Yesterday, during a story about an 8-year old kid with cancer running in a touchdown for East Carolina University, we called for the worldwide spread of the “sports teams being nice to kids” meme. Today, two Virginia high schools have kept the allergies flowing.

Via YouTube:

Fairfax High School and Madison High School honored senior student Drew Bonner on April 22, 2013. Drew gets the ceremonial first at-bat.

Drew is in a wheelchair, but he hasn’t let that stop him from being a four-year varsity team manager, a braggart about his days skunking kids in Little League and a soon-to-be student at the University of Virginia on an academic scholarship. He also didn’t let the pitcher intimidate him in his ceremonial first-at-bat, as you can see in the clip below.

Read the rest of this entry »

…and that’s good enough for me. It’s great to know that these young women with money and every other material advantage in life could put forth such an effort. Don’t get me wrong, they’re dealing with true tragedy, but it’s not enough to make me care about women’s lacrosse. About the team now playing without her. The story of Yeardley Love’s murder is as gripping as an episode of “Law & Order” (and perhaps it soon will be). But following her team feels like something off of the Lifetime network. It’s like Miracle with ponytails, only nobody cares.

Again, I’m not trying to marginalize their loss. But following that team, to me and for the interests of this site, is not a national sports story. We’re more concerned about how the 22-year-old George Huguely was out of control and nobody knew about it. A young basketball recruit for Texas A&M died in a car accident over the weekend. Should we start following his team around, too?

What if they win the national championship? Does that help anyone? Does that lessen the tragedy at all? How can it? Does that tack an extra 10 years onto Huguely’s sentence? This horrible death probably hit a lot of people close to home. But we’ll have to proceed under the presumption that you, dear reader, were not one of them.

ASYLUM POLL: Is Too Much Made Of Tragedies Involving Obscure Athletes?

Img.

Details are coming out on the murder charge involving those two lacrosse players from Virginia. Yeardley Love was found dead in her own apartment and George Huguely, 22, of Chevy Chase, MD, was arrested and charged with first degree murder. His arraignment was earlier today.

[Huguely] told police he shook her and hit her head repeatedly against a wall, according to a court document in the case. An affidavit filed with a search warrant said police found Yeardley Love, 22, face down in her bedroom with a pool of blood on her pillow, a large bruise on her face and one eye swollen shut.

Police said the suspect, George Huguely, told them he had an altercation with Love and had kicked in her door. –Y! News.

Huguely had a prior record, having pled guilty to resisting arrest and public swearing and intoxication in 2009. Huguely’s douchebag lawyer actually had the balls to make this statement:

“We are confident that Ms. Love’s death was not intended, but an accident with a tragic outcome,” [Francis] Lawrence told reporters.

An accident? Locking your keys in the car is an accident. Spilling coffee down your shirt is an accident. I’m no expert, but mashing someone’s head repeatedly against a wall and leaving them in a pool of their own blood does not sound like the same thing. I would love to live in George Huguely’s world, where he thinks bullsh like that could possibly fly. Preferably someplace where there’s a wall handy.

Sad news out of Charlottesville, VA. One lacrosse player for the University of Virginia, 22-year-old Yeardley Love, was found dead in an apartment near campus. Another, George Huguely, has been charged with her murder.

George Huguely, 22, a fourth-year student from Chevy Chase, Md., is in the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, according to a statement from police.[..]

Officials haven’t determined a cause of death, but Love’s body, which was found at a 14th Street Northwest apartment, showed physical trauma, according to the statement.

Witnesses told police Huguely and Love had been in a relationship, according to authorities. –Charlottesville DP.

I think we’ve learned our lesson about jumping to conclusions about allegations made against lacrosse players. That’s just unreal. Maybe one of these days, something interesting will happen in lacrosse that doesn’t involve sexual assault or a dead body. That’s my wish for the world today. That, and free OREOs.

Here’s another solid video of a running back breaking into a defensive back’s house and drinking his milk straight from the carton. The offending party is Georgia Tech’s Jonathan Dwyer, and this defensive back from Virginia gets his business owned so badly that he doesn’t even deserve a name anymore. How has Virginia been so terrible for so long? It probably has something to do with the fact that Charlottesville is so desolate, you have to drive for an hour before you even get to Nowhere. That’s great if you’re a reclusive former president. Not so much if you’re an 18-year-old kid looking to get his junk wet on the weekend.

Helmet sticker goes to Taylor for sending this in.

Virginia football coach Al Groh, fighting for his job after two 5-7 seasons in three years, fired his offensive coordinator/son Mike Groh and two other assistants this weekend.  The younger Groh will presumably keep the latter title, unless he doesn’t RAKE THE GODDAM YARD LIKE HIS MOTHER ASKED.

Loved by most players and an easy target for the fan base, Mike Groh’s departure ends a three-year run that provided limited success. Over the past three seasons, the Cavaliers’ offense failed to crack the top 100 in total offense.

Oh, that’s not so bad.  Just the bottom sixth of all D-1 football for three straight years.  They were probably just having some GROH-ing pains.  Huh?  Huh?  Anyone?  Is this thing on?

[SbB]