Rivals cooperate on touchdown for player with Down syndrome (1 Viewer)

[peglegpeet13]

This kind of story always makes me smile.

 

[primadox]

I guarantee both teams will remember that play forever.

The winning team will remember this experience a lot more than they would have remembered a shutout, that's for sure. What a great experience for all the players involved on both teams!

And yes, I've got "allergies" too, after watching that. As a parent of a special needs son myself, stories like this really hit home. There's nothing like seeing the peers of a child with special needs rally behind him or her. When my son walked across the stage for his 5th grade graduation, the ovation from his classmates had me bawling. Shoot, I'm starting over again just typing this...

 

[cdogg]

From 2002, this one made me cry a little when I saw it the first time.

Jake Porter is 17, but he can't read, can barely scrawl his first name and often mixes up the letters at that. So how come we're all learning something from him? In three years on the Northwest High football team, in McDermott, Ohio, Jake had never run with the ball. Or made a tackle. He'd barely ever stepped on the field. That's about right for a kid with chromosomal fragile X syndrome, a disorder that is a common cause of mental retardation. But every day after school Jake, who attends special-ed classes, races to Northwest team practices: football, basketball, track. Never plays, but seldom misses one.

Yeah, Jake Porter thinks his 49-yard run made for a comeback victory. He thinks he was the hero. He thinks that's why there were so many grins and streaks down people's faces.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/rick_reilly/news/2002/11/12/life_of_reilly/

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[ibelieve]

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If you say this doesnt bring a tear to your eye. YOU LIE.

I have watched this thing at least a dozen times. Never gets old.

 

[cdogg]

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If you say this doesnt bring a tear to your eye. YOU LIE.

I have watched this thing at least a dozen times. Never gets old.

It didn't bring a tear to my eye, because I saw basically the same story about 2 months before on HBO Real Sports about an autistic kid who was the team manager, then he was put in a game at the last moment and drained a 3 pointer, then ESPN went out and found the same exact story with a different kid. Doesn't diminish J-Mac, but I wish the other kid got 1/2 the recognition he did, because he was first and ESPN stole the story.

 

[Boudro]

High school football is big in America, but I suppose there is no place where it is bigger than in Texas. Friday nights there are legend.
The fans scream; the stands are packed; cheerleaders with pom-poms jump and sway to the beat of the school bandand everybody joins in the chants and stomps their feet on the metal stands until you are sure they will collapse.
This is the frenzy of Texas high school football.
But there is one football team in Texas that is a little different. When they play on Friday night, their stands are empty, no band, no cheerleaders, no mass of parents or townsfolk wearing the school colors and waving banners and flags. They take the field without anyone cheering them on. When they score a touchdown, which rarely happens, there is no wild celebration behind them&#8230; All of it seems hollow and muffled in contrast to the tidal wave of roars and drums and chants that come from the opposing side.

The story:http://www.kiddnation.com/profiles/blogs/tale-of-two-christian-schools

 

[slaym]

Here is a video showing good sportsmanship:

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