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Sports talk: You think you have it tough? Try being Ibrahim Hamadto

Have you done the Milk Crate Challenge yet? I know I havenSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™t and if I catch my oldest offspring doing it, sheSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™ll have some SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½˜splanin to do in addition to losing her phone.
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Patrick Cantlay, right, shakes hands with Bryson DeChambeau after Cantlay won their sixth playoff hole of the final round of the BMW Championship golf tournament on Aug. 29. Wonder how genuine this handshake was after what DeChambeau had to say about Cantlay earlier in the round? (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Have you done the Milk Crate Challenge yet? I know I havenSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™t and if I catch my oldest offspring doing it, sheSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™ll have some SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½˜splanin to do in addition to losing her phone.

What this involves is stupid people who set up milk crates in a pyramid formation and try to walk from one side to the other without falling. Naturally, plenty of people have failed and ended up with all sorts of injuries because of it. I know ISA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™m going to have a hard time negotiating with St. Peter thanks to my schadenfreude fetish but I take great delight in seeing those who missed out on the Tide Pods-consumption craze writhe in pain and wonder what in the hell they got themselves into while heading for what is most likely hospitalized traction. Stay classy, gang.

Anyway:

Stuff your SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½˜poor meSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™

Remember those times you woke up after a long night spent at the rec hockey tournament beer garden? That three-hour workout where you, like, totally feel the burn? Yeah SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½” get stuffed.

Allow me to introduce you to Ibrahim Hamadto of Egypt. HeSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s a table tennis player who competed at the 202(1) Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, which would be awesome enough. But take a closer look at Hamadto and youSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™ll see he isnSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™t just any table tennis player with a slight disability. Go find his picture while you enjoy this little musical interlude with bonus points if you can pick out the song (Hint: the singer is Welsh):

(Feels like ISA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™m standing in a timeless dream SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½¦ of light mists, of pale amber rose SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½¦ feels like ISA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™m lost in a deep cloud of heavenly scent SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½¦ touching, discovering you SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½¦)

Oh, 1996. Great year. Also a year where I lost my courage one day in high school following a CPR lesson that went very awry SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½¦ anyway, did you find it? Yeah, he has no arms after he lost them at the age of 10 as a result of a train accident. He plays with the racquet in his mouth and heSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s rather good at it. Because he has no hands to hold the ball, Hamadto has to place the ball on his foot and flip it up high enough so he can make contact. He played in Class 6, which is for those who can walk but have impairments with their arms and legs, and would have been my favourite no matter the result. Simply remarkable stuff and the kind of thing which proves yet again that only 96.1 per cent of sports resembles equine by-product.

Next time you think youSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™re having it rough, remember people like Ibrahim Hamadto.

Proper etiquette, please

No matter what you think of golfer Bryson DeChambeau SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½” I personally like him SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½” you donSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™t do what Patrick Cantlay did during the final round of the BMW Championship on Aug. 29.

DeChambeau was lining up an approach shot on the 14th and, out of the corner of his eye, saw Cantlay walking up the fairway. DeChambeau rather curtly asked him to stop walking and you could tell it rattled DeChambeau as he had to go back through his pre-shot routine. Now, some of you are wondering what the big deal is. Well, golf is a sport rooted in tradition and etiquette and one thing you just donSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™t do is anything that interrupts or disturbs someone else in the action of trying to take a shot.

ItSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s right up there with walking across someoneSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s line before a putt (spike marks on the green) or having a conversation while someone is trying to shoot. ItSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s just plain rude and goes against what should happen on a golf course, no matter if youSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™re between zero to six beers into it.

ISA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™m on Team Bryson on this one.

And finally SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½¦

Good Idea: Engaging with fans.

Bad Idea: Engaging with fans by telling them they suck.

When fans pay their money to go watch a sporting event, they will say something be it good or bad. ThatSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s how it goes. The New York Mets, though, thought they would be smart and let the fans know how much they appreciate the times they boo them.

If youSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™ve paid attention, some players on that other New York baseball team have been giving the thumbs-down sign whenever they have a big hit. Why? Javy Baez says it all to let the fans know how they feel about being booed. He backed it up by reminding fans that he feels bad when he gets booed when he strikes out and heSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s going to do the same thing when he does something good.

Well, thatSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s what fans do, Javy. They cheer when youSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™re doing good and will let you know when youSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™re doing bad. More often than not, fans simply want to see a good effort out there and if they donSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™t think itSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s there, you can expect a few choice words. Dropping a deuce on your paying customers isnSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™t exactly the best way to do business nor does acting like a five-year-old doing the whole nanny-nanny-boo-boo thing cut it.

Sounds like someone canSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™t handle playing in New York.

Until next time, folks SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½¦



About the Author: James McCarthy

I'm the managing editor with SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½ and have been so since 2022.
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