[Sportsandrec] Blind Basketball

Thu May 7 17:25:31 UTC 2009

Hi all,
I think it was posted twice by accident.  Sometimes I forwarded stuff to 
lists that other members already did.  I did not find this story positive or 
negative.

Ashley
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Sivill" <mike.sivill at viewplus.com>
To: "'Sports and Recreation for the Blind Discussion List'" 
<sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 11:40 AM
Subject: Re: [Sportsandrec] Blind Basketball

> The line that makes it stand out to me is:
> He aches to be treated normal. Not "He does so great for a
>> blind kid!" Just normal.
> I like it because it talks about his blindness as a problem fitting in and
> not really as some lame feel-good "this is how blind people do things" 
> type
> of story.  But I do find multiple postings irritating.
> Mike
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sportsandrec-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:sportsandrec-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Joe Shaw
> Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 7:25 PM
> To: Sports and Recreation for the Blind Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [Sportsandrec] Blind Basketball
>
> This is the second time I have seen this article and left the bat on my
> shoulder the first.  I am not sure if this article is posative or 
> negative.
> It's a feel good story and great fodder for a column no doubt but does 
> this
> story reflect well on blindness? I am not sure. I believe this is a story 
> of
>
> how a dude loves his brother but can you not teach most dogs to do a trick
> if you work wwith it enough? I like Rick Riley as he is a good read but I 
> am
>
> curious why two strong Federationists posted this to our sports and rec
> list? Is this story a victory in the area of blindness? He may even ask a
> girl to prom now. Did it take success as the desegnated free-throw shooter
> to give this young man the confidence he needed to live his life? This kid
> needs the NFB (smile)
> "All I can say is that my life is pretty plain" "I like watchin the 
> puddles
> gather rain" No Rain Blind Melon
> Joe Shaw
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David B Andrews (by way of David Andrews<dandrews at visi.com>)"
> <David.B.Andrews at state.mn.us>
> To: <sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>; <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 4:27 PM
> Subject: [Sportsandrec] Blind Basketball
>
>
>>
>> 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>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>http://www.espn.com/reilly ). Be sure to 
>> check
>
>> out Rick's latest project "Go Fish." (
>>
> <http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/reillygofish>http://sports.espn.go.com/es
> pnmag/reillygofish
>>  )
>>
>>
>>
>>
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