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A Team With A Heart

It isn’t difficult to find negative stories in sports these days. It has become harder and harder to find a reason to watch professional sports without feeling guilty for supporting over-paid, pampered rich guys acting like spoiled rotten teenagers. Owners and managers aren’t much better – the current NFL labor strike is a perfect example, with each side arguing for a larger piece of the billion-dollar pie. And let’s not even mention Lebron James and the media frenzy around the Miami Heat.

Just when I’m ready to turn off sports and watch more bad ‘90s television reruns, the Texas Rangers draft Johnathan Taylor.

Johnathan Taylor, a promising outfielder from the University of Georgia, was drafted in the 33rd round of the 2011 MLB draft. This means that the young man will fulfill his dream of becoming a professional ball player. But Taylor will not become a spoiled, pampered athlete who thinks the world revolves around him, that much is for sure.

In March, Taylor suffered a neck injury when he collided with a teammate, Zach Cone, while running for a pop-fly. Taylor is paralyzed from the waist down, and will likely never walk again.

Why would the Rangers draft Taylor, who will never play an inning in the big leagues?

They did so as a kind gesture to both Taylor and Cone, who the Rangers drafted in the first round and is also Taylor’s best friend.

Taylor isn’t going to break the home-run record or become the next Derek Jeter, but he’s still a person who deserves to be treated fairly, or – perhaps as this story illustrates – better than fairly.

When I first heard this story, I wondered why this story is buried deep while everything Lebron does makes headlines. We need more good news, whether from sports or elsewhere, but we also need news agencies that focus on positive stories.

I’ve decided to quit listening to the typical stories given to me by the media outlets and instead look for stories like this, the good stories, that show the heart and character of people; stories that remain buried underneath the negative headline grabbing stories.

When I find them, be assured I’ll pass them along.

 

 

Short URL: http://osawatominews.com/?p=1321

Posted by admin on Jun 15 2011. Filed under Jeremy Gulley. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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