It sounds though more like they were just keeping things in line with how he regularly trained. He’s there for every practice, and for every practice he gets to run the ball to the end zone with minimal, but some interference that he has to work around.
So I’m not even sure I’d say it was really all that deceitful, he did exactly what he was trained to do, which is run the ball to the end zone for the last play, with the added bonus that this time it was a real game, so they got some inconsequential points. He may not be totally clueless about what was going on, and he probably would have been really excited either way.
Man, I glazed over that part the first time around. The link on that sentence reveals that you’re exactly right. It does sound like he understands exactly what’s going on. Gah, I hate being wrong.
Yeah, from that link he does get to play defensively in real games if the team is either winning by a lot or losing by a lot. They just set up the plays to move away from him so he won’t get hurt. And he did get clocked pretty badly in a game on at least one occasion playing defensive end.
Yeah. What got me was that the article made it seem like when they call for Ike he understands completely that practice is over and it’s “Pretend Football Time.” That I’m fine with. Taken in isolation the touchdown play seemed like a big orchestrated lie to me, but since it happens all the time I get the feeling that Ike knows it’s not real. And therein goes my objection.
As a young adult I had a friend who made it his job to teach me chess. His method involved seeing just exactly how few moves it would take him to checkmate me. After about five games I quit. All I had learned was what a competitive jerk he was. Shark, you’re a good egg!
Great video. I have been the coach on the other side in a soccer match where we let the other team score on us thanks to the dribbling of their special needs player. Were my guys some of the worst actors this side of Keanue Reeves? Yup. Did the special needs kid have the biggest damned grin on his face after the score, and after the high-5s between teams and the end of the match? Yup. Do I remember that game more than most? Yup.
Good on them. Nice to see sportsmanship still exists out there in the land of over-competitive parents, helicopter parents, and people training their 5 year old for the Olympics.
Oh for god’s sake, he’s not going to wake up one day and not have Down’s Syndrome and think back to that football game and be really irritated that everybody let him think he scored a competitive touchdown. Of course there’s an intelligence gap. It’s not insensitive to make him feel good by creating a fantasy. What do you think Santa Claus is? A fantasy created for people with an “intelligence gap” from adults to make them feel good.
But what if Halle says she thinks you’re great, whilst sniggering behind her hands to all her mates? Not so good. Which from the position of not being this kid, that how it seems. But it probably doesn’t to him, which is a little mental hurdle you have to get over.
Why do you think his teammates are laughing at him?
ETA: In any school I’ve been to with disabled students, they were always thought of highly. I cannot imagine that his teammates are secretly laughing that the Down’s Syndrome kid thinks he scored a touchdown. Either you’ve never gone to school with disabled students or you’ve never been on a team sport before.
These high school boys really impress me, and “Rudy” impresses me as well, because he had something going for him to make everyone feel good about this unusual event.
Hell, even if I knew my touchdown was a 100% farce, I’d still feel overwhelmed that all 100+ people on the field all conspired to do something nice for me.
Well, I don’t have a fast internet connection and couldn’t watch any video or read any story, but my gut reaction is this kind of shit is WRONG WRONG WRONG!
That’s not the case at all. The kid goes to every practice with the team, where he knows that his job is to run the ball into the endzone for the last play of the day, complete with celebratory dance. He and his team rehearse his role every single practice. When the score is right in a real game, he gets to play his part in the real game, in front of a real crowd, which is way cooler for everyone.
So it’s not like they’re tricking him, he’s doing the job he’s practiced over and over again.
And remember, when the score is seriously skewed the other way, they let him actually play for real, in the defensive line, after warning the other team not to accidentally kill him.
Hyperbole. In the other article link to the the OP’s article, his parents say he really can’t defend himself and he’s only 5’5". So when they let him play defensive end, they let the other team know he’s on the field, then set up a play that will move away from him, so he’s not really in the line of fire and less likely to get hurt.
The other story said there was one time the other team’s guy didn’t know who he was and hit him full on sending him flying back about 6 feet. But he got up and kept playing. ETA: So I guess, yeah. If he’s actually incapable of properly protecting himself while blocking, he’s more likely to get killed than the average player.
Are there any examples of students with Down’s Syndrome playing high school football for real? To be honest I’m not really familiar with the physical symptoms of the conditions and I don’t know how difficult it would make it to take part in a contact sport.
As to the OP, I can admire the sentiment, at least.
When I was much younger, and competing in judo, I was once matched against another guy who was mentally retarded. I wanted to win, but I didn’t want to take advantage of someone. But in a one-on-one situation you can’t really “take it easy” on your opponent or let him score. I wound up treating him like any other opponent - I didn’t hurt him, but I didn’t ease off any. He seemed to have only one attack, he tried it on me, and I was ready for it and won with a counter.
Practice would have been different. There is a fairly strong expectation (at least in our dojo) that in randori with a weaker partner, you don’t go all out - you practice stuff you are less strong in, and give the other guy a chance once in a while.
Maybe “let the kid win one” is different in a training situation. But it didn’t hurt anyone in this case. Didn’t cost much, either, which might be another part of it.