[il-talk] What an amazing artical

Thu May 7 08:56:07 UTC 2009

Now that is a nice story.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Wright" <gymnastdave at sbcglobal.net>
To: "NFB of Illinois Mailing List" <il-talk at nfbnet.org>; "Illinois 
Association of Blind Students List" <iabs-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Sports and Recreation for the Blind Discussion List" 
<sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:33 AM
Subject: [il-talk] What an amazing artical

>
>
>>>> John Hulet 5/6/2009 10:12 AM >>>
> I know many of you know that I am a sports guy. I really liked this
> article and wanted to share it.
>
> Tuesday, March 10, 2009
> Updated: March 11, 9:24 AM ET
> Life of Reilly
> By Rick Reilly
> ESPN The Magazine
>
>
>
> Matt Steven is blind, but that didn't stop him from being a hoops
> hero.
>
>
> A few seconds left. The game teeters on these two free throws. The
> shooter gulps. The packed gym goes silent, save for the tapping of a
> white cane on the back of the rim. That's right. The shooter's brother
> is under the hoop, rapping a cane on the rim. That's because the
> shooter, Matt Steven, is blind.
> So why is a blind kid in a competitive CYO game for sighted high
> schoolers in Upper Darby, Pa.? Because he doesn't like to miss anything
> -- especially free throws.
> Matt, a senior, had been on the St. Laurence CYO team for a year and
> never played in a game -- never expected to. "He just likes being on the
> team," says Matt's brother and coach, Joe. Matt shoots free throws every
> practice, though, making about half. And that's what gave Joe a crazy,
> unthinkable, wonderful idea.
> Before a charity tourney this past February, Joe asked the other teams
> if Matt could shoot all of St. Laurence's free throws. Amazingly, they
> agreed. So did the refs. A blind kid was going to be his team's
> designated shooter. Hey, it's still better than Shaq.
> Did that make Matt nervous? "Nah," he says. "I shoot 'em all the time!"
>
> The first game, Matt came in and -- to the crowd's shock -- made his
> first two. He was escorted back to the bench, where he grinned as if he
> had just kissed the head cheerleader. He was 4-for-8 that day.
> Matt doesn't talk much -- he has a stutter -- so when Joe got home late
> after the game, their mom, Joan, asked, "Any idea why Matt's been
> smiling all night?"
> "Oh yeah," Joe yawned. "He shot all our free throws tonight. Going to
> tomorrow night, too."
> Joan about dropped the spaghetti. Does she like it when Matt rides a
> bike? Ice-skates? Plays soccer? Sort of. She also dreads the day he
> comes home hurting.
> But Matt already knows what it's like to be hurting. Hurting is being
> born with two permanently detached retinas. Hurting is having your left
> eye removed in the fifth grade and the right in the sixth. Hurting is
> when they send you to a high school for the blind even though the last
> thing you want is to be around only other blind kids. Matt wants to be
> around other kids. He aches to be treated normal. Not "He does so great
> for a blind kid!" Just normal.
> That's why the free throws meant so much. He'd begged his parents to
> let him transfer to a regular school -- Monsignor Bonner. And he'd
> begged his brother to let him join his friends on the CYO team. And
> then, for the first time in his life, he was going to be one of them.
> Which brings us to Matt's moment in that second game. He'd missed his
> first six free throws, and St. Laurence was down eight to St. Philomena.
> Then a full-court press pulled the team to within one with 10 seconds
> left. That's when St. Laurence's best shooter -- 6'4" senior Ryan Haley
> -- was fouled in the lane. Surely, with the game on the line, the team
> stud would shoot his own free throws, right?
> Up in the stands, Matt's mom was hoping: Please don't make him shoot
> these.
> And Haley really was going to shoot them, until he looked over at Matt
> on the bench. "And I thought, He comes to every game, he never misses a
> practice, he cheers us on. He deserves a shot. I mean, it's everyone's
> dream to make those shots."
> So out comes Matt. And for the first time, the St. Phil fans aren't
> rooting for him. In fact, they look like they'd prefer that he shoot
> straight into the hot dog table. "That might have been the best moment
> of all for Matt," recalls Joe. "For once, he was just normal."
> Now the ball bounces under Matt's hand. Now the picture shakes in Mom's
> viewfinder. Now the rim pings from the cane.
> Matt lets go. Off the backboard and through. Tie game. Crowd goes
> berserk. Says Joe: "I think it helped that he's blind. He couldn't see
> the crowd, the scoreboard, his teammates' faces."
> The crowd stills again. Dribble. Tap. Shoot. Bank. Swish! Up by one.
> The gym windows nearly break.
> St. Phil's players forget to give Matt time to get off the court. They
> race the ball up. Nine guys are running around Matt, who's trying to
> find a way to the bench. Make that 10, since Ryan's already off the
> bench and pressing. Make that 11, since Joe -- tears in his eyes -- is
> trying to get to Matt. Chaos. Joy. Wonder.
> St. Phil's desperate shot misses. Game over.
> Since then, Matt's life has gone all kinds of crazy, unthinkably
> wonderful. His teammates call him Shooter. A girl says she heard all
> about him. He's even thinking about asking somebody to prom.
> I hope she says yes. Best blind date of her life.
> Love the column, hate the column, got a better idea? Go here (
> http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/mailbagESPN?event_id=20928 ). Want more
> Life of Reilly? Then check out the archive ( http://www.espn.com/reilly
> ). Be sure to check out Rick's latest project "Go Fish." (
> http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/reillygofish )
>
>
>
>
>   Best Regards:
>   David Wright
> Email: dwrigh6 at gmail.com
> Mobile: (512)203-2474
> Webpage: http://www.knfbreader.com
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