MarcO Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 ok, so I'm sure by now a lot of people know about this but I'm going to post this anyway. Here's a story that, when I saw it on the news last night, really brought a few tears to my eye. The scenario: Rochester high school basketball team is comfortably leading in their game. With 4 minutes left to go, the coach decides to put Senior student and Team Manager Jason McElwain onto the court so he can get a team jersey (you have to play to get the jersey). This was a magnanimous gesture, as Jason suffers from Autism. So what happens next? HE SCORES 20 POINTS IN FOUR MINUTES - HE GETS 6 OUT 10 3-POINT SHOTS!!!!!. PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS CAN'T DO THAT! He blew his entire school's mind. Blew them right away. The coach was crying, his Mom never saw anything like it from him, his teammates were totally flabbergasted, the other team equally so. At the end people just instinctively rushed down from the stands to carry him on their shoulders. Here's some video on it. Unbelievable. Check this out and have a great weekend, folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cully Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 what an amazing story... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWeeJig Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 That's great. Now that's a new story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingstoned Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 WOW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Im going home Donny Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 man...you people keep making me cry lately sweet story...hadn't heard about it...I stopped reading the local paper and barely watch t.v. anymore....Thanks for telling....sweet legumes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey Boy 2.0 Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 i'll bet the coach was sorry that he hadn't been playing him all year long... all four years long too, maybe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 I want to see the after-game locker room film...of the other team...Aloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey Boy 2.0 Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 that's your reply to every sports thread, bradley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questcequecest? Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 awww, and the news reporter calls him J-MAC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guigsy Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 autism... arent austistic people usually really good with math? i remember an austistic kid coming into a hiking store i used to work at and the guy could throw numbers around like nobody's business... i wonder if he has this very acute sense of measurement, ie: distance to hoop, height, arc, speed, etc... or maybe he's just a superduperstar who finally got his chance... either way, great story.. made me think of my dad and a story he used to tell of a softball team he coached and a kid with a double jointed wrist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 No, they're not usually good at math, but some are.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutismAloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Heard about this on the radio this morning but the video really brings it home. Thanks! I love stories like this. Who's gonna be first to buy the film rights? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guigsy Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 No, they're not usually good at math, but some are.so, maybe this one was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Well, if you're thinking of an autistic person as was portrayed in "Rain Man", it's really arithmetic they're good at. Getting a basketball through the hoop from behind the 3-point line isn't done with either arithmetic or mathematics, it's done with estimation*, repetition (trial and error leading to skill), and sometimes luck.My guess is that the kid had probably done a lot of solo shooting of hoops in the playground (and/or driveway at home), and developed a good level of skill; add in some luck and exuberance of the moment, and he nailed the shots. (In no way do I want to diminish his accomplishment; what he did was astounding, and inspirational.)Aloha,Brad* Consider how little computation/calculation you do when figuring out if you can get across a street safely when there's a car approaching: even from a good distance away, and with a very short-duration look at the car to see how fast it's travelling, and without knowing the exact width of the street, you instinctively know whether you can beat it or, and/or whether you have to run or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guigsy Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Kent St. University once did a study on how baseball players catch fly balls. you'd be surprised how much subconscious arithmatic goes into it - pythagorean theorem and whatnot - im sure the same principle could be applied to shooting a ball into a hoop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairySari Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 im sure the same principle could be applied to shooting a ball into a hoop. it sure can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooly Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 sweet story, ive lived nextdoor to 2 autistic guys in my life, both siblings of friends next door, where i used to live on E 16th, my buddys older bro was autistic, i remember one day i was sitting in my room junking on the xbox and burning one, i turn around and there he is, little rascal just walked into the house and into my room. just standin there lookin at me. he was almost all there but not quite, he loved grabbing girls boobs that came over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 My guess is that the kid had probably done a lot of solo shooting of hoops in the playground (and/or driveway at home), and developed a good level of skill; add in some luck and exuberance of the moment, and he nailed the shots. (In no way do I want to diminish his accomplishment; what he did was astounding, and inspirational.)Guy on the radio has a son with autism. One possible explanation he put forth was an autistic person's ability to have incredible focus in the moment.Apart from the feel-good aspect, stories like this also blow my mind with how they expose the untapped potential of the human brain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey Boy 2.0 Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 ...one day i was sitting in my room junking on the xbox and burning one, i turn around and there he is, little rascal just walked into the house and into my room. just standin there lookin at me. he was almost all there but not quite, he loved grabbing girls boobs that came over. sounds like booche Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcO Posted February 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 I think half the story here for me is the impact this inspirational story must have had on the school in general. As jazzed as I was to see him make the shots, I was just as blown away watching everyone else being.... well, blown away!High School is such a insulated community, this must still be reverberating through the hearts and minds of those students and teachers. What a gift to them all this kid is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooly Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 I think half the story here for me is the impact this inspirational story must have had on the school in general. As jazzed as I was to see him make the shots, I was just as blown away watching everyone else being.... well, blown away!High School is such a insulated community, this must still be reverberating through the hearts and minds of those students and teachers. What a gift to them all this kid is.HERE HERE!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booche Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 You're my hoop hero MarcO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 You're my hoop hero MarcO. I thought you two had more of a pitching/catching thing going on.Aloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guigsy Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 i just got a chance to watch the youtube video that esau posted... wow... what a feel good moment! fuck, i was getting shivers and grinning like crazy... thats a great moment that'll live with everyone in that room for the rest of their lives... awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 That's just, well, retarded.Seriously though I was in tears just from reading MarcO's description and I haven't even seen the video. Where's the youtube link? It does make you think about that sort of loose talk though doesn't it. From the way you're all talking about him I don't get the sense he's a full on savant although this is very much a savant-like episode. I think it comes down to the concentration ability and again what's been said, the exuberance of the moment and natural skill. Having not watched the clip I don't know if he has Down Syndrome or not, appreciating what it means to be autistic in the absence of say Down is difficult for most I think. I know that they struggle with too much stimulus and certain types of social interaction, definitely affecting cognition and learning. It is no surprise that historically the idiot or idiot savant, mad, retarded, leper, what are called 'masts' (the god-intoxicated), has borne a sort of double mark acting both as outcast and as redeemer for the community. The 'touched' were always seen as closer to god. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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