Since March Madness is almost full-swing…

My brother said to me over Christmas - LeBron James is coming to New York…so you gotta finally start watching basketball…Got it! But…errr…haven’t started, yet. This link below from ESPN however is the sweetest sports story I’ve seen in a year, and has been blasting all over the internet for quite a while. Meet Jason McElwain:

Thanks for sending, Brie! Oh, and I DID catch a game with Le Bron…i think…is he the tall one?

Over the weekend I went to a Ranger game. It was a great game as they demolished the Colorado Avalanche. There was however an added bonus to this great game. During the intermission we got to see some local team play hockey. Nothing out of the ordinary that kind of thing happens at NHL games except that these guys were all paraplegic except for one, who was an amputee.

In Sled Hockey also know as Sledge Hockey (more EXTREME!@!! I guess) the players are sitting in a sled with their legs in front of them. They propel themselves forward using two small hockey sticks with picks at the butt-ends of them. Yes, it did seem out of the ordinary, but it also seemed like a lot of fun. Some of these guys were really good too, hands down better than me at shooting the puck.
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More Olympic news: BMX is the new sport this year!

That should make anyone that saw The Dirt Bike Kid movie from the 80s incredibly happy. And if you havent, check out this awesome description from IMDB.com:

“When his mother sends Jack off with money to buy groceries, he comes home with a magic supercharged dirt bike instead. His mother is furious, but when Jack uses the magic bike to save the local hot dog stand from the clutches of corrupt big business, he becomes the town hero.”

AWESOME.

And if you want to know more stuff about the sport:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMX

Other Olympic news, and then I will stop (for today): Today the IOC voted to eliminate Softball and Baseball from the games after Beijing. They could be back in 2016. Good News? Up to you.

Morgan Freeman (who is definitely not having a good week) lent his voice to an Olympic commercial for VISA: the tag line reminded us that all those athletes that accomplish incredible things are human, and we are human too.

Well, that’s just biology.

Natalie Du Toit may be human, but (and I don’t mean this to sound cheesy) she is a far superior human than the rest of us.

The South African swimmer is the first amputee to qualify for the regular Olympics. Seven years ago, a scooter accident caused her to lose her leg, above the knee. A year before that, she just missed qualifying for the Sydney Olympics. Clearly, the accident could not stop her. To get to Beijing, she finished fourth (!) at the 10K World Open-Water Swimming Championships. Since she swims without a prosthetic leg, her qualification caused no outcry.

I can barely swim in the ocean with both legs, both arms, and a couple of floatation devices; to make it 10K would require a jet ski.

Her event, the 10K Open-Water race is on August 20.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/swimming/2299269/Dreams-carry-Natalie-Du-Toit-to-Beijing.html