Feel-good story
Mrs. Stab occasionally comments that I am sometimes dispassionate about some things (not about her, however), but I like a feel-good story as much as anyone.
This one centers around two Missouri Western State University football players who were driving away from practice on August 23, when they saw a woman frantically pounding on one of her car windows. The two players, Jack Long and Shane Simpson, turned around to see what was the problem. The problem was a set of keys locked in a car on a 95-degree day, along with a 17-month-old child. His grandmother, Teresa Gall, had been futilely flailing at the window to rescue the kid, who was convulsing and vomiting.
Simpson smashed the window with one swing. Grandson Liam was dehydrated, but otherwise OK. Mrs. Gall offered the players money. They declined, instead inviting her to the Missouri Western Griffon's opening game. She allowed knowing nothing about football, but showed up with Liam two days later for the Griffons' practice. Then, she and her family cheered for their new heroes, no doubt loudly, at the game itself.
Unfortunately, the happy ending doesn't include a Griffon victory. The team lost to Pittsburg State 34-7. Two of the Griffons are definitely winners, though.
http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/Missouri-Western-football-players-save-child-locked-in-hot-car-090611
Well, Stab, you can't win'em all, especially if you are playing Pittsburg State, a long time NCAA Div II power. Their nickname, BTW, is the Gorillas.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise a great story.
My alma is a tiny private school that plays in NCAA Div III. We went 8-2 in football my senior year, tied for the conference title and made the national semi-finals. So what did the coach say was the best thing about the team? 28 of the 33 players were on the dean's list. That's what he said, and I couldn't agree more.
Nice story indeed. The child was lucky to have recovered so well. O.T, the academic rate sounds like Duke but the football record does not.
ReplyDeleteWell, WW, I should mention that most years we are happy with 4 or 5 wins. That was an extraordinary team.
ReplyDeleteCollege football began in the 19th century with students from one school challenging students from another school. Of course, today, big time college football has nothing to do with students and everything to do with money.
Now that Texas A&M has left the 9 team Big 12, watch what happens next...Oklahoma & Oklahoma State will follow and the feeding frenzy will begin...a 3-way tug of war between the PAC-12, the Big 10 (which, of course, has 12 teams now), and the SEC. I expect that within the next couple of years we will have 3, maybe 4 16 team super conferences. Anyone left out of those, except perhaps Texas, Brigham Young, Notre Dame, Army, Navy, maybe a couple of others, will no longer be playing big time college football.
Div III is much more like the original model, and everyone, the players, the students, the alums, even the opponents, has a lot of fun.
Admission is free, the players' little sisters get to join the cheerleaders in front of the stands, we bring in local high school marching bands, and after our home games the players from both teams have a cookout together behind the gym.
And we have NEVER had a player arrested on any charge.