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.
And they say people throw about the term "hero" too lightly these days . . .
(eyes rolling)
I wonder how the team who will finish second to them at States will feel about this. Robbed, I'm sure.
2) However the teams that LOST but was allowed to win should also have made a good gesture of their own ....and refused to take the winning position based on the simple fact that they lost.
Exactly. In all fairness, the Penn Hills girls should refuse their offers to step aside.
Super! Everybody gets a chance to hit! Nobody makes an out! Let's go get an ice cream! Wee!
It was Norwin, the sixth place team that deserves the lion's share of the plaudits. They finished among the top 8 in sixth place. The other two teams were 9th and 10th so they would not have gone if the results stood. I credit Norwin for making the sacrifice for Penn Hills. Norwin was the catalyst.
Somewhere, somehow, someone other than the runners benefited from this.
Yes, they lost and they accepted it with broken hearts, but they never asked for special treatment. It was by the graciousness of OTHER teams that moved them into the finals. It is the type of story of selflessness that we need to see more often.
I graduated from Penn Hills, just outside of Pittsburgh. Maybe this will catch on and the hapless Pirates can get into the playoffs.
Which would be a far more valuable lesson for these children than any glory they might attain winning some stupid high sports competition.
They probably would have won. They were the favorite.
Not the same thing imo. If the team that had the girl fall was the one demanding it, I'd agree. However, as far as I can tell, three teams, without outside pressure voluntarily forfeited.
How many times have we seen Olympians (ice-skaters, track/field, etc) screw up just the same and suffer the consequences?
Countless times which is why this case is so different.
Baloney: good sportsmanship means being a good winner and a good loser. Good winners don't step aside so that the loser can "win."
Which would be a far more valuable lesson for these children than any glory they might attain winning some stupid high sports competition.
"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."
I think our kids are going to make despite us.
Like I said, the team that finishes second to them at the chamionships is gonna feel rightly robbed.
Agree 100%
!!!!
Inspired by the sacrifice of these young women, I'm going to start a campaign right now to encourage the Red Sox, the Yanks, the Orioles, and the Jays to step aside and allow the Devil Rays to take the AL East. After all, why not give someone else a chance to feel groovy?
Oh, if only that big, bag hockey team would've "taken back" some of the goals they scored on me in the state tournament . . . my team might have made it out of the first round, and then I'd know what it feels like to be a winner! Sniff, sniff.
Sounds like a plot line to a King of the Hill episode.
If only Chris Webber didn't call time out....
If only Scott Norwood would have kicked it through the uprights.....
If only, if only, if only.........
If only Donovan McNabb didn't have a tummy ache . . . maybe Belichick should give the Iggles a do-over?
Who knows, someday down the road, maybe one of these girls will be an Olympian trailing the leader and the leader falls but remembering what happened to her in high school, she will on live worldwide television do the same.
Maybe it won't be public but for these girls advancing "underservedly", sometime down the road, this event will remain with them and they will hopefully do the same to someone.
Their parents, who ran thier kids around the lat 15 years trying to help their kids do well in sports. < /I gotta run my girls to softball lacrosse swimming and dance this weekend!>
Sure, it's a feel good story, but for goodness sake, they LOST!
"Good winners don't step aside so that the loser can win."
Well said. This to me is the crux of the matter. Losing is the toughest thing in sports but its also the strongest motivator and the best teacher. A winner who denies a loser his loss is selfish. Your point seems to be a profundity lost on some.
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