"What is a lamp, you nincompoop? It's a Major Award. I won it!"

When Josh Sundquist was 9-years old, he was diagnosed with bone cancer and the doctors gave him a 50/50 chance to live, according to his website’s bio. Ultimately, he had his left leg amputated after a year of chemotherapy, and I don’t know about you folks, but I don’t know how an adult could deal with that, let alone a 10-year old kid. But when doctors informed Josh at age 13 that he was cancer-free, he decided that he wanted to be a skier. Not only that, he wanted to compete in ski racing, which just makes me feel like an ass for skipping the gym for the past two three four five every month.

And not only was he eventually named to the US Paralympic Ski Team, and not only did he compete at the 2006 Paralympics in Turino, Italy (he didn’t win any medals, but neither did you), and not only is he the only athlete in history to be named to the Paralympic Ski Team and the US Amputee Soccer Team, but he also has a hell of a sense of humor about everything. That’s why he’s a bestselling author, a national spokesman for the Combined Federal Campaign, and the winner of this year’s athlete Halloween costume contest.

Josh dressed up as the lamp from A Christmas Story, and yes, it’s as fantastic as it sounds.

Read the rest of this entry »

Remember how inspiring Oscar Pistorius was? Just keep focusing on that.

The 2012 Paralympic Games are 6 days away and it’s safe to say that Oscar Pistorius served as just a sampling of the incredible inspiration that everyone can feel from the fearless athletes who compete in each of the 21 sports featured at this year’s games. Pistorius, of course, will soon be the first ever disabled person to compete in both the Olympics and the Paralympics, and nobody can take that away from him with stupid arguments about any advantages his “bionic” legs may give him.

That’s why this next bit of news sucks.

Three members of the Jordanian Paralympic team accused of sex offences at a pre-Games training camp in Northern Ireland have been withdrawn from the event, an official said on Thursday. (Via Sport 24, H/T to Fark)

I’m going to need a sh*tload of Teamocil soon if I keep getting roped into these horrible stories about athletes that (allegedly) need to be shot into the sun.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Olympics are almost here, and that can only mean one thing — the guys from ‘Dude Perfect’ doing a bunch of trick shots and high-fiving each other like they always do, and also Olympians are there.

The latest effort from the crew features cameos and instructional segments from Olympic athletes Sean Melton, Dennis Bowsher, Giddeon Massie, Joshua Dixon, Katherine Fulp-Allen and Jake Herbert as well as the U.S. Bobsled Team and Paralympian Elizabeth Stone, so it’s more than just guys shooting front flip three-pointers … it’s guys shooting front flip three-pointers for America.

Aside from that front flip, the highlight of the video has to be the part where Dude perfectly bowls a basketball across a hilly rooftop and somehow manages to get it in the basket. I’m going to remember this the next time my stupid ass goes for a lay-up in front of nobody and misses the rim completely.

How can we get Trick Shots into the Olympics? That’s guaranteed U.S.A. gold.

[h/t Fourth-Place Medal]

I’d add 27-year old Japanese sprinter Maya Nakanishi to our list of Olympic athletes to watch, but she deserves on a list of her own. Firstly, Nakanishi is Paralympic athlete and is missing the lower half of her right leg. Secondly, she’s bankrolling a new prosthetic and a trip to this year’s London Paralympic Games by stripping down for a nude photo calendar. It’s beautiful, and a lot like that episode of ‘Saved By The Bell’ where Zack photographs the swim team to pimp the school store.

Via Mid-Day.com:

The calendar, with pictures taken by professional photographer Takao Ochi, shows an unclothed Nakanishi striking tasteful poses that ensure just enough of her body is covered.

Nakanishi said on her official blog she hoped people would enjoy the calendar.

“I don’t regret having become nude. I’m very happy that I was able to show Maya Nakanishi as I am.”

You should never regret having become nude.

To see if you’re very happy that she was able to show Maya Nakanishi as she is, click through and check out the pictures. I think it’s great. I also want to see her spin-kick people.

Read the rest of this entry »

Butch Lumpkin can play 18 holes of golf and break 80. He can play tennis. And he does all of this without having any functional arms. I have never felt lazier in my life.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s there were between ten and twenty thousand “Thalidomide Babies” born after their [mothers] took the drug to combat morning sickness. Butch Lumpkin is one of the approximately 5,000 survivors world-wide. Born with what he calls “short arms,” he really has what amounts to no functional arms at all. Three fingers extend from his left side in a flipper like manner, and his right arm ends before the elbow with three fingers that point backward toward his body. –ButchLumpkin.org

Lumpkin cited sports as the one forum where he could be treated equally by others, because “you don’t want to get beat by a man with no arms.” Nobody wants to get beat by a guy named Butch, either. The Golf Channel did a profile on him, but he also has a video of his own, which you can see after the jump. Thanks to @ShaneBacon for the heads-up.
Read the rest of this entry »

This is Aimee Mullins, who has done everything from working at the Pentagon while studying at Georgetown to modeling in London to working as an actor in film. I guess we’re calling them actors now. But anyway, you’re going to feel like an even lazier bastard when I tell you that Aimee has done all of these things with prosthetic legs.

Mullins was born with missing fibulae and had to endure double amputation just below the knee when she was just a year old. But that never stopped her from running track at Georgetown. Or from being a smoking hot piece of tail. And her carbon fiber legs that she uses to run? They cost over $15,000 a pop. That’s 15 large for each leg. That’s a couple of Toyotas. And you thought that necklace you were buying for your girlfriend for Christmas was pricey. Panda.