What a great TED talk. Thank you.

I just watched that TED talk last night, great video. Anything from TED is a great video, and they have tons of them.

The softball story is cute- but illustrative of so much more than the obvious decency.
Yes- it was a great display of sportsmanship.

But the NCAA rule* governing the game allow an injured player in that situation to be replaced. Poorly informed umpire-yes. Poorly informed managers-players, and coaches.

So the outcome in score is what should have happened anyway.
Yes- the defensive team did the right thing- and I take nothing away from that act because they apparently did not know the rules allowed a substitution.

But the rule book is printed in plain English. They are supposedly college level athletes.
I'd fire both coaches - or at least suspend them.

Meanwhile- Brian Cox is working hard to find the rules for our neighborhood of the universe. And he's apparently doing it with a sense of humor, good will and high spirit. But no news headlines for him. (Yet- if the LHC does manage to damage or destroy, I'm sure we'll hear more about him in the MSM.)

* NCAA softball rule book page 105, rule 8.5.3.2 "If an injury to a batter-runner or runner prevents her from proceeding to an awarded base, the ball is dead and the substitution can be made. The substitute must legally touch all awarded or missed bases not previously touched."

Apparently the way this particular league interprets the rule, the "awarded base" in question is first and the substitute can take only that base -- dropping the HR to a single. Sounds more like an issue that needs to be worked out between that league and the NCAA rather than a case of uninformed players, coaches, and umps. When everyone is that "uninformed" it could mean that they aren't really uninformed, just playing by a different set of rules.

Anyway, I think the fact that athletes in this day and age would put the spirit of the game ahead of the letter of the law is far more interesting (and important) than whether every player, coach, and ump in collegiate girls' softball is as up to speed on the rules as you appear to be. ;-)

It's BASEBALL.
Baseball is all about probability and odds. And practically everything that can happen- has. And when it did - everyone looked around and said "Hey...wait a minute, the rule should be ...xyz"
ANd so the rule is changed.

In this case- you postulate that the league or this confernence rules differ from NCAA rules.
If that's true- and I doubt it- then the league should be suspended from the NCAA for contracting the rules in a less than baseball- way.

Still- I agree that the main point is the athletes on the field were all baseball.

>>It's BASEBALL.

Technically softball. Hey, I mean if were being technical...

:-)