I found this story on my homepage... I think its a feelgood story, but some disagree. I would like your thoughts on this:
[url=http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/down-syndrome-teen-scores-td-people-complain-26132]http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/down-synd ... lain-26132[/url]This gave me a queasy feeling when I first saw it elsewhere. They did this, lied to the poor DS kid, to make themselves feel good, though they obviously didn't see it that way and were just trying to do something good for him. So their heart was in the right place, but it is still a dishonest attempt at charity.
There is no dishonest attempt at charity. Why is it that whenever one attempts these for the right reasons, there is always some who accuse of doing that right thing for personal gain. Good for those who did what they did to make this one person feel special and shame on those who criticise those who do.
:thup: Agreed, cfleskfan. I think the look on the young man's face in the photo says it all. Not to mention the obivous excitement when he jumps over the goal line. Good on those for making it happen.
And after scoring, the kid soft-tosses the ball to the ref. That was fantastic.
I thought I was watching a clip of the Eskimo defence .
:lol: :cowboy: :lol:
I'd love to check the link...
However, my workplace blocks it. The reason given?
Nudity.
Now that's the kind of charity that I'm a fan of.
My thought on this is, rpaege, is that in a 46-0 game, they losing team thought they would give a kid who normally would not play a thrill, something that he can remember for as long as he lives. Although I don’t have down’s syndrome, I played only one year of organized hockey-- I only scored one goal in that whole season, but its a moment that I will always remember. I have a feeling the same will go for him… a moment that he will always cherish-- and kudos to the coach and both teams for giving the kid a thrill of a lifetime.
I agree, I’ll take a smile from someone even if they don’t mean it to be honest. It’s better than no smile.
What If you found out your team and the other team set up your goal would it be so special ? I heard the same story in a little league baseball game . I maybe would have thought it was a Urban Legend if they didn’t have the Video. If you agree or not the Kids hearts were in the right spot . Sometimes we only get to see the negative in People , If they would have drilled this Kid into the ground and broke his neck it would have made all the Headlines but this will only be seen by so few.
But I still think it was the Esks Defence
My wife works with severely handicapped kids. She says that - even if the boy was told that the ‘D’ had let him run - that it would be extremely likely that he wouldn’t care in the least and that he would be happy that the players thought enough of him to include him on the field and get the TD. It would mean that he was accepted and liked!
We see it from our perspective… getting into the head of someone else is a different and much harder thing.
The nay sayers on that posted link must not be parents or have ever played team sports. Before anyone objects let me explain
1 - as a Parent until you have lived through a situation like this you simply can not understand the life long good this type of thing does. Having the kid make the team and forcing the team to play him every game is charity. Letting the kid be part of the team and wear the uniform and then once or twice a season getting him on the field - is not charity - that's good sportsmanship.
2 - Although I have only played High school level sports ( no I am not an Al Bundy reliving anything lol ), even those that have played High school sports have faced gimme plays. Where I played the unspoken rule was the only no-no was gimme plays to set records ( letting a player with a broken leg run a TD in kinda thing ). But I can recall at least once a season facing it on my teams or the opposing team. Once case was a kid with cancer wanting to play 1 more game before an operation that would end his ability .. he got to score ( wink wink ) - or in Basketball allowing another teams player to take unchallenged 3 point shots as we where up by a ton. Team players know the difference between charity and good sportsmanship. Letting a downs kid run a TD in a mean nothing point of a game is not charity - letting the kid do it every game would be.
The look of pride of that kids face is priceless lol :cowboy:
Actually, I did sign up to play the next season, but they wanted to send me to an ‘A’ league, but it was against kids younger than myself. I only played in a few exhibition games that year-- but there was one jersey no one had chosen- it had a “C” on it, so I chose it… some objected, but one other said, “let him wear it”… so the coaches let me wear it for that one game. Even though it was somewhat charitable, it felt good to wear the jersey, even though it really didn’t mean a thing.