My visit to St. Andrew's

It took me a while to figure out what exactly I wanted to blog about our classes recent trip to St. Andrew's Clinic in Nogales, AZ. I wanted to relate the post directly to sports but I did not get any stories on any of the patients playing a sport that they love.

So this week I was contemplating my actions for this blog and thought about simply, "why not them." A lot of the patients that graced the sanctuary and halls of St. Andrews have disabilities that range from them not being able to walk with ease or even have a decent conversations.

A lot of times, people put others with disabilities off as a lost cause instead of seeing them as an equal. This reminds me of an episode of Family Guy which has its very offensive moments on the show such as this one.



To think that people even think like this should not come as a surprise to anyone, after all Family Guy only says out loud what most people are thinking anyway. But no one should be treated like this.

People who have disabilities in most cases can overcome those odds to do whatever they want to, including sports. I stumbled across this great article that shares some of the best athletes who had to overcome a disability.

The give their list of the top seven athletes with disabilities and it goes to show that anything is possible. I met young..., seven years old, who recently had surgery on his cleft palate and is learning to say words in Spanish that have a "T" sound with it.

He still has the ability to run, catch, throw like the best of them. We'll have to see what happens.

Here's to the future and to not forget to Believe...

America's Sports Step Child

Beyond Football, Basketball, Baseball and Hockey there are other sports that grace America's heartland.

Nascar is big and one of the biggest races of the year happened this past weekend in Phoenix. Golf is only interesting when Tiger Woods is in a Tournament but when he is, all eyes on him.

Other smaller sports like Tennis for instance will be watched by your average sports fan but only at certain times of the year. But perhaps the most interesting thing about American sports is that the most popular sport outside of the U.S., has no reign on American soil.

Futbol, or Soccer as we like to call it here in American plays fifth fiddle to all of the other major sports. The rest of the world adores the sport, treat the players like royalty and if they lose, spite them for ever living in the first place.

But here in America, Soccer has no such place in the hierarchy of athletic excellence. The MLS, or Major League Soccer, has tried it's absolute hardest to bring the culture of futbol to the states and so far has only made a little splash.

I bring this blog up because MLS is currently in the playoffs and its coming down to the wire but still if you ask the avid ESPN watcher, such as myself, who is in the playoffs then you would get the answer of "D.C. United" or "L.A. Galaxy" because those are the only teams that anyone really knows about.

Like Hockey, Soccer is the only sport that can bring people from other countries into the states like clockwork. Perhaps what may get Americans excited about soccer is if some of the big names would come and showcase thier talents. Not going to happen.

David Beckam tried to make some noise but the attention around the situation only lasted about 15 minutes.

Juan Pablo Angel is a great player for the New York Red Bulls and the Columbian born player is one of the many stars of the league. He was also the MVP of the 2007 MLS all star game.

Another player is Jaime Moreno, a Bolivian born player playing for those famous D.C. United. He has scored a total of 112 goals for the United in 10 years of service.

But these names are not enough to take our attention away from the Lebron James of the world, or the Kobe Bryant's. What would you do if you were GM?