We’ve been in this weird debate off-and-on over much of the last year about whether there is anything redemptive in sports. I really think it started as the slight souring of one person’s opinion until that person saw it was getting a reaction out of people. And when you get a reaction, of course, you go all the way with it. So this conversation has morphed and twisted and disappeared and reappeared several times over the last year. And it has done so to the point where The Yankee and I will be watching some sporting event or reading some athlete’s story and she looks at me and says “SEE!?”
Like I’m the one that offered the offending opinion. I was not. Sports are silly, but there’s plenty of redemption in them. Redemption is sort of the theme of many sports, and one of my favorite humanistic themes in general. And while the following anecdotes, all from this glorious, long weekend, don’t really offer redemption, they do tell the tale of worth in sport. I commend them to you:
This is anything but a regular PAT.
Jake Olson, blind since age 12, just snapped for the first time in a live game. https://t.co/amyHcFoVue
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) September 3, 2017
Ray Watts and meddling Bama trustees can go hide somewhere. UAB football had to come back for Tim Alexander. This is beautiful. https://t.co/zjeuT00s3p
— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith) September 2, 2017
WATCH: @notthefakeSVP's One Big Thing ft. @TheIowaHawkeyes new @HawkeyeFootball tradition (ft. none other than @MCFick) @HawkeyeHeaven pic.twitter.com/Lthb4gMhq7
— Mia O'Brien (@MiaOBrienCBS2) September 4, 2017
