Sports Tales to Remember
My idea of multi-tasking at home consists of trying to watch the television while I read. I was just now on the internet when it occurred to me that there might be a ballgame playing. As I waited for a page to load, I turned to ESPN and found the NBA game between Detroit and Indianapolis, the last game between these two is now famous for the brawl that ensued. The page I had called up is titled, Tales from the past prove sports don't have to be ugly, coinicidence?
Among the stories C. Ray Hill tells is the one about how one human did a decent thing, he treated another man humanely. An act that should not be so rare, and would not have been so noteworthy were it not for the indecent standards of that time.
In the sixth inning Reese calmly walked over to Robinson and put his hand on his teammate's shoulder. He spoke a few words. The crowd grew quiet. Perhaps the fans were trying to hear. Perhaps they were shamed into silence by such a simple act of decency.
As I am reading the stories, all worth knowing, I am aware that the game is being played cleanly, no fights, just good effort. In their way these men are writing another tale which Mr. Hill may wish to consider adding to future stories; they are doing an ordinary thing, playing fair and acting decent, made extraordinary by the contrast to how these teams played in their last meeting. Heroism has many faces, depending on the circumstances.
