(As seen on ESPN SportsCenter)
Monday, May 5, 2008
Sportsmanships True Colors
For everything that’s wrong in sports, from steroids and greed in baseball to collegiate amateurism constantly in question and ridiculous rookie contracts in pro football, moments occur that remind us how great sports can be. The story that follows is one of those moments.
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2 comments:
So touching, but lets be honest - you wouldn't have done it. I remember "the push" in that intramural basketball game...*snicker, snicker*
There's really nothing you can say about this story that isn't a wholehearted note of appreciation to a group of young women who know what true sportsmanship is.
I do want to note, however, that the umpires really blew this call. By rule the runner could've been replaced and the homerun could've been upheld without this fine display of sportsmanship. That being said, I can't help but applaud these ladies for doing the right thing.
This, it would seem, is the beauty of watching a sport whose result means relatively little to anyone, including the participants themselves. I don't mean to deride the pursuit of a bid to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Division II softball playoffs, but I doubt that this same feat would've occurred had more been on the line.
I mention this only to make a larger point about what NCAA sports have become at higher levels of competition. These days it seems that division I college sports are merely vetting grounds for aspiring professional athletes, rather than the educational and character building extracurricular activities that they were originally intended to be.
It's nice to know that somewhere an extracurricular collegiate exercise in dedication and commitment is producing the kind of character that the NCAA should be pround of. Too bad the more visible college sports are too busy selling out to follow this ideal.
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