Not sure if you international UTers heard about this story or not, but it's a prime example of
Spirit of the Game that our game of Ultimate has exemplified since it's creation. You can read more about this incident via the link below, but in a nutshell it comes down to a crucial playoff game between the Central Washington and Western Oregon university women's softball teams. Central Washington desperately needed a win to keep it's postseason alive.
As the story unfolds, a Western Oregon player steps up to the plate and hits her first homerun ever. YEAH! As she's rounding the bases, her ACL snaps (yeah, you know it ... a movie in the making). Offical NCAA rules prevent her teammates or umpires from helping her, less her homerun be nullifed and reduced to a lowly single (whoa ... this is getting good). Nothing happens for what seems an eternity. Poor Sara Tucholsky lay in the infield dirt in agonizing pain (Get me Mr. Spielberg). Finally, in an act of pure selflessness and spirt, two players from Central Washington come to Sara's rescue and carry her around the bases to complete her homerun (BINGO! A Blockbuster in the making!!).
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/04/the_best_tale_of_sportsmanship.htmlThe suprise and joy of this incident comes from the fact that something like this rarely happens in the general world of sport. In a crucial and clutch situation like this, it's do or die. The opposing team is more than likely not going to move a finger to help. I mean come on, when's the last time Shaq helped an opposing player off the floor during the NBA playoffs?
However, this case was different. People did do something. Unusual? Not in our flatball world. Little do most people know, but situations like this happen all the time in the world of Ultimate Frisbee. More than likely, most of us have witnessed a story like this on the Ulti pitch. It's just the way it is with us ... something to do with our number one rule ...
SOTG.
Anyway, I hope more situations like this transfer from our sport to others. Not the injury of course, but the selfless acts of kindness portrayed by our heroines.
Tally ho!
- Seppo #22
