Autistic Boy Puts In 20 Points!!!

Autistic Teen Scores 20 in Basketball Game

By BEN DOBBIN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Feb 24, 2:46 AM ET

GREECE, N.Y. - Jason McElwain had done everything he was asked to do for the Greece Athena High School basketball team — keep the stats, run the clock, hand out water bottles.

That all changed last week for the team manager in the final home game of the season. The 17-year-old senior, who is autistic and usually sits on the bench in a white shirt and black tie, put on a uniform and entered the game with his team way ahead.

McElwain proceeded to hit six 3-point shots, finished with 20 points and was carried off the court on his teammates' shoulders.

"I ended my career on the right note," he told The Associated Press by phone Thursday. "I was really hotter than a pistol!"

In recent days, McElwain's phone has hardly stopped ringing. When his family went out for a meal, he was mobbed by well-wishers. A neighborhood boy came by to get a basketball autographed.

McElwain, 5-foot-6, was considered too small to make the junior varsity, so he signed on as team manager. He took up the same role with the varsity, doing anything to stay near the sport he loves. Coach Jim Johnson was impressed with his dedication, and thought about suiting up McElwain for the home finale.

His performance was jaw-dropping: 20 points in four minutes, making 6-of-10 3-point shots. The crowd went wild.

"It was as touching as any moment I have ever had in sports," Johnson told the Daily Messenger of Canandaigua.

McElwain didn't begin speaking until he was 5. He lacked social skills but things got easier as he got older. He found many friends and made his way through school in this Rochester suburb, although many of his classes were limited to a half-dozen students. And he found basketball.

On the varsity, he never misses practice and is a jack-of-all-trades.

"And he is happy to do it," Johnson said. "He is such a great help and is well-liked by everyone on the team."

Even though McElwain was in uniform for the Feb. 15 game, there was no guarantee he would play — Athena was battling for a division title.

The fans, however, came prepared. One section of students held up signs bearing his nickname "J-MAC" and cutouts of his face placed on Popsicle sticks.

The Trojans opened a large lead against the team from the nearby Spencerport. With four minutes left, McElwain took the court to deafening cheers.

The ball came to him almost right away. His 3-point shot sailed completely off course, and the coach wondered if he made the wrong move. McElwain then missed a layup. Yet his father, David, was unruffled.

"The thing about Jason is he isn't afraid of anything," he told the newspaper. "He doesn't care what people think about him. He is his own person."

On the next trip down the floor, McElwain got the ball again. This time he stroked a 3, all net.

He was just warming up.

"As soon as the first shot went in that's when I started to get going," he said.

On the next attempt, he got another 3-pointer. Then another, and another. In fact, he would have made one more 3, but his foot was on the line, so he had to settle for 2 points.

Greece Athena won 79-43, and pandemonium reigned. McElwain signed autographs, posed for pictures and was hoisted by his teammates.

The Trojans begin sectional play Saturday and McElwain will be on the bench again, wearing his usual shirt and tie.

It doesn't bother him. More important, he said, is "trying to win a sectional title for the team."

McElwain will soon be done with high school basketball, then enroll in business management this fall at Monroe Community College.

"I'll go on to college and I'll try to hoop there," he said. "I just love it, it's one of the greatest sports in the world."

If you've ever played any basketball whatsoever, you know that hitting 6 3-pointers in just a few minutes is difficult, under any circumstances. Even the pros rarely manage such a feat. Good going, kid!

Turn The Page

Turn The Page
Bob Seger









On a long and lonesome highway, east of Omaha
You can listen to the engine moanin' out its one note song
You can think about the woman, or the girl you knew the night before
But your thoughts will soon be wandering, the way they always do
When your riding sixteen hours and there’s nothing much to do
And you don’t feel much like riding, you just wish the trip was through

Say, here I am, on the road again
There I am, up on the stage
Here I go, playing the star again
There I go
Turn the page

Well you walk into a restaurant, strung out from the road
And you feel the eyes upon you, as you're shaking off the cold
You pretend it doesn’t bother you, but you just want to explode
Most times you can’t hear em talk, other times you can
All the same old cliches, is that a woman or a man
And you always seem outnumbered, you don’t dare make a stand

Here I am, on the road again
There I am, up on the stage
Here I go, playing the star again
There I go,
Turn the page

Out there in the spotlight your a million miles away
Every ounce of energy, you try to give away
As the sweat pours out your body, like the music that you play

Later in the evening as you lie awake in bed
With the echoes from the amplifiers ringing in your head
You smoke the day's last cigarette, remembering what she said
Ah here I am, on the road again
There I am, up on the stage
Here I go, playing the star again
There I go,
Turn the page

Now here I am, on the road again
There I am, up on the stage
Here I go, playing the star again
There I go,
there I go

Down On Mainstreet

I heard this one while driving around today. An old favorite. I stayed in the car to hear all of it, once again.

Main Street
Words and music by Bob Seger

I remember standing on the corner at midnight
Tryin' to get my courage up
There was this long lovely dancer in a little club downtown
Loved to watch her do her stuff
Through the long lonely nights she filled my sleep
Her body softly swaying to that smoky beat
Down on mainstreet

In the pool halls; the hustlers and the losers
I used to watch 'em through the glass
Well i'd stand outside at closing time
Just to watch her walk on past
Unlike all the other ladies, she looked so young and sweet
As she made her way alone down that empty street
Down on mainstreet

And sometimes even now, when i'm feeling lonely and beat
I drift back in time and i find my feet
Down on mainstreet
Down on mainstreet
Down on mainstreet
Down on mainstreet

BREAKING NEWS!!! ( I Am Shocked! )

Yahoo! Entertainment News & Gossip

Tue Feb 14, 7:20 PM ET
Tom, Katie Put Kibosh on Breakup Report
Tue Feb 14, 7:20 PM ET


Tom Cruise's new Mission: Impossible: To convince tabloids that he and Katie Holmes are legit.


Reps for Cruise and fiancee Katie Holmes were in super-spin mode Tuesday, furiously issuing denials after Life & Style published a "malicious" Valentine's Day story, claiming the entity otherwise known as TomKat was kaput.

In a press release and brief report on its Website, the glossy touted its Feb. 27 cover story, which bears the headline "SPLIT! And Katie's 7 Months Pregnant."

"Life & Style has learned exclusively that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have agreed to call off their wedding--and, ultimately, to split," the story says, attributing two unnamed "friends" of the couple.

The report continues, saying parents-to-be Cruise and Holmes "plan to keep up the charade of a romance until after their baby's birth this spring. In the meantime, the couple will live in his Beverly Hills home--though sleeping in separate bedrooms--through the summer," presumably after Mission: Impossible 3 reaches blockbuster status. (The sequel comes out May 5.) The report concludes by saying Cruise will buy Holmes a house nearby so she can visit their child whenever she wants and that the stars will have joint custody. The issue featuring the story is due on newsstands Friday.

The story and press release went out shortly after noon PT. By 1 p.m., Cruise and Holmes' joint denial was in circulation.

Click I Am Shocked !!, to read the rest of this story.

What the !!!!? What about the couch jumping, the Oprah mauling, the exclamations of true love (some bad acting at its finest)? I'll bet the baby makes an appearance at the Mission Impossible 3 premiere though, just before the "irreconcilable differences" announcement is made. Did Tom just realize he had "other interests", besides beautiful women, like about 1 second after she became pregnant? Hmmm..sometimes I wonder...

And the weirdness goes on...

Have A Great Day, Or Something

Valentine's Day

Lovers walking hand in hand through the park

The TV says that everyone is in love

and/or, has someone to love

and that those someones

need candy

now!

or something

Do I believe it?

It might be so


I got some candy, anyway

from the store

and now I'm going to eat it

every last piece (no, I'll save a few)

but I might share some

maybe

or something,

unless it's really good

maybe I'll keep a few saved though

in my coat pocket

just in case

just in case


Have A Great Valentines Day!

Some Quotes, Pastors and Presidents -

And check out that sour pus on Laura!



- Funeral of Coretta Scott King, February 7th 2006 -

From the MSNBC website Feb. 8th 2006
"We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there. But Coretta knew and we knew that there are weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war, billions more, but no more for the poor."
Reverend Joseph Lowery spoke at Coretta Scott King's funeral on Tuesday in Atlanta in front of an audience of 10,000 including President Bush and former Presidents Bush, Clinton, and Carter.

Washington Post article Feb. 7th 2006
President Jimmy Carter:
"Coretta and Martin and their family have been able to climb the highest mountain and to realize the essence of theology and political science and philosophy. They overcame one of the greatest challenges of life, which is to be able to wage a fierce struggle for freedom and justice and to do it peacefully."(APPLAUSE)

"It is always a temptation to forget that we worship the prince of peace."(APPLAUSE)

"...The efforts of Martin and Coretta have changed America, they were not appreciated even at the highest level of government. It was difficult for them personally -- with the civil liberties of both husband and wife violated as they became the target of secret government wiretapping, other surveillance...
(APPLAUSE)
... and as you know, harassment from the FBI."

President Clinton:
"...Everybody who believes that the promise of America is for every American, everybody who believes that all people in the world are caught up in what he so eloquently called the inescapable web of mutuality, everyone of us in a way are all the children of Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King. And I for one am grateful for her life and her friendship.

Thank you."
(APPLAUSE)

Oh, Alber-to !

Did anyone see or hear Attorney General Alberto Gonzales feeble and fumble through part one of the congressional wiretap hearings? It's always hard to come up with a sound defense for your sponsor, when that individual is in clear violation of existing law, at least according to all of the top constitutional legal experts. Also, apparently Mr. Gonzales did not want to be placed under oath during this session, although committee chairman Arlen Specter claimed that that was his "decision". President Carter has now come out and stated that this President is and has been, breaking the law. President Clinton has also failed to see why this President needed to circumnavigate the existing secret court set up for covert electronic surveillance activities, as it would in no way have prevented the surveillance of known terrorists, but would have only served as a check upon presidential power, just in case anyone might be tempted to "abuse" their authority regarding such matters.

Oh, Alber-to! Cronyism can take one very far, it seems. But then a crony's lot is never easy, when things all begin to break down.

Guess Who's The New Teaching Assistant?

If you guessed that it's me, YOU'RE RIGHT! I'm the new Graduate Teaching Assistant for the American Indian Studies class, Spring semester, at our premier urban University here in Denver. My job will be to read mid-term essays of the undergraduates and grade them, and also do the same for final exams. I am also supposed to maintain some form of office hours during exam times, so that students with any questions or issues concerning exams can come and speak with me. And, if the professor is unable to make a class, then I am supposed to do something like run a video and lead the class in a discussion over whatever the current topic at hand might be. I'm looking forward to my new role, which will give me some newer experiences as well as the opportunity to engage and assist our up and coming scholars in their studies. One month or so until the mid-terms; this should be fun!