Boy With Autism Hits Walk-Off Home Run in Cooperstown Tournament

How can you not love a story like this? Ethan Fowlks, a 12-year-old with autism, won a prestigious national baseball tournament for the Salt Lake Sidewinders in Cooperstown, New York. Check it out:

Fantasticly Inspiring Story: One-Legged High School Wrestler

This is just too good a story not to share. Sasha Prosence was a contender for a Utah high school state title in his weight class this past weekend--with only one leg. I caught this on a local sports radio show, and it simply inspired me:

Before each of his matches last season, Woods Cross wrestler Sasha Prosence tried to psyche out his opponents by hopping onto the mat before falling to his place at center mat.

But Prosence, who was born missing his right leg, has no use for such tactics any longer. Now, he’s a region champion. He’s a fourth-place finisher at the prestigious Rocky Mountain Rumble. He’s a legitimate state title contender.

And, if all goes according to plan, he could be one of a select group of wrestlers with a missing limb to compete on the collegiate level.

“It’d be cool to continue to break down that barrier,” he said.

But the future hasn’t always looked so bright for Prosence.

In 1992, Sasha was born in Murom, Vladimir, Russia, the survivor of a failed first-trimester abortion attempt. His birth mother fell ill with anemia during the third month of pregnancy and, with limited access to health care, she decided to terminate the pregnancy. The procedure took Prosence’s leg at the hip.

Make sure you check out the whole story.

Update: Sasha took fourth place in the state tournament this past weekend, losing in the semifinals to the eventual state champion. Incredible.

NBC Sports: Schoolkids disappointed when Patriots don't show up

A bit off-topic, but irresistible:

Students at Lebanon Middle School in Lebanon, Connecticut, thought they were going to work out with members of the New England Patriots on Tuesday. Instead they got a Patriots intern with an aerobics video.

"I think the hardest thing yesterday was seeing all my kids coming down they had their Sharpies and their footballs and their jerseys and I was like, gosh, what am I gonna do," said physical education and health teacher Alyssa Fabry.

The school participated in the NFL's Play 60 program, which encourages young people to stay active, and they were told they were being rewarded with a visit from the Patriots that would include "celebrity coaches." The school assumed that meant Patriots players and coaches.

But it was just the Patriots intern who attended the event, and a Patriots spokesman told WTNH that "celebrity coaches" actually meant someone like the town's mayor or the school principal would be asked to serve as a coach.

"I don't think I am going to do it again next year," Fabry told the Norwich Bulletin. "They built it up quite a bit and really did not come through."

I have a feeling the Patriots will make it up to the school by having another event, one with a representative of the Patriots who's a little more prominent than an intern.

From what's reported here (perhaps there are other details that I do not know about), it seems that the Patriots were less than forthright in what they made the school believe was going to happen. To bring it a bit more on-topic, are there times when we try to do the same in our youth ministries?

NPR: Too Young? 10-Year-Old Hoops Star Catches Eyes

There's so much to say about this I don't know where to start. Perhaps I'll choose a bit of an unorthodox place: why do we hear about the next basketball star, or the next broadway star, or the next Bobby Fischer, or the next Joshua Bell? Why do we not discuss the next Mother Teresa? A have to admit that I am excited when I see a young baseball player with great talent. But do I get so excited when I see a ten-year-old exhibit the humility and thirst for God that is normally seen in an older, faithful believer that has been weathered by many detours in life?

Anyways, read for yourself:

NYT: At Xavier, Nun Works Out Players’ Academic Side

Athletics is something I think can be a huge benefit to students as they go through adolescence. However, there are too many situations where rather than learning important life skills, student-athletes are taught that winning is more important than anything. I really enjoyed this story about Xavier's men's basketball team:

By some measures, the success of the Xavier men’s basketball team rests not with a sharpshooting guard or a ball-hawking forward. Rather, it rests largely with a 5-foot-4, white-haired 77-year-old nun not afraid to rap on dormitory doors or to call players before dawn to ask about missed classes or late assignments.

Xavier, a Jesuit university in Cincinnati, is entering the N.C.A.A. tournament seeded sixth in the West Region with a 24-8 record. But Sister Rose Ann Fleming is a perfect 77-0. Since she became the academic adviser for Xavier athletics in 1985, every men’s basketball player who has played as a senior has left with a diploma.

“Sometimes, she’ll schedule an appointment or an academic meeting right in the middle of practice,” said Xavier Coach Chris Mack, whose team will play Minnesota in the first round on Friday. “I’ll say, ‘Sister, we have practice at 4.’ She’ll say, ‘No, this is important.’”

Hat Tip: Titus 1:9

Coach Puts Character Over Winning

From SI.com:

You're a major college football head coach now, or didn't you get the memo? You're not supposed to care about character. You're not supposed to mold young men. You're supposed to "pray for a misdemeanor," as Bobby Bowden once did. Most importantly, you're supposed to win.

With Masoli, you would have won. Don't you remember the way he dumptrucked that Oregon State defender to make sure you guys won the Pac-10 title? Who cares if he probably carried the laptop he swiped the same way he toted that football? That doesn't matter. What is important is winning -- not whether Masoli leaves school and becomes an honest, productive member of society.

This is a great tongue-in-cheek piece on how a college football coach--who has a team in 2010-11 that could win a national championship--has suspended his star quarterback for one year, greatly lessening his team's chances for that national championship. Coach Chip Kelly has made a great choice. Perhaps his star quarterback won't win a national title next year, but he may learn a thing or two about honesty and the consequences of his actions. The ending is fantastic:

But you had to make a statement. You had to place character above winning. You had to send a message to all those little ones who wear green and gold and who sleep under Oregon posters that they shouldn't steal, that they shouldn't lie. You had to tell your fans and boosters that you'd rather risk losing a few games than risk selling your program's soul for a title that would make you a very, very rich man.

What on earth were you thinking?

Way off-topic, but Irresistible

From a wonderful article on the moral superiority of baseball over football:

4. Aesthetically, baseball is superior because of its unique sense of time. There is no clock in baseball. Time never runs out, only opportunities do. When Yogi Berra famously said, “It ain’t over till it’s over,” he was not uttering a tautology. Since the game is not terminated until the final out is made, it is always possible to come back or to blow a huge lead. In football, the game is often over (determined) before it is over (temporally), rendering the final minutes meaningless and pointless. In baseball, as in the Christian world view, a measure of hope is always alive until the game is over. Near-miraculous comebacks are possible. When they occur, there is no greater drama in all of sports.

The comments at the end of the post are quite good as well.

Matt Lepsis Goes to Seminary

Normally, I balk at stories that feature celebrities who are also Christians. I enjoy seeing God glorified in all areas of our society, but too many times we as believers can end up glorifying the celebrity rather than God, who works in the celebrity's life. In addition, I think youth pastors can at times fall into the trap of highlighting celebrities that are Christians to say, "Hey, look! Christianity's cool! You can follow Jesus, too!" When I lived in Colorado, the Colorado Rockies would host a "Faith Day" at Coors field on a Sunday. After the game, a Christian musician would perform, and different players would share their testimony. Now, I think this is a great thing for the Rockies to do, because as far as I could tell, they were trying to use the platform they'd been given on account of their God-given talent to share Christ with others. However, I never felt comfortable that churches would highlight the event with huge gusto. This was especially true at my own church, which would make a big deal of this event, far bigger than our annual "World Missions Sunday." My beef is not with the event itself, but with the American Church (in general, not across the board in every instance) giving more kudos to Celebrities Who Happen To Be Christians than to faithful servants who serve their whole life long as missionaries--whether as their vocation or as their way of life in whatever position they find themselves.

That being said, here's a story about a celebrity who has allowed God to work in his life. I see this particular man as a celebrity who seeks not to glorify himself, but to humbly serve God in everything he does, knowing that he is a sinner in need of Jesus.

"I know a lot of people will look at this and say, 'Here we go again, another professional athlete who got mixed up on drugs, was in the gutter somewhere, and decided to become religious,' " Lepsis said Friday from Dallas, where he is studying at a theological seminary. "My story couldn't be any further from that. I didn't grow up in the church. I wasn't at rock bottom. I'm not stupid. I didn't seek God, God was seeking me. This happened to me and it can happen to you if you accept the free gift that God has given us."

Read it all here (the link goes to an expanded version of the article, which was originally published in The Denver Post on October 11th).