Basketball player first, EVERYTHING else second
July 18, 2008 @ 11:19 a.m. by jlongBy J. Long
My boy Jeff Martin and I were were having a conversation about gamesmanship earlier today revolving around Jason McElwain. If you don’t remember McElwain, he was the autistic high schooler from New York that captured the hearts of many Americans by making it rain from behind the arc in his only basketball game appearance.
Me, being a fierce competitor, told Martin that I don’t think I would have let him hit all those shots. That at some point, I would have to send one of them into the crowd. He laughed at me, but understood where I was coming from. He said that maybe after the third one he would have to put an end to the crowd pleasing show. To me three would have been two too many.
Would it have been bad gamesmanship to block his shot?
July 18th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
IMO, yep.
Nothing to be gained FOR you, don’t think it would have affected the game.
Allowing this kid to have one is probably his lone athletic moment of his life: priceless.
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July 18th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I’d swat that weak shot into the 20th row and then tell him to not bring it in my house anymore, but that’s just me.
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July 18th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
You’re just a meanie! ;)
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July 18th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Good for the kid but did he really need to score 20 points for it to be a special moment. I say after two someone should have played some defense on him. Where was the pride on the other team. For him and the rest of us watching him accomplish this is simply incredible. A great sports moment. I am not sure anyone could have stopped him, he was in the zone.
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July 18th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
After the second one I think I would have found out how well he shot free throws.
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July 18th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
this is nice to see,instead of another spoiled pro screwing up again.
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July 18th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
I LOVE this video! BEST BASKETBALL video I’ve EVER seen!
You would have tried to have stopped this kid? WHY?
(Are you secretly a bully???)
This is Excellent! Good for him! Sometimes, the nice guys do win! It’s about time!
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July 19th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Yeah, I’m a bully. Good story but after the first one he’s fair game, just like everybody else on the court.
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July 22nd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
If I was the kid’s teammate and you tossed his shot and started jawing, you would be limping due to a broken knee cap. But that’s just me…
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August 1st, 2008 at 4:08 am
I thought it was pretty cool myself. I would normally have thought I would say that he should have even had his first shot thrown up in the stands (wouldnt be “jawing” though) as this was not a special olympics game, but a real basketball game! But I was wrong this time and can admit it as I watched the video and seen not only the joy of the kid, but the other players and the people in the stands. All of them obviously loved it. I must have gotten soft in old age but THIS time it was one really cool moment.
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