Posted on 05/13/2005 11:16:27 AM PDT by fso301
The four girls who had been tearing up Western Pennsylvania high school track had been brought to tears, their hopes of defending their district and state championships in the 400-meter relay dashed by a fallen runner on Wednesday.
But a goodwill gesture by some opponents has given Penn Hills High School another chance. Three teams that finished ahead of them decided to step aside, giving the Penn Hills girls a shot at the championships after all.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
I'm sorry, but this one deserves a barf alert. They lost. They should get over it.
Indeed. Its sports welfare.
I think I agree.
Maybe we should have given Saddam a do-over.
Maybe I missed something in the article but the forfeitures to me appear to have been unsolicited.
>>They lost. They should get over it.<<
Dude!
You are hard hearted.
um, dropping the baton is part of these kinds of races. they dropped it. they lost fair and square. there wasn't anything mean or nasty about their loss, it was all part of the sport.
would they have stepped aside had any other team dropped their baton?
Agreed. Sometimes life sucks, get over it.
I could NOT AGREE WITH YOU MORE. This story deserves a major barf alert.
The girls had a great season, but didn't qualify to move on because they lost. Losing is a part of life, as is winning. What good is winning if someone else "lets" you win?
Like my brother-in-law is fond of saying: "We are raising a nation of pussies."
Get the Violin out..
This is pathetic.
Here's where I disagree w/ you a bit.
The decision to step aside was make by these 3 teams themselves. It was not asked for or demaded by the team that lost.
Although I do see your point. They fell. They lost. End of story. But I'd be much more upset if someone other than the 3 teams themselves caused this to happen.
I disagree. It is sportsmanship of the type we don't see much anymore. Those young ladies and their coaches are heros in my book.
I seriously doubt it which is why the voluntary actions of the other teams is comendable imo.
Similar to a basketball player for a girls HS team who broke her foot and was 1 point shy of the school record and the other team let her hobble downcourt for an uncontested layup.
Sometimes, life sucks. The answer isn't to give them a bye. To do so defeats the whole point of athletic competition.
How many times have we seen Olympians (ice-skaters, track/field, etc) screw up just the same and suffer the consequences?
Which makes it even more pathetic, in my book. What kind of Moonbeams and Sunshines and Summers are on an athletic team that forfeits to another team just because that team had an otherwise "super" season, but spit the bit at the last second? Extremely weak.
Even better sportsmanship would have been to urge the other teams not to step aside.
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