Selfless act by opponent allows learning disabled team manager to score.....

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Great stuff.....

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[Marc Vaughan]

Great stuff.....

That was really awesome :D

[Blackadar]

Really cool act by the kid on the other team. I hope that guy gets some seriously good karma in the years to come.

[Subby]

Haha that has me in tears. So great.

[Draft Dodger]

damn dusty work environment

[spleen1015]

Awesome shit right there.

[Kodos]

Very nice. Waiting for somebody to come in and tell us why this was bad.

[Danny]

Its bad because it makes me cry like a girly man.

Seriously though, pretty great stuff. I am going to show it to my students today.

[PackerFanatic]

Absolutely fantastic video. Wish there were more kids like that in the world...and I hope I am raising to my daughters to be like that.

[BYU 14]

I won't lie, tears were flowing for me too! So impressed to see teenagers like this young man who already get it. Great gesture!!

[saldana]

I won't lie, tears were flowing for me too! So impressed to see teenagers like this young man who already get it. Great gesture!!

this

[Izulde]

Full credit goes to the coach of the team, too. I saw this on FB last night (and shared it of course) and it blew me away when he said he was going to put the manager in at the end, no matter what the score was, even if it cost them the game.

[FBPro]

Class act, on so many levels!!!

[Butter]

Very nice. Waiting for somebody to come in and tell us why this was bad.

I was going to be that guy, until I watched the video. Hard not to cry, really.

[PackerFanatic]

Full credit goes to the coach of the team, too. I saw this on FB last night (and shared it of course) and it blew me away when he said he was going to put the manager in at the end, no matter what the score was, even if it cost them the game.

Absolutely. Amazingness all around.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Very nice. Waiting for somebody to come in and tell us why this was bad.

I was going to but figured it was pointless, so decided to save the energy. Feel free to pretend I did if it does something for you.

[RedKingGold]

I would love to hear an argument as to why this is bad?

I promise not to reply or say something snarky, just curious.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I would love to hear an argument as to why this is bad? I promise not to reply or say something snarky, just curious.

I suspect everyone won't show the same level of restraint ... but you asked a reasonable question, so I'll just say that you can insert the standard "makes travesty of the game" argument here & we'll be pretty well covered.

FWIW, I didn't know the details until after reading this article a few minutes ago, but if it's accurate then my disapproval is several notches higher. To create this situation while beating a rival handily (note: manager played for winning team) is a pretty grossly unfair situation to put the opponent into afaic.
High School Basketball Team Allows Disabled Opponent To Score | SportsGrid (http://www.sportsgrid.com/video/disabled-basketball-player-scores/)

[Buccaneer]

I read a few comments by some disability activists saying this was something to the effect of pandering, humiliation or grandstanding (that's probably not the right word).

To me, I look for a motivation out of a pure heart. If the coach's team had been behind in the final game (as oppose to winning easily), would he have put the manager in to give him his shot at playing?

It is easy to do something good when it costs nothing; it is a greater thing to do so when it will involve sacrifice.

[molson]

I read a few comments by some disability activists saying this was something to the effect of pandering, humiliation or grandstanding (that's probably not the right word).

To me, I look for a motivation out of a pure heart. If the coach's team had been behind in the final game (as oppose to winning easily), would he have put the manager in to give him his shot at playing?

It is easy to do something good when it costs nothing; it is a greater thing to do so when it will involve sacrifice.

I think in this case it was a great moment that everyone will remember forever, and that will inspire everyone who was there that night and many who watched the video to be better people. No downside at all in this instance.

BUT just for fun and to answer RedKingGold's question, I do sometimes wonder about what those activists are saying.

Every individual level of disability is different. Is the goal of these occurrences to trick someone into thinking they were a part of the competitive aspect of the game, or to simply offer them a special kind of honorary moment? Either one is worthwhile - as long as the kid is on the same page. What if the motive is the tricking, but the kid simply isn't impaired enough to actually be tricked? In that case, I worry a little that the kids feels like a prop, that he was patronized, even disrespected. You know that feeling when you're a kid, but adults treat you like a much younger kid than you are? I think that kind of thing could be tough on a kid with disability who really just wants to be accepted as a normal kid. I mean, are we assuming that every kid with a disability is too oblivious to understand what's going on? Even if that's the PERCEPTION, it could be damaging. Of course, hopefully, in 99% of these situations, the coach will know the kid enough and there will be no problem. But as these types of events grow popularity, I'm sure there's plenty of douchebag coaches who would go about things in potentially damaging ways just to try to make themselves look good.

[Buccaneer]

Patronizing. That was the word I was looking for in reading some of the activists comments. I don't agree and as a handicapped person myself, I appreciate the times where I felt "normal" around others.

[Danny]

I read a few comments by some disability activists saying this was something to the effect of pandering, humiliation or grandstanding (that's probably not the right word).

To me, I look for a motivation out of a pure heart. If the coach's team had been behind in the final game (as oppose to winning easily), would he have put the manager in to give him his shot at playing?

It is easy to do something good when it costs nothing; it is a greater thing to do so when it will involve sacrifice.

Those people are idiots. I work with special education kids for a living. Most of them are not intellectually disabled, but I would love it if all the ones who are could have a moment like this.

[Buccaneer]

Danny, you know how activists of all stripes are - they have to take it to the extreme in order make a point or to get opinions moving in their direction.

[Izulde]

I read a few comments by some disability activists saying this was something to the effect of pandering, humiliation or grandstanding (that's probably not the right word).

To me, I look for a motivation out of a pure heart. If the coach's team had been behind in the final game (as oppose to winning easily), would he have put the manager in to give him his shot at playing?

It is easy to do something good when it costs nothing; it is a greater thing to do so when it will involve sacrifice.

He said he would have, even if it meant his team lost the game.

[Mota]

From watching that video, it was quite apparent that even the fans had fondness for this kid. Sounds like he gave a lot of himself to the team, so I think the coach and the players probably felt that about him in return.

[Young Drachma]

It's apparent we spend way too much energy on kids sports, but stories like these -- not the wins and losses -- are what make it count. Just a lot of good folks all around who were part of that moment and yeah, it was "orchestrated" but so much of coaching is about telling kids that wins and losses don't often matter, that it's about how hard they worked to get to a moment, the relationships and all of the other intangibles.

We say all of that, but then you get people who come out and say that the "integrity of the game" matters more than being empathetic to the plight of someone else and coalescing energy behind making someone else's day, month, year, lifetime...

The fact that it was organic -- sure the coach arranged it -- with the kids doing what they could to help this teammate have the full experience that they take for granted everyday...was the coolest part of it. The other kid getting involved was just icing on the cake.