(Image source: AP/Rob Carr, Pool)
Monday, October 6, 2014
Explosive First Pitch
(Image source: AP/Rob Carr, Pool)
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Fight for the Win!
In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics the U.S. women’s gymnastics team was looking for the first gold medal as a team. Everything was looking up for the U.S. women’s team going into the last round. They lead Russia who was in second place by .897; some Russian gymnasts were all ready in tears believing they lost. But to soon the lead the U.S. had starts to fade away when Dominique Moceanu falls twice and only receives the score of 9.20 taking away the big lead the U.S. had and leaving the gold medal up for grabs. The last gymnast to give the U.S. a fighting chance was Kerri Strug; she had to complete the vault. Strug told the media after the events were over that, “When Dom fell the first time, I thought, ‘No I cant believe it. She never falls. Then she fell a second time, and it was like, ‘Forget this. This is a nightmare.’ My heart was beating like crazy, knowing that it was now up to me. I thought, ‘This is it, Kerri. You’ve done this vault a thousand times, so just go out and do it.” The crowd is standing as Kerri sprints down the runway as fast as possible. With her difficult vault she requires a handspring and a twist dismount. As Kerri lands she slips and falls on to her backside and hears a snap in her left ankle. With that it looks like the gold would be out of reach for the U.S. team. Kerri got a score of 9.162 for her first vault. Kerri gets up to go do her second vault but pain shoots up her leg. She had suffered from two torn ligaments in her ankle. The U.S. coach Bela Karolyi has to figure out fast if her second vault is really needed to win. He decides he has to ask her to do it since they will need it for the win. With that Kerri got up from the floor and said a prayer to god to help her get through it one more time even if she has an injured ankle. Karolyi helps Kerri to the runway; everybody stops and watches as Kerri sprints back down the runway on a damaged ankle. She puts up an amazing vault and everybody winces as she lands knowing that it will hurt her so much more now. Kerri lands perfectly on both of her feet not moving an inch, unfortunately she hears another crack in the same ankle. The crowd goes crazy. Instead of falling to the ground she finishes out her performance by grabbing her injured ankle and completing her post-performance pose. She then falls to the mat, crying and holding her badly damaged ankle after completing her post-performance pose. The crowd then falls silent as they stare at the gymnast who performed a heroic vault. Kerri gets carried out on a stretcher before her score of 9.712 shows up on the board, which assures the United States a gold medal. The Russian athletes were standing speechless and stunned on the sideline. This was the first time ever they didn’t win since the 1948 Olympics excluding the 1984 boycott Olympics. The paramedics wanted to take Kerri to the hospital for X-rats but she had other plans. She wanted to be with her team when they received their gold medals. Her coach carried her there so that she can accept the gold medal with her teammates. Kerri didn’t give up on her dream she knew she had to try one last time to help her team win the gold medal if at all still possible. No matter what never give up on something you believe in, trained for or know you can do with a little bit of help and encouragement. Hopefully it will all work out for the better!
-Ashley Nodes
Weinberg, R. (n.d.). ESPN.com - ESPN 25 - 51: Kerri Strug fights off pain, helps U.S. win gold. Retrieved October 6, 2014. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/espn25/story?page=moments/51
Shady's Dream
What would you do if you were the number one rated high school football player in the nation, and you had the choice to take anyone of the 70 plus offers that were sitting on your kitchen table? You would be ecstatic right? But what would you do if one play changed that and all of those offers disappeared? Well that’s what happened to LeSean McCoy. McCoy was the best player in the nation and had his choice as to where he wanted to play his college football, but that all changed when he suffered a broken leg early in his senior season. He started seeing many of his offers disappear. Well all except for one, the Pittsburgh Panthers. They never gave up on the former number one prospect, and they are glad they didn’t. McCoy rushed for nearly 3,000 yards (2,816) and 35 touchdowns in his two years at Pittsburgh. After his sophomore season he decided to pursue his dream that he once thought faded away, and entered the NFL draft. The Philadelphia Eagles in the 2009 NFL draft drafted LeSean McCoy in the second round, 53rd overall. McCoy has since excelled in his NFL career thus far, that includes winning the rushing title in the 2013 NFL season by rushing for 1,607 yards. McCoy is currently 873 yards away from being the Eagles all time leading rusher. This is a feat that he is aiming for this season. This just goes to show that you can over come anything, don’t let one set back no matter how big or how small keep you from chasing your dreams.
-David Linden
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Devon Still's Second Chance
Devon Still who's NFL dream became reality after the Penn State Nittany Lion was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2012. Still had everything going for him and his family. Still's four year old daughter Leah was known by family and teammates as the "Selfie Queen" since no ones phone was safe from hundreds of pictures left unattended. However that reality soon started to fade as his attention to football faded after finding out on June 2nd that his daughter Leah was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma in which doctors told Still that there was a 50-50 chance of survival. Still didn't make the final roster cut which created even more heartbreak for the defensive tackle but all of his attention was still on getting the best doctors to help his daughter through the battle that is cancer. As the current situation started looking dark a bright light formed as soon as the news was broke to the Bengals. Still was immediately signed to the practice squad which gave him the benefits and money to provide for the expensive hospital bills that would pile up quickly otherwise. Still and his family was elated from the generosity that was shown by the Bengals, shortly after signing still to the practice squad the Bengals soon signed him to the 53 man active roster. It didn't stop there, the Bengals then decided that all of Still's jersey sales which became a top seller very quickly would be donated to the Cincinnati Children's Medical Center, by the end of the week over $1 million dollars was donated. There is such a demand for Still's jersey that orders can't be filled fast enough. This entire ordeal has been truly inspiring from a business to employee scenario. It goes to show that generosity has not died in sports, along with true inspirational businesses surpassing their goals to focus in on those in need. Blessings to Still family.
Still's Jersey Link: 100% proceeds go to charity:
- Ben Quigley
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