the goal line.
Colts fans were a little disgusted by McGinest’s sudden revival.
Patriots fans might also remember the 2007 Super Bowl when their defense allowed a mediocre New York Giants offense to march down the field late in the fourth quarter for the winning score. This game was played outdoors in Arizona, another warm climate.
That’s the thing about football. We’re so used to seeing games played outdoors in weather that goes from warm to brisk to cold during the course of the season. Conditioning isn’t as big an issue in November  and December when the Patriots are at home. We do hear a few words on the subject when the Patriots visit Miami late in the season.
So my question for Bill Belichick is this: How does he prevent a recurrence of this scenario during the playoffs? Does he have enough depth among his defensive linemen and linebackers to rotate players and keep his key personnel fresh for when the game is on the line?
The answer to that question apparently was a resounding “no” inside BB’s head on Sunday night. I guess 40-year-old linebacker Junior Seau might not be the answer when it comes to situations like this.
And then there’s the whole Richard Seymour thing. That 2011 No. 1 draft choice coming from Oakland two years from now did not make one tackle for the Patriots on Sunday night. Do you think the Patriots miss Seymour’s physicality along the line of scrimmage? They can beat mediocre teams without Seymour. When it comes to beating elite teams like the Colts, this is where a guy like Seymour is missed.
When the Patriots were winning Super Bowls earlier in the decade, their defense beat up opposing teams. That hasn’t been the case in recent years. The Patriots have become a finesse team, capable of scoring quickly on offense, and bending but not breaking on defense. Well, they broke against the Colts on Sunday night and the sight apparently changed the way Bill Belichick would normally coach the game.
Belichick thought he was giving his team the “best chance to win” by going for it from his own 28-yard line. Judging by the way his defense was sucking wind on the sideline benches, it probably was the only call he could have made.
Bottom line: If the Patriots want to get back to the Super Bowl, they probably need to go through the Colts and their indoor sauna berth in mid-January. Maybe next time, the defense will have something left in its reserve tank for the final drive of the night.