August 27, 2015
The Courage Game
SportsCenter (Sunday, 11 a.m. ET, ESPN)
ESPN.com (Sunday)
Ten years ago, ESPN profiled Andrew Goldstein, a Dartmouth College lacrosse goalie and the first openly gay male athlete to play in an American professional sport league. His story created an unlikely connection with a 12-year-old lacrosse player named Braeden who came out to his family and friends this spring. When Braeden was bullied by classmates, his father turned to the internet for help, finding ESPN’s story on Goldstein. A simple email paved the way for the first Courage Game, a lacrosse contest to encourage and support gay youth while promoting equality. Greg Garber, the reporter on ESPN’s 2005 story, also reports for this SC Featured piece on courage and healing through the power of sports.
“I would hope that some 14 or 15-year-old who, like me, goes home every night like I used to do and cries and worries about what’s going to happen, I would hope he would see it and say, oh, there is hope. There’s a life I can live and be myself.” – Andrew Goldstein, when asked 10 years ago by Greg Garber what he thinks people will think when seeing his story on ESPN.
“I felt like almost unstoppable, because I had so many people standing with me, and just making me feel like I’m back to normal. That I still fit in. I’m still the same person.” – Braeden Lange, on playing in the Courage Game.
“This is the first time that I’ve come out publicly and I think the Courage Game has really, as its name says, given me the courage to do that.” –Sam, Courage Game participant.
From Despair to Hope: How One National Guardswoman Reconciles Memories of Katrina
Major Ebony Carter was assigned to the Superdome during Hurricane Katrina, and now 10 years later, she’s used every bit of that time to find the courage to go back.
The Graduate Transfer Controversy
Outside the Lines (Thursday, 5:30 p.m., ESPN2)
Russell Wilson, Everett Golson and Vernon Adams – three quarterbacks who have something in common: they all got to play on a more prominent collegiate stage after earning undergraduate degrees. The NCAA graduate transfer rule allows student-athletes with eligibility remaining to enroll in graduate programs at other schools and start playing immediately. That’s great as far as the athletes are concerned but, as Steve Delsohn discovered, the rule has some coaches rankled.
The Sports Reporters
Sunday, 8:30 a.m., ESPN; 9:30 a.m., ESPN2
This week’s Panel*
John Saunders (host)
Jackie MacMullan
Bob Ryan
Jane McManus
(subject to change)
As Seen on ESPN Front Row:
Wright Thompson’s Katrina opus filled with sobering truths, surprises:
ESPN The Mag’s Mina Kimes shares moving story of Houston Cougar Devonta Pollard:
From NOLA to Connecticut and back again, Louisiana native Maya Jones writes from the heart:
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