That, gentlemen, is sportsmanship

Water Cooler
#1

Last Saturday (9/2/17), USC played Western Michigan at the Coliseum. It was a struggle for USC (favored by 26.5 points) at the beginning, but with just over 3 minutes left in the game they scored a touchdown; they were ahead by a score of 48 to 31.

USC called a time out.

No team calls a time out when they score a touchdown; the clock is stopped, so there’s no reason to do so.

USC’s coach talked to the referee, who talked to Western Michigan’s coach. USC was about to put in a very special player for the extra point.

Jake Olson joined the Trojans in 2015 as a long snapper: field goals and extra points.

Jake Olson has been blind since the age of 12, losing his sight to a rare form of cancer.

The snap was perfect, and USC’s kicker scored the extra point.

The sportsmanship was on the part of Western Michigan’s defense: they didn’t rush the kicker. Apparently they agreed that they wouldn’t risk bowling over the blind snapper in an attempt to block a kick that, honestly, didn’t matter.

Jake Olson was a long snapper for Orange Lutheran High School, which is about 8 miles from my home. The best man at my wedding attended Orange Lutheran.

This was the first time that Jake played in a real game.

USC and, especially, Western Michigan, should be given props galore for allowing this remarkable young man to display his talents to a stadium full of devoted fans.

That, gentlemen, is sportsmanship.

#2

Now they are letting fish play in football games? What is next? Chickens? Bears?

#3

I will admit that I am a USC hater (dumbest person I have ever worked with was a USC grad. And the med school Dean fiasco is disgraceful.) But this story is a winner. My wife read the LA Times accounting by Bill Plaske (sp?) and couldn’t make it all the way through it she was tearing up so much.

#4

South Carolina Gamecocks

California Golden Bears

UCLA Bruins

Baylor Bears

Also: you’re a jerk.

#5

Whom do you love? Notre Dame? Stanford? UCLA? Ohio State?

Amen. People at many universities have done stupid − some, really, really stupid − stuff.

As I say, the main props go to Western Michigan: they didn’t risk injuring this remarkable young man.

My grandfather was a professor at USC, first in line for the presidency when he retired. Therefore, I’m genetically predisposed to be a USC fan.

#6

I heard about that yesterday. Nice uplifting news. Good for that dude and good for USC.

#7

Uplifting story, but I’ve read/watched a more inspiriting one before.

#Rudy

#8

Good story. Do competitors typically cooperate? Has there ever been an instance where they haven’t?

#9

Justin Houston should hold the single season sack record, but instead Farve let Michael Strahan push him over. That was a horrible miscarriage of sportsmanship.

#10

If they hadn’t agreed to cooperate, we would not have heard about it, because there would be no special play. So, I am sure there have been disagreements in the long history of sports, and especially when the publicity benefit is not as dramatic as this one.

[/quote]

Thank you - I really try to be.

#11

Has there ever been a situation like this one where a competitor agreed to cooperate but defaulted?

#12

im with ohai. i see no point in doing shit like this. but apparently we are wrong, since enough people felt good about it.

#13

Come on… let him have his day.

#14

I can recall many years ago in college basketball where the other team allowed an injured player to score a layup so she could break her team’s all-time scoring record. Think she played for UConn.

#15

i see what you did there

#16

Overall, it’s a nice, feel-goody story. But I don’t know that I like the idea in general. Letting somebody (who’s obviously unqualified) participate in a live play just so they can get a participation trophy?

Like I say, a good heartwarming story in the press, but…I don’t know.

and for the record - the 2006 Rose Bowl is still my favorite college football game of all time.

#17

Yeah, but…the dude has no eyes. Not just blind. He’s eyeless. The game was out of reach. Why not? It’s pretty much the exact same thing the Make a Wish foundation does. Just done by a university.

#18

In reality, this was probably a calculated publicity move to boost the team’s popularity, and by extension, future revenue. College sports, after all, are a multi million dollar industry. The organizers are geniuses at promoting almost religious levels of support from fans - they have to be. This is big business, not a small league.

As far ar Mr Olson is concerned - I can’t imagine how much work it must have taken a blind person to become a varsity football player at a championship level team. Like every person on that team, he deserves to be treated like an elite athlete. He would have eventually rotated into a play naturally. So, I don’t know how he feels about his first game appearance having been under special circumstances that patronize his disability.

Sorry to break up the group hug.

#19

Well, at least with no eyes the skull fucking you just gave him didn’t hurt as much.