Rudy

One of my all-time favorite Sports Movies is Rudy. I was lucky enough to recently acquire a copy of this movie. As with my other favorite sports movies, Rudy is about much more than sports, or football in this case. It is based on a true story of one kid's dream to attend and play football for Notre Dame, the mecca of College Football. From his youth he tells people of this dream and is consistently told he couldn't do it. Rudy sets out to prove them wrong by leaving home and moving to South Bend. Acquiring the dream of attending Notre Dame is only the first hurdle in his quest to play for Notre Dame. This movie has taken on a completely different meaning for me after completing college and understanding the difficulties that come with being a student. Rudy is a good clean movie that everyone in the family can learn a life lesson from.

6 Days til London

I can hardly wait for the London Olympics to start. I think of all that has happened over the past four years of my life and can't imagine all of the work and preparation the athletes have been put through during that time frame. Their are always great stories that come from the games. Michael Phelps captured our hearts in Beijing. Who can forget Ali lighting the torch in Atlanta? Surely their will be new stories to come over the next few weeks. The Olympics have already begun in a way as we know who will and won't be competing. I was devastated that Rafael Nadal will be out due to injury. He was set the carry the Spanish flag in the Opening Ceremonies and will be watching instead of participating now.

Over the past week I have come across two stories that have caught my attention. The first athlete I want to highlight is Gabby Douglas. Her remarkable story was displayed on this weeks edition of Rock Center. It tells of her stuggles and dedication to gymnastics. To view Gabby's story, click here. She is truly an inspiration and her genuine desire to win the gold medal is what the Olympics are about.

The other story is about Guor Marial. Marial is a native of Sudan who fled as a refugee and came to America. His story is one of great sacrifice. To read an article on Marial, click here. While it is unexpected that he medals in London, his story is an inspiration to all.

Sandusky Trial

While this blog mainly focuses on the positive things to be learned from Sports, I can't ignore those things that may cast a negative light on sports either. A few previous posts have centered on the tremor that forever shook Penn State last fall. Jerry Sandusky was accused of the most heinous crime. This past week, a jury made up of his peers found him guilty on forty-five counts related to child sex abuse. Watching this case was difficult for me, even though I was nowhere near the courtroom. I couldn't realize how such awful things could go on for so long and nobody knew about them. As much as I didn't want the accusations to be true, I wanted justice (as much as possible) to be served. The shadow over Happy Valley is large and may stick around for awhile. Accusations will continually be made about people not speaking up sooner or going directly to the police, but we should never forget that it was Jerry Sandusky that committed the heinous crimes.

Bryan Stow

For those that follow sports regularly, the story of Bryan Stow is one that shocked many when the baseball season began last year. He traveled to Los Angeles to see his beloved Giants take on the Dodgers to open the season. Following the game, he was beaten almost to death by others that clearly didn't understand the true meaning of sports. The Giants community has rallied and continues to rally for Bryan and his recovery. Before the start of each game, one person is selected to throw the ceremonial first pitch. This is a great honor to anyone that is invited to throw out the pitch. The San Francisco Giants stepped up big time and asked Bryan to throw out the first pitch on Opening Day. Due to injuries that he had sustained from the beating, he was not able to attend the game. The Giants did the next best thing and allowed his son, Tyler, the honor of throwing the pitch.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I look forward to this weekend every year. Most of America loves Super Bowl Sunday, me being one of them. However, their will always be a special place in my heart for Selection Sunday. Nothing is as nerve racking as sitting and patiently watching at waiting to see if your team will be selected to go to the Big Dance. For those lucky teams that have guaranteed their spot in the tournament with great seasons, tomorrow is all about finding out where they play. Other teams were smart enough to battle through the conference tournaments to guarantee their spots in the tourney. Then their are those others, that had a great season, didn't win their Conference Tournament, and have to spend their day waiting and contemplating for the nearly hour long show to see if they made the cut.

Selection Sunday is a great day! The day shows why the Big Dance will always be more fair than the corrupt BCS. To me it is one of the most wonderful times of the year, when 68 teams get to battle head-to-head until 1 team is left standing on April 2, earning the title of 2012 Men's College Basketball Champions!

Real Fans

Real Fans don't boo at their team or the opposing team. They never throw items in the arena and especially not onto the court or field. While true fans can create a raucous environment, chants and cheers should never be hateful or derogatory towards someones lifestyle or beliefs. Last week, the students at Gonzaga University decided to take a stand. They started a "Take the Hate out of Hoops" campaign. This was started in response to other students promising to show up to a game and making derogatory chants and showing up in attire to mock the opposing team. The "Take the Hate out of Hoops" campaign is a great movement that Gonzaga Students have started. I hope that it is something that will continue to spread throughout the country and Sportsmanship will begin to dominate hate.

Sports movie of the month

I am a little bit behind from when I planned to release this post. February is the month of the Winter Olympics and I chose the movie 'Miracle' to focus on this month. The movie is all about the 1980 US Hockey Team and their miracle run to the Gold Medal in Lake Placid, New York. The story line follows the life of their coach Herb Brooks. The movie begins with him being interviewed for the head coaching job, team tryouts, practices, exhibition games, and then the Olympics. What really makes the story so powerful is the political climate that surrounded the games. The United States and the Soviet Union were in the midst of the Cold War. Many people thought that nuclear war could start at any moment. Prior to the Olympics, Team USA host the USSR in an exhibition at Madison Square Garden. The Soviets dominated the Americans, a huge embarassment on our home ice just prior to the games. The great thing about this story is that any team can win any game on any given day. It is a great month to watch 'Miracle' if you haven't yet this year.