Today I’ve got three interesting sports stories for you.
The first has to do with a girls High School track meet. It was in Ohio I believe. The rules for this state pertaining to High School Track claim that any runner that assists any other runner in any means is automatically disqualified. This is a common rule in sports, and is also a rule here in Texas.
So this is what happened. There was a long distance race. Two girls were clearly in the lead and battling back and forth for first place. In a blink, the girl that was currently in the lead fell. She had a serious leg injury. The other competitor passed her by, but saw her fall and heard her moans. So the competitor stopped racing, went back to her fallen competitor, helped her to her feet, and assisted her in limping to the finish line.
During the limp to the finish line, several other competitors passed them by. When the two competitors reached the finish line, the girl that didn’t fall made sure that the fallen competitor crossed the finish line first. Her comment later was that the other girl had been in the lead when she fell so she deserved to finish ahead of her.
The fallen competitor was awarded 14th place. The girl that went back to help was officially disqualified for assisting her fallen competitor. But the competition committee quickly met and decided that this was a viable example for over-riding the rule; and the Good Samaritan was awarded 15th place.
Rules are important, and I am very black and white when it comes to rules. Yet I agree completely with this exception. There are definitely times in life where instances indicate that rules should be overlooked.
Yes, that was me saying that.
The second has to do with a 10 year old basketball league. It was one of those modern leagues where a few years prior it was decided that no scores would be kept, no wins and losses would be recorded, and instead of having a championship the teams would play a year end “round robin” tournament with all participants receiving awards.
The tournament ended and the “officials” gathered at a table on the south side of the gym where a table had been set up with trophies for every participant. Yet the kids walked together to the north side of the gym, without coaches or parents. Apparently the kids had gotten together prior to the tournament, had other kids keep scores for each game played, and they all agreed that the team that scored the most points would be the champion.
They had even kicked in fifty cents each to buy trophies for the winning team.
People, winning and losing is part of life. Kids need to be initiated in the thrills of winning and taught how to deal with losing. I mean how can the kids ever have an incentive to improve themselves if they get the same reward for losing as they do for winning?
Hooray for the 10 year old kids. Oh, and they left the participation trophies behind when they left!
The third has to do with the NFL. The Texans picked up a receiver after the draft was over. He was a decent college receiver but had experienced some mental anguish in college which kept any other team from taking a chance on him. But the Texans took a chance. He practiced with the team for 5 days, impressing both the press and the coaches.
He was on track to make the team. And just so you know, the least a player can make in the NFL for a season is about $200,000. On day 6 this knuckle-head walked into the coach’s office and quit. He gave no reason other than he wasn’t interested in playing football anymore.
I have two problems with this choice. First, what the heck was he thinking? He just walked away from $200,000. He didn’t even finish college. Where the heck is he going to go and work where they will pay him even half that amount with no college degree and a history of mental goofiness?
Second, there are a whole lot of young men that busted their ass for years trying to make the NFL. I was one of those guys. I got bigger, stronger, faster and smarter every day. I learned the mental part of the game as well. I worked out every day regardless of anything. I never stopped until I was finally told that I was injured to the point I could never play again.
So it’s a big slap in the face to all the guys that tried and didn’t make it for whatever reason when a knuckle-head does make it and then pisses it away for no reason.
OK, nor more sports for a while . . . . maybe!?!?!
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