[Sportsandrec] What an amazing artical

[Dave Wright]

>>> 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 )




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   David Wright
Email: dwrigh6 at gmail.com
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