It Turns Out, Good Sportsmanship Does Still Exist

http://sports.espn.go.com/highschool/rise/basketball/boys/news/story?id=3914375

The above link is to an article from ESPN about a high school game and some kind sportsmanship that we see very rarely in sports anymore, though it does happen from time to time. This is the story of a young man who lost his mother recently, told the coach he could not play but later changed his mind and decided to show up. The problem was that the team did not list him on the game roster so if the coach put him in, the team would receive a technical foul. The opposing team, knowing the circumstances then put a shooter on the line who purposely shot the ball a couple feet and missed intentionally in support of a young man trying to deal with his emotions.

I would love to write a long note about how supportive I am about this story and how common gestures like this should be but ESPN did a great job covering it and I have to get to bed shortly because I need to be up by 4am to go to work. So I will simply say, thank you to both teams involved for showing how dignity and compassion can be emphasized over running up scores and finding every competitive short cut just to win, especially to young men and women in school. Many things we learn at a young age remain with us forever and this is the kind of thing that makes you have faith in humanity and still enjoy sports.