[Sportsandrec] Blind Basketball

Fri May 8 04:14:33 UTC 2009

Yea man, I don't think this reflects well on blindness as a whole.  

-----Original Message-----
From: sportsandrec-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:sportsandrec-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Joe Shaw
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:25 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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