True Sportsmanship

Once in a while I get tired of the myopic, sanctimonious belief in the ultimate community that it is somehow intrinsically superior to other sports. Don't get me wrong, I love ultimate with a passion that runs deeper than a cold Minnesota Winter invades Spring, but the sheer nature of ultimate does not invoke a greater spirit of sportsmanship than other sports.

In fact, in the last several months, I've been hearing sportsmanship stories far more compelling than anything that's happened in ultimate ever. Today in the Strib, there's a story of a girl whose opponents contributed to their own elimination of the playoffs by carrying her around the base pads after she hit her first career home run.

With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence.

But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.

She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch runner could be called in, and the homer would count as a single.

Then, members of the Central Washington University softball team stunned spectators by carrying Tucholsky around the bases Saturday so the three-run homer would count -- an act that contributed to their own elimination from the playoffs.

Now that's a story.

Anybody experienced anything like that at an ultimate tourney? I'm really curious.