Posted on 09/03/2017 12:45:07 PM PDT by Hojczyk
Turns out, USC’s blind long snapper saw it better than anyone.
“There’s a beauty in it,” Olson said, still sweating through his uniform early Saturday evening. “If you can’t see how God works things out, then I think you’re the blind one.”
The beauty washed over the overheated Coliseum with barely three minutes left Saturday in USC’s 49-31 victory over Western Michigan. Eight years after the USC football program adopted him after he lost both of his eyes to retinoblastoma, a rare form of cancer, and three years after he joined the team as a walk-on, Olson snapped the ball in an official game for the first time. junior from Huntington Beach nailed it.
Before the Trojans’ extra-point try, he called his defensive players together and gave them an impromptu speech that could serve as a manual for sportsmanship.
“I told them the entire situation and said, ‘You can’t touch him, you can’t yell at him, everybody get down so it looks like a football play but nobody move,’” Lester recalled. “I told them, ‘What we’re about to do is bigger than the game. This is about what kind of people we want to be, what we represent; this is bigger than us.’”
And what did they say?
“They said, ‘Yes sir.’”
it was an amazing moment, everything great about sports emerging from this afternoon of pain and sweat, Helton and Lester shining like true leaders, the Trojans and Broncos acting like real men.
“I commend and thank coach Lester and entire Western Michigan family for giving us this honor,” Helton said. “That’s a first-class organization.”
In the stands, Jake Olson’s family screamed.
“It’s surreal, it’s absolutely surreal,” his father Brian said.
On the field, their son completed this circle of renewed life that USC has helped him discover.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Blind golfer on the PGA Tour? Seriously? LOL.
Please. Why don't we all line up at the coach's office at USC for our participation medals now.
It wasn’t a staged play. He made a perfect snap, something you couldn’t do with both eyes and no defense are all. It was PAT, not a field goal. There is nothing a defense can do to legally interfere with the snap. The rest was keeping a defenseless player from getting blasted. Are you really this big of an ass?
Being a long snapper involves both snapping and blocking. In high school he might have been good enough at both skills. That an agreement had to be reached between the coaches shows that he wasn’t good enough at one of them for this level. I”m with Alberta.
Asses run in packs I guess.
With no rush, the snap didn’t need to be particularly perfect, as any miscue could be dealt with. The agreement was primarily arranged to ensure that the kicker wasn’t given a less than optimal situation—he would be the one that was left less defended than normal.
I’d be a lot more inspired if the kick wasn’t essentially staged.
Of course it was staged. Go back to my first post on the thread to see how the coaches coordinated it. If it wasn’t staged then they wouldn’t need to do that.
I liked Rudy...from my hometown.
This reminds me of a story I vaguely remember from one of the Winter Olympics in recent decades, where a legendary Norwegian cross-country skier was competing late in his career for what would have been a record for the most gold medals in cross country skiing.
Another young skier from Norway was leading the race, but then slowed down a bit late in the race as the older guy skied up behind him and nearly caught up to him. After skiing close together for a while, the young guy eventually put on a burst of speed and won the race.
The young skier said later that he wanted to let his elder countryman pass him so he could get his record-breaking gold medal. When the older guy skied up behind him, he sensed that this was exactly what the kid was doing. According to one of the accounts I read, the young guy started his winning sprint after the older guy scolded him for slacking off and threatened to kick his @ss right there on the course if he caught up to him. LOL.
Did the kid make the snap, or did he not? Have you ever done it? Have you ever put on pads and played football at any level?
Should Nebraska not have let Jack Hoffman suit up and score a touchdown in their spring game? Now THAT was a staged play.
Should the Rams have not signed Eric Dickerson to a one day contract so he could officially retire as a Ram, even though there’s no way he could make the team? Should the Celtics have not done the same with Paul Pierce?
It was also a game that didn't count for anything, wasn't it?
Should the Rams have not signed Eric Dickerson to a one day contract so he could officially retire as a Ram, even though there’s no way he could make the team? Should the Celtics have not done the same with Paul Pierce?
Those are ceremonial signings that are no different than a team retiring a player's uniform number. Those players didn't suit up and go out on the field to play, did they? Could you imagine the Rams finding some guy in his 90s who played for them decades ago ... and then had him suit up and run one play on Monday Night Football just to make him feel awesome? It would be a farce and a joke, wouldn't it?
So it’s OK to honor someone even though they’re not good enough anymore as long as it fits your judgment, is that it?
I’ve never been a football player. I play hockey, and if some blind guy showed up at one of our men’s league games I would laugh it off as a joke.
Honestly, I must say that every person I've ever known who had any kind of disability went to great lengths to make sure other people treated him just like everyone else. I believe every one of them would have been appalled at the thought of going out there at a competitive event and taking part in what they'd rightly consider a side show.
Signing a contract offer is an official, legally binding act. In these two cases they were offered to the players simply to allow them to retire with one franchise or another. In essence, circumventing the rules. Their ability to play the game had long since passed, which was your criteria initially on why this play was so objectionable.
Everything I have read or seen of Jake Olson shows that he did not ask for any special treatment. If his teammates asked the other team to lay off a bit, that’s there doing, not his. You are making yourself look very small by continuing to pee in the punch bowl, but I’ve come to expect that sort of thing from you anyway.
“So on Thursday, Helton called Lester and offered to make a most unique deal. The Trojans would not rush the Broncos’ first extra-point attempt if the Broncos would not rush an extra-point attempt involving Olson.
“Coach Helton told me what the kid meant to the team, I told him we’d be happy to be part of it,” Lester said.
So, indeed, after Western Michigan scored its first touchdown on a four-yard run by Jamauri Bogan midway through the first quarter, even though the extra point would tie the score at 7-7, the Trojans backed off.
“Sure enough, they didn’t rush our first extra point, they actually played a Cover 2 [defense],” Lester said. “That was the setup.”
From the article.
Everything I have read or seen of Jake Olson shows that he did not ask for any special treatment. If his teammates asked the other team to lay off a bit, that’s there doing, not his.
Right ... "Just don't try very hard. He's blind, so he won't know anyway." My heavens -- can we get any more pathetic and patronizing here? LOL.
I've never suggested that Olsen had anything to do with the whole thing. In fact, I have no criticism of him whatsoever. Go back to my original post on this thread. I thought it was a great story ... until I read the part about the coaches setting the whole thing up.
But first, he had to call Western Michigan coach Tim Lester and ask for his help. The Broncos needed to know that they might be facing a blind center so they could respond with the appropriate sensitivity. So on Thursday, Helton called Lester and offered to make a most unique deal. The Trojans would not rush the Broncos’ first extra-point attempt if the Broncos would not rush an extra-point attempt involving Olson.
It was a set up.
Thanks for holding fire until you were sure of your target!:-)
LOL. You’re welcome. :-)
It was not a set-up to those involved. I was there. You are in a distinct minority here.
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