Another home victory against East Carolina this past Saturday concluded our week, after coming off a two-game losing streak. We felt as a team we played fairly well against an improving East Carolina, who had just come off of a victory against Louisville, and who played Cincinnati competitively for most of the game. The victory was a big win for us, because it put us back on a winning track, and several players stepped up in Marque Perry’s absence.
But a week and a half ago, our team got together to do something other than to play a game of basketball. We went to visit the St. Louis Children’s Hospital. During our stay, we autographed basketballs and handed them out to the various children in the hospital. Probably the most frequent question I heard was, “How tall are you?” (I did not have to worry about too many of those questions, being the shortest on the team).
The kids we met ranged from little babies to young teenagers. Most of them where happy to see us with the exception of one little boy. As soon as I saw he had a Mizzou hat on, I knew that he was trouble, right from the start. Just to verify that he was not just wearing the hat for fashion, I asked who was his favorite basketball team. He responded by saying, “Mizzou.”
The kid then rubbed it in when he recalled that Mizzou had beaten us earlier this year. After several minutes of trying to convince the kid that SLU was much better than Mizzou, and that SLU should be his favorite team, we reached a mutual agreement: he will root for SLU every time we played someone other than Mizzou.
We visited a young girl while her family was also visiting. The girl’s family seemed more excited to see us than the girl herself. After taking about five pictures with the girl, her mom wanted us to take a picture with the whole family. Two of her sisters seemed to like Kenny Brown a little too much, as they rushed to his side to get close to him in the picture.
There were many kids that we visited that day with many different kinds of illnesses. It was truly sad for me to hear of some of the situations that some of the kids were in. There was a little boy who was in an accident, and had to learn to do basic things all over again, such as walk and talk.
As athletes, sometimes we forget how lucky we are to be able to play a sport. At times we complain about little things, like how hard practice is. But there are kids who would do anything to be able to move around as we do. As fans and players, we get to critical about sports, but what is lost in the shuffle is that it is just a game. There are more important and difficult struggles in life other than winning and losing a basketball game, far tougher struggles that most of these kids overcome.
Phillip Hunt is a sophomore communication major. His article appears courtesy of stltoday.com.
