I just happen to come across this news story from the Little League World Series. After a scary incident of being hit by a pitch in the head, the uninjured batter takes first base. But the pitcher is understandably shaken up as well. So the baserunner heads to the pitchers mound to comfort and support the pitcher. Good stuff.
So, what other examples of good sportsmanship have you seen?
In an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers in which the Warriors were just crushing the Lakers, Steph Curry drained a three-pointer from another ZIP code with Kobe Bryant in his face, and Kobe smiled broadly and gave him a pat on the ass. Greatness recognizing greatness.
In a softball match, one player hits a home run (sending in two colleagues already on base as well.) But the batter (in her excitement) fails to touch first base on her way round. She turns back - but seriously injures herself.
The batter is now lying helpless on first base and she will not score her own deserved home run.
The umpire explains under softball rule that her teammates cannot help.
So two members of the opposition carry the injured player round the bases, gently lowering her to touch each base in turn.
(As a follow-up, all three players deservedly were rewarded. The three ballplayers appeared on Inside Edition, The Early Show, ESPN SportsCenter, and the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Ellen rewarded them all by sending them to a resort in Florida to relax and reminisce. The group continued to travel. They were invited to sit on the field during the 2008 MLB home run derby. During the ESPY Awards, all three were honored with the Best Moment in Sports ESPY Award for 2008.)
My son plays tennis competitively. Not at a high level, but real matches that count towards USTA junior standings.
So, one match he was playing was close. And he broke the string on his racket. No big deal, he pulled out another. The match continued. Then he broke the string on his other racket. And that was it; he was going to have to forfeit. Except his opponent didn’t want to get a win that way and lent my son a racket to finish the match. My son ended up losing the match, but his opponent got the satisfaction of winning a completed match.
That gave me an idea - I set up a business supplying emergency equipment to unlucky players. Of course I would charge unfairly high prices - so it would be a racket.
Oops. Well anyway this must be 20-odd years ago in the Premier League. Essentially, he caught the ball instead of trying to score when the opposition goalkeeper had injured himself. I think he won a fair play award for it. What made it even more surprising was he had (and still has to be honest) a reputation for being, let’s just say a bit of a hot head. He was banned earlier in his career for several games after pushing over a referee, albeit the ref’s tumble was pretty comical.