True Friendship in Sports

It seems like every time I turn on the television all I see are stories about despair. I love sports because every time the world seems to be going to hell in a hand basket, I find some inspirational sports story, which gives us all hope for a better future. For example, baseball returning after the terrorist attacks in 2001. There is a story I read on ESPN this morning which gives me hope (click here to read the Outside the Lines report by Tom Rinaldi). It is about two wrestlers in Ohio who graduated this year despite many hardships and having the odds against them. Leroy Sutton was 11 when he lost both of his legs in an accident in which he was pulled underneath a freight train, and Dartanyon Crockett is legally blind, but somehow both of these extraordinary youth found ways to win and along the way became an inspiration to all. The thing which impressed me the most was Crockett won state in his weight class last year, despite barely being able to distinguish facial features from a mere five feet away. Sutton sat on the edge of the mat at all of Crockett's matches and was able to win several of his own matches. Crockett carried his friend all over, on and off the bus at school and at matches. Their story is simply inspirational. Sutton's only wish was to walk on his own at graduation with prosthetics he had been fitted for a week before graduation. As he walked, Crockett was their to make sure he didn't fall and was honored to help his friend. I honestly have to say, while watching this report, I hope I would be able to do something like this to someone who needed my help. These are the kind of stories which inspire us and make us feel like there is still hope in a world that desperately needs any kind of hope it can find. I only hope that when someone we see walking down the street who is different, we resist the urge to judge them and put ourselves in their shoes. What would we do? I hope we can all look deep inside and say we would be this kind of a friend to someone in need. That is what sports are really all about, not the money or the fame, it should be about having fun and helping one another. Unfortunately we all lose sight of that goal sometimes.