Good Sports, Bad Sports

Tonight the NBC Nightly News had a heartwarming story of good sportsmanship. I couldn't find the NBC story on-line, but here is an ESPN account of the game. In a critical league softball game between Western Oregon University and Central Washington University, Sara Tucholsky, a Western Oregon player (who had been hitting .088) hit a home run with two runners on base in the top of the second inning. As she rounded first base, she stumbled, tore ligaments in her knee and collapsed in pain, unable to continue. By the time anyone realized something was wrong, the two runners had crossed the plate and Sara was the only WOU player still on the field of play. Umpires ruled (incorrectly as it turned out) that if Sara could make it back to first base the team could substitute for her and she would be credited with a two-run single, but if a WOU coach, trainer or player touched her before she got to the base, she would be called out.

As WOU coach Pam Knox was preparing to make the substitution that would wipe out the home run but save the two runs, Mallory Holtman, one of the CWU players and a star of the team, asked if she could help Sara. Umpires agreed she could, so Mallory and other CWU players carried Sara around to touch all the bases and complete her home run.

How was Mallory rewarded for her good sportsmanship--did her team come back to win? Read the ESPN account to find out how the game turned out.

This contrasts to a game that took place much closer to here. Read the account of a different approach to sportsmanship here.

Some people seem to believe that any actions are justified in order to win a game, and some people don't. Mallory Holtman has her idea of sportsmanship and Duke Coach Sean McNally has his.

The Greatest Car Commercial

The Blogfather has recently made several references to car commercials (here and here). As to car commercials, I'd nominate this one as the greatest of all times. OK, its not your run-of-the-mill ad. It was an LP record (you remember those, the round flat things with the groove on each side.)

I remember listening to this in a fraternity brother's dorm room at Clemson 1962, and from that point on, I lusted for a Corvette. I subsequently owned two, a '73 and an '84 and loved both of them. I wish I had a new one now! So I don't know about from an artistic standpoint, but from the point of commercial success, this ad did pretty well.

There is more about Arkus-Duntov, the Father of the Corvette, here.