Helping hands show sportsmanship

The best sports story last week didn't come out of New York, Chicago or Los Angeles, or any big city.

It wasn't born in a big-league ballpark or NBA arena or NFL front office, or on a golf course or tennis court or racetrack.

It happened on a softball field in tiny Ellensburg, Wash., during the second game of a Division II doubleheader between Western Oregon and Central Washington.

And that's too bad — because it's the kind of all-too-rare story that makes us feel good about sports again.

It's the story of Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky being so excited after hitting her first career home run that she missed first base, then wrenched her knee when she stopped and turned back, forcing her to crawl to the bag in pain.

It's also the story of Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman, who put character ahead of competition and taught us the true meaning of sportsmanship, producing a moment so much grander than any home run.

Upon hearing that Tucholsky's teammates couldn't help her around the bases — and that the home run would be reduced to a single if a substitute runner were used — Holtman asked the umpire if members of the opposing team could lend a hand.

Told there was no rule against it, Holtman summoned shortstop Liz Wallace, and the two Central Washington players carried Tucholsky around the base paths, stopping so she could reach down with her good leg and touch the bases.

It didn't matter that Tucholsky's three-run homer put Western Oregon ahead 4-2. Or that the loss eliminated Central Washington from postseason play.

Western Oregon won the game, but Holtman and Wallace won something far more important.

At the other end of the spectrum is the Roger Clemens story, which gets seamier with every New York Daily News headline.

If the newspaper's reports this past week are accurate — and there's no good reason to believe they're not — Clemens' lying and cheating wasn't limited to baseball and his alleged use of steroids and human growth hormone.

According to the Daily News, Clemens had a 10-year affair with country singer Mindy McCready, who didn't dispute the story. The long-married father of four also flew several women around the country on his private jet and had some kind of relationship with John Daly's ex-wife.

All of which puts a serious dent in Clemens' defamation lawsuit against his former trainer, Brian McNamee, who accused the seven-time Cy Young Award winner of using steroids and HGH.

The Daily News reported Clemens' confidants have urged him to drop the suit and find another way to rebuild his reputation. But it's already too late for that — at least in the court of public opinion.

Because if all this is true, Clemens' behavior did far more damage to his reputation than anything McNamee said about steroids.

Whatever happened to that statement the Mets were supposed to make the first month of the season? The one about last September's historic collapse being a fluke? The one where they tell the rest of the National League that they're the team to beat? Just asking.

How impressed is new Dolphins boss Bill Parcells with second-year quarterback John Beck? So much so that, despite having needs at almost every other position, he drafted Michigan's Chad Henne in the second round.

The Kentucky Derby is the most celebrated horse race in America, but it's not the most important. The Preakness determines whether we get another shot at the Triple Crown.

Just wondering: How good, exactly, do the Heat need to be for Pat Riley to want to coach again?

Ray McNulty is Scripps Howard sports columnist. E-mail him at ray.mcnulty@Scripps.com.

Photos

Western Oregon's Sara Tucholsky is carried around the bases by Central Washington's Liz Wallace, left, and Mallory Holtman after injuring her knee following her home run during their softball game last week in Ellensburg, Wash. With two runners on base and a strike against her, Tucholsky uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence. But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury. Associated Press