Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge And then, for every "Jackass" story....

...there's usually one o' THESE out there....

http://arkansasvarsity.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=992976

(ya see, there IS hope for our future, folks!!!)

What a great story!
Just when i think there's not much hope for the human race that seems to be endlessly rude, self-centered and just downright ignorant, a young man like this comes along and restores a spark of light.
Classy indeed.

Yeah... good story! That was a class act and an example that people are for the most part, pretty darn cool!!

Another great story you may have seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp2sQYsNpPs

That IS another great story there, Larry!

Ya know folks, I hate to sound too much like some kind o' "Shadetree Sociologist" here(and not to bring down the whole atmosphere of this positive-themed thread o' mine), but I find it "kind'a funny" that this thread has had only four responses to it since I posted it about 24 hours ago, as compared to Pat's[Dinqua] ill-fated "Kanye West" thread("ill-fated", read: deleted, due primarily to a certain socially-challenged individual among us) which started out as a funny(at least I thought it was funny) satire of a negative incident involving the socially-challenged rapper Mr. West, but which soon seemed to morph into primarily some serious and heated postings(and especially a few politically-themed rants from that "socially-challenged individual among us" I mentioned, which BTW seems to be a constant and re-occuring behavior pattern of his, doesn't it?!), and which seemed to grab a lot more of our collective attention AND a lot more responses within that same 24 hour time period than my positive-theme thread here has.

Hmmmmm.

And soooooo, as that "Shadetree Sociologist" here, I guess I can now see a little more how "human nature" works and how it seems the "train wrecks" or the negative news out there tends to hold the imagination and attention of people a little bit more than do the more uplifting stories we may run across.

(and please don't feel too personally indicted here my fellow BA.com members, because as I said, this tends to be "human nature" everywhere I suppose...ain't that a shame?!)

The negative stuff sells for sure and if it's not human nature to gravitate towards that stuff then it's conditioning on behalf of the media masterminds... or both. I think both. The uplifting stuff which IMHO far outweighs the negative stuff in this ol' world just doesn't seem to grab and/or keep our attention. But...

For the rush, buzz, hit, fix, or otherwise I'll take the positive stories over others. I tend to stay focused on that sort of thing in our world if for no other reason than to balance things from all the negativity around me. This is not to say I ignore the bad stuff... nope. Just that I don't indulge in it.

One thing I like about this here forum is the positive spin (for the most part) on relations. I asked Bill (who just visited and who's been with ba.com for a long time) if he felt this forum is exceptional (I have little experience with any other forum). He said, "you mean how nice everyone is?" "Yeah... that's it," I replied. His answer? "Yes, this place is exceptional."

So, we got a good vibe story happening right here. Maybe some M/C emag could do a story on this just to help fuel the positive side of life and living.

Originally I wasn't going to post in response to your thread. Mostly because I don't think it's a positive story. In my day playing football that would have been an insult to the opposing team. A high school team with that kind of lead and with any class would have given the 2nd team a chance to play. But that's just me, I'm old school. I can understand how one could see it as possitive though.

I did think Larry's story was possitive though.

Yep Mac, I can kind o' see your point here. Yep, I have to admit the first time I read this story the thought passed my mind that maybe running almost to the goalline and then droppin' a knee was almost in a way showin' off about "how much of a true sportsman he was".

But then, I started thinking about how the whole idea of sportsmanship, and often any signs of it, seems to be in short supply nowdays, and so I guess I ultimately felt something along the lines of the old saw that goes, "Thank God for small favors", and so then I once again felt it had a positive message to impart.

(in other words, in this day and age of lowered expectations, you gotta find some good out there any ol' way ya can, right?!)

RIGHT!

I don't buy it. Either story. It's a game. You play to win. If you love the game, you play your heart out, win or lose. Sure, there was a tragedy. You use that to motivate yourself. It's called adversity. Win or lose, you walk off the field knowing that you gave it everything you had or you didn't. And you live with that. And grow from that. Something about backing up and taking a knee offends me. It tells the other team "We kicked your ****** and we feel sorry for you."

There was another similar story recently about the final play of a football game where they let a player with Down's syndrome score a touchdown in a losing effort. They didn't let him play prior to that. What's the lesson learned? We pity you? It just doesn't sit right with me. Life's tough. Learn it and learn to deal with it.

Other than that, it is better reading than that jackass, Kanye West.

Hmmmm. Interesting Deon. Interesting that in this "tough life" we live in, that evidently you've been too busy "playin' your heart out" all these years, which must not have left you any time to learn the difference between the words "pity" and "compassion". Yep, they're close in meaning alright, BUT not quite the same when it comes right down to it, ya know.

'Cause I gotta tell ya here, I think what it told the other team was..."We kicked your *******, BUT we still have compassion for your plight."

Now, wouldn't you think that that line read THAT WAY would sound just a little more acceptable to all parties concerned? Yep! Even to the "tough guys" on the losing team???

(and no...I hope you realize that what I've just said here was MUCH MORE than just an exercise in semantics)