Ultimate display of sportsmanship

[Matt700wlw]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/columns/story?columnist=hays_graham&id=3372631&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos1

Kids, there's a lesson to be learned here. :)

[RFS62]

That's a beautiful thing.

[OldRightHander]

Brought a tear to my eye.

[Razor Shines]

That's a pretty cool thing to do, I would hope that most athletes would have done the same thing.

I do kind of wonder why she didn't just crawl or limp around the bases.

[SeeinRed]

...And thats why girls shouldn't play baseball. A guy wouldn't have let that extra run score. You'll never win if you just give the other team runs./sarcasm :cool:

All kidding aside, that is an oustanding display of sportsmanship and charcter. That is how people are suppose to act. It puts things in proper perspective. How many people would have just sat there and not said a word. They would've probably felt bad for the girl if they knew about what it meant to her, but they wouldn't have said anything. I doubt the girl even knew it was her first career homer. She might have suspected, but she asked anyway. Kudos for her.

[Buckeye33]

Man, I had goose bumps all over after reading that.

If I was at that game there is no doubt that I would have had tears in my eyes for sure.

[Buckeye33]

That's a pretty cool thing to do, I would hope that most athletes would have done the same thing.

I do kind of wonder why she didn't just crawl or limp around the bases.

I tore my ACL back in November and I can relate on why the girl may not have wanted to limp around the bases. The instant my ACL tore I knew something was horribly wrong and I had no idea what exactly happened. After I got done yelling a few seconds I did not want to move my hurt knee because I had never been hurt before and did not know if I could hurt it more if I tried to limp around.

Now that I am able to look back on things I could have easily got up and limped back to the bench/car with help. I don't think the girls who helped her needed to carry her, she did not know that at the time of the injury.

[wally post]

Thanks for sharing this!

[SeeinRed]

Man, I had goose bumps all over after reading that.

If I was at that game there is no doubt that I would have had tears in my eyes for sure.


I couldn't imagine what the parents would be thinking if they were there. I really hope they were. If there isn't a movie that comes out of this I will be suprised. It has practically written itself. Kind of a Rudy for softball. A girl who is told she is too small makes a college team and struggles for playing time. She finally gets some and hits a home run in one of her final games as a college player and then this happens. Her team is in the playoff hunt even, and playing against the other team vying for the top spot. What a great story that would be. In the end, her run ended up being the winning run even. 4-3, that run made the difference. The more I think about the story, the more I enjoy the fact that actual people can be that good at heart.

[HeatherC1212]

Wow, what a beautiful story. Thanks for sharing that here. I definitely had tears in my eyes reading it too. :)

[Razor Shines]

I tore my ACL back in November and I can relate on why the girl may not have wanted to limp around the bases. The instant my ACL tore I knew something was horribly wrong and I had no idea what exactly happened. After I got done yelling a few seconds I did not want to move my hurt knee because I had never been hurt before and did not know if I could hurt it more if I tried to limp around.

Now that I am able to look back on things I could have easily got up and limped back to the bench/car with help. I don't think the girls who helped her needed to carry her, she did not know that at the time of the injury.

I tore my ACL in high school during a basketball game, but I had so much adrenaline going that I tried to get up and play. So do I understand the pain, I've never felt anything else quite like it in my whole life, before or after. I was just saying that if it came down to losing the home run because of not being able to get around the bases I think I'd have found a way to get around those bases. I think most would have. But that doesn't take away from the fantastic display of sportsmanship by the other team.

[Chip R]

That's so crazy she injured herself on her first and only home run. I'm wondering why she couldn't have a pinch runner and then be credited with a HR instead of a single.

But that's an outstanding story. :)

[Roy Tucker]

Sometimes there are things more important in a game than winning it.

[dabvu2498]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/04/30/sports/sporting190.jpg

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/sports/baseball/30vecsey.html?em&ex=1209700800&en=9bbff492af3949f1&ei=5087%0A

[Team Clark]

This story gives you hope. Very classy.

[MrCinatit]

Great story.

[GoReds33]

That's the greatest story I have heard in a long time. It gives you hope for the future.

[vaticanplum]

Remember the guy who couldn't finish the Olympic race and his father came down from the stands and ran the rest of the race with him? I go through about six boxes of tissues every time I see that.

edit: gaaaaahh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zi0_LjHHN4

[gm]

There's no way H*skies and Ducks would behave this way

[Unassisted]

This story hit the local newspaper today and my favorite talk radio morning show crew picked up on it. Their curmudgeonly take on it was that it was an argument against Title IX, since no mens team would ever dream of helping an opponent when there was a playoff berth on the line. In their estimation, the fact that the team that made the magnanimous gesture ended up losing the game, was the ultimate proof that womens' sports are teaching the wrong lessons.

I don't happen to agree, but I thought their perspective was thought-provoking.

BTW, the host who made this argument has two daughters who play high school sports, so he's not completely out of touch with womens' sports.

[gonelong]

In their estimation, the fact that the team that made the magnanimous gesture ended up losing the game, was the ultimate proof that womens' sports are teaching the wrong lessons.

Man, is that bass-ackwards. To me the reasons to participate in a sport is to compete, to test yourself. It's not to win at all costs.

GL

[pahster]

Man, is that bass-ackwards. To me the reasons to participate in a sport is to compete, to test yourself. It's not to win at all costs.

GL

Yep. It's not much of a victory if you only win because your opponent suffers an injury and isn't able to make it around the bases after hitting a homerun anyway.

[IslandRed]

Things like this are a reminder that winning, as often as it is presented as the ultimate goal, is really just means to various ends. We want to win. But when fame and fortune is not at stake, there's no world-changing value to whether we are the 4 or the 2 in a 4-2 game. We want to win to prove something to ourselves, and we want to win to gain the admiration of others. If we win, but in a manner that earns nothing but disdain, what did we win, really? On the flip side, those Central Washington ladies proved that it is possible to lose on terms that earn far more respect and admiration than possibly could have been attained by merely winning the game.

As John Wooden once said, sport doesn't build character so much as reveals it.

[Caveat Emperor]

Man, is that bass-ackwards. To me the reasons to participate in a sport is to compete, to test yourself. It's not to win at all costs.

It's a fair statement, whether or not you agree with the sentiment expressed.

The point of any competitive team sport is to win within the rules of the sport. "Win at all costs" suggests chicanery and dirty pool, like spiking the gatorade with tranquilizers or spending all night making wake up calls to the team hotel. That's a far cry from what is going on here.

Stories like these validate your beliefs in human kindness and compassion, but they're not "what sports are all about."

As Herman Edwards so eloquently put: "We play to win the games."

[gonelong]

It's a fair statement, whether or not you agree with the sentiment expressed.

I really don't think its a fair statement at all.


The point of any competitive team sport is to win within the rules of the sport.

At the professional level? Sure. For my 4 year olds soccer league? No.

For sure, things are a bit more murkey in the big old grey middle there. The higher you go up, the more is riding on the winning, and the more emphasis is placed on the winning.



"Win at all costs" suggests chicanery and dirty pool, like spiking the gatorade with tranquilizers or spending all night making wake up calls to the team hotel. That's a far cry from what is going on here.

Stories like these validate your beliefs in human kindness and compassion, but they're not "what sports are all about."

I never said its "what sports are all about". I was responding to the original statement that ... In their estimation, the fact that the team that made the magnanimous gesture ended up losing the game, was the ultimate proof that womens' sports are teaching the wrong lessons.

The kids tried to win within the rules and spirit of the game.


As Herman Edwards so eloquently put: "We play to win the games."

He's at the Pro level where you win or get out.

GL

[guttle11]

You do play to win the games...at every level that keeps score.