If you need a little bit of reassurance that the world of sports can ideally be a place to teach dramatic lessons in character, take a look at this video from "Good Morning America." It captures a softball player from Oregon, who blew out her knee running to first base after hitting her first home run. The ump said she had to run the bases or the home run hit wouldn't count, plus her teammates could not help her or she would be out. Spontaneously, two of her opponents from Washington ran to her aid, carrying her around the bases. That act of compassion cost the generous team a division championship. But they are No. 1 with me.
Take a look at this fine lesson in character by clicking here. Warning: weepers (OK, that would be me) get your tissues ready.
As a devout fan and aficionado of hardball and softball, especially Lady Bulldog softball, I loved that news piece on true sportsmanship. What a classy team! Softball is such a great sport! FSU softball, a top ten Division I team, shows us what collegiate athletics is really all about - scholar athletes, who comport themselves with athletic ability, dignity and respect; Unlike some other FSU sports teams we often hear about.
(At Lady Bulldog Diamond the other day, one young fan was wearing a T-shirt that said, "IF SOFTBALL WERE ANY EASIER, IT WOULD BE CALLED BASEBALL").
Contrast that good sportsmanship with what I saw at a recent Grizzlies game. The Grizzlies pitcher had just "beaned" Tim Raines Jr. I had a clear view of it sitting behind home plate. It was a serious pitch and Raines was unconscious for a few minutes. Now, I know that sometimes in hardball, in trying to intimidate the opposing team, a pitcher will "pluck" a batter or throw a brush-back pitch. I also know that this isn’t common and sometimes a pitch just does get away from the pitcher. What happened next caused me to wonder about the intent. After about 10 minutes, when the game had resumed, the Grizzlies pitcher threw 4 straight fastballs (all balls) right under the next batter’s chin, forcing him to bail out of the box 4 straight times. Shades of Bob Gibson! There was no warning from the ump - something else I wondered at.
The next day, I asked an ump friend why a pitcher would do that especially right after "beaning" a batter. He said that they usually do that when one team wants the other team to know that they are not afraid to throw inside or that they want to covey a sense of intimidation. Now that’s what I would call, poor sportsmanship.
This was just a class act and should be shown to all teams and coaches in sports to demonstrate true teamanship. I will never forget that picture in my head. This is what sports is all about not winning.
No, this is not what sports is about, this a wonderful deviation from sports, that's why it's newsworthy. It reminds me of Darwin's main premise; healthy "comunities" thrive. The christo-capitalist reductionists favor "survival of the fittest", which is nice if you're prone to hegemony, or are a sports "fan", but it runs counter to the natural order. In healthy communities, there are no "opponents" because millions of years of evolution teaches that co-existance carries it's own benificent reward.
...but I will admit, last weeks "Grey's anatomy" was a three-tissue affair for me.