The St. Louis Sports Commission is seeking nominees for its annual Good Sport Award to be presented during the AT&T national Sportsmanship Awards in St. Louis on June 5.
Candidates for the award should be nominated for a specific extraordinary act of sportsmanship that occurred during the last 12 months. Nominees whose overall approach, both on and off the field, will be considered.
The award is open to athletes between the ages of 8 and 18 in the greater St. Louis region.
To nominate a candidate, go to www.nationalsportsmanshipawards.com and click on the “Nominate a Good Sport” icon.
Nominations can also be mailed to the St. Louis Sports Commission, 701 Convention Plaza, Suite, 300, St. Louis, 63101.
All nominations must be submitted or post-marked by Thursday May 15.
While the commission is searching for local nominations, the national sportsmanship award for 2008 is a no-brainer.
Western Oregon and Central Washington universities were playing a NCAA Division II women’s softball header at Central Washington’s stadium
With the score tied 0-0 in the second inning of the second game, Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky strolled to the plate with two runners on.
She promptly swatted her first home run of not only the season, but also her four-tear career.
As the ball sailed over the outfield wall, Tucholsky’s exuberance got the best of her. She jumped for joy, but missed first base.
As she ran back to tag it, Tucholsky’s right knee popped and she collapsed.
She crawled back to first base and writhed in agony.
If her Western Oregon teammates assisted her, she would be out and she would be credited with just a single.
But Central Washington senior first baseman Mallory Holtman asked the umpire if her teammates could assist their fallen opponent. With approval of the umpire and apparently the rulebook, Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace lifted Tucholsky up and carried her around the bases. At each base, they stopped and Tucholsky tapped the base with one foot.
Once to home, the women handed Tucholsky to her awaiting teammates.
Western Oregon won 4-2. But this gleaming example of sportsmanship far outweighs the score.
No excuses for NCAA report
The heartwarming softball story that played out at Central Washington is college sports at its highest.
But the reality is that the NCAA is falling short of its responsibilities in many ways.
Here’s the latest and most damning.
An alarming 99 teams at 65 different Division I schools will be subject to scholarship reductions because of poor academic performance.
So declares the NCAA’s second annual academic progress rate (APR) report.
Of the 99 teams affected, 90 were in men’s sports. Is that a surprise?
These included 23 in football, 21 in baseball and 17 in men’s basketball. So much for baseball being the thinking man’s game.
NCAA President Myles Brand is thrilled that the 99 programs are less than 2 percent of the 6,112 total sports teams that compete in Division I.
But there is a catch. Myles and gang cooked the books this year. And guess who benefited? If you said the major universities and major conferences you would be correct.
Last year’s initial APR report pegged a staggering 350 teams at risk of incurring penalties.
Some programs escaped sanctions because of “adjustments for squad size,” which will be gradually phased out over the next three years.
Others got waivers based on “institutional mission” or other “extenuating circumstances.”