Next time, I am wearing contact lenses

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Glenn Noack, the Lehigh Valley basketball hall of famer and my teammate for 10 minutes, summed up my performance with this: "Groller, your line was two turnovers and two fouls."

I think he might have added one each to that total -- but hey, I don't like when people challenge my stats, so I am not going to challenge his.

Nuggsy was talking about my effort in the Special Olympics/Celebrity Challenge Sunday at Northampton Community College. The game was tucked in the middle of the four Via high school all-star games that closed out the local basketball season, at least for three months until the summer schedule tips off the 2010-2011 season.

Yes, I did have a turnover that led to a tying basket for the opposing team and a "phantom" foul called on me with no time left on the clock that produced the game-winning point for the other team, but hey, I had an excuse. I was playing the last couple of minutes without my glasses.

I found out that all Special Olympians are not alike. Some are older, bigger, stronger and faster than others and one Special Olympian on the opposing team sent my glasses flying in trying to take the ball away from me after I grabbed a rebound (Nuggsy didn't include that on my stat sheet).

The glasses were eventually fine (thanks Liberty fan Joey Kirk for fixing them after one of the lenses popped loose) and the bottom line is I had a lot of fun making some new friends and being with the Special Olympians on my team, even if it was just for a few minutes.

The whole event was put together by Via and Traci Cyr, who is the amazing former Notre Dame coach who is doing remarkable work in our community with various endeavors to help kids with disabilities. I wasn't there because I had to leave early to get to the Liberty-Penn Wood game Weds. night, but I heard Traci and NCC athletic director Troy Tucker gave a very moving presentation on children with autism at the Via banquet. Both Cyr and Tucker have children with autism.

Anyway, it's always heart-warming to see these kids who have a disability experience the sheer joy of competing and succeeding, as many of the kids did on Sunday.

Seeing what they go through just to be able to communicate and interact with others in a regular activity can really put things in perspective.

The kids are wonderful, and the people who work with them and devote their lives to helping kids with special needs, are angels on earth. Cyr, I believe, belongs in that category and I will be writing more about her in an upcoming column.

Spend 10 minutes with them and you can be hooked. I left Sunday's "game" feeling like I wish I could do more, and should do more. And when you make the commitment to do more, you're a winner even if you don't score a single point.

FROM KEITH GROLLER