The media is forever being portrayed as seeking out bad news and letting all the good deeds by athletes go either under-reported or totally ignored.
Therefore, this space today is devoted to nothing but positive short stories about athletes and teams. We’ll even skip the Detroit Tigers, since so much has already been made of their going from 119 losses to the World Series in three years.
The names are Tiki and Ronde Barber, Chris Coste and Kent State football, and their stories are nothing short of inspiring.
Football fans know all about the Barber twins. They are not just outstanding football players. They are better individuals. Just ask folks around the University of Virginia, from where they graduated.
During the bye week shared by the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Barbers went “back to school.” Only this time, it wasn’t as students. They combined to donate $1 million to their alma mater and challenged other alums to do the same.
In this day of the spoiled, pampered athlete, the Barbers stand out as individuals giving something back, as putting their money where their mouth is. And that is cause for applause.
Only hard-core baseball fans or Fantasy League members know the name Chris Coste. After all, before this year he carried around the tag “minor league vagabond.”
No more. Coste made it to the Phillies in May only because starting catcher Mike Lieberthal was on the disabled list, and second string catcher Sal Fasano was eventually traded. Still, who could expect a 33-year-old who had kicked around the minors for 12 years to make it in the bigs. Starting 0 for 13 wasn’t lucky. Or was it?
Shortly thereafter, the line drives began falling. Coste finished with a team-leading .328 batting average and was honored by the Philadelphia Chapter of Baseball Writers Association of America as the most inspirational achievement of a player during the 2006 season.
Walter Mitty lives.
And then there’s Kent State. Hard to believe the Golden Flashes have endured six double-digit losing streaks in the last 30 years, including one that extended into this season. After dropping nine in a row to end 2005 and opening with a 44-0 loss to Minnesota, the Flashes have been, well, golden.
Kent State has won five straight, leads the Mid-American Conference East Division and is suddenly looking like a team that may go to its first bowl game in, yikes, 34 years. Hey anything is possible.
Yeah, even a sports columnist who writes at least for one day about nothing but good news.
