McIntire-Howard tale truly remarkable

So often in the today’s sports world, we have to look pretty hard to find a truly unselfish moment.

Whether it’s Terrell Owens demanding the ball on every play or Manny Ramirez deciding $25 million a year isn’t enough, today’s landscape is not exactly filled with genuine acts of generosity.

But Wednesday, we got an incredibly unique reminder that sports can be about more than rivalries, win-at-all-costs recruiting or contract negotiations. 

In case you didn’t hear about this, I’ll rehash it for you.

Joey McIntire, a Porterville junior forward, wrote a letter to CIF Central Section commissioner Jim Crichlow in hopes of getting Monache senior forward Jordan Howard re-instated for his first-round playoff game. He said the foul wasn’t an ejectable foul. Howard had fouled McIntire and gotten thrown out of the regular-season finale against the Panthers, thus preventing him from playing in the next game, according to CIF rules.

The letter, and a showing of the play on video from Joey’s father, Rick McIntire, helped get Howard’s suspension lifted hours before Wednesday night’s tipoff against San Joaquin Memorial.

If you’re pitching a movie script and have this scene in it, the studio would laugh, saying it would be too unrealistic.

This had all sorts of seemingly implausible elements: A player on a rival team helping out a kid that fouled him to get the suspension, a Porterville player helping Monache’s chances in the playoffs despite the Panthers being eliminated and Howard scoring a season-high 23 points to propel an inconsistent Marauders squad to an upset victory in overtime. 

I would not have seen any of this coming after Jason told me what happened between these two last Friday. I thought our Orange Belt Sports Showcase was set for serious turmoil with our new sponsor’s son and our videographer’s girlfriend’s son being at odds in the biggest game of the season.

To see it turn around like that was remarkable.

What makes the gesture so impressive was that McIntire did not have to do it. He could’ve been mad about his team not making the playoffs and stood by while Howard watch his team get beaten from the bench and no one would’ve thought anything of it. Just another controversial call by an offical costing a team. 

That happens all the time; scenarios like this do not.

I’ve covered high school sports for more than three years now and have yet to come across something like this. And I of course didn’t expect it to unfold between members of opposing teams in the biggest rivalry I’ve experienced. 

How many people do you know would’ve stuck up for perhaps their biggest on-court rival when he’s in the playoffs and you’re not? 

This is like Tim Duncan personally e-mailing David Stern that Amare Stoudemire’s bogus leaving-the-bench suspension in Game 4 of the 2007 Western Conference Semifinals was unjust. Would that ever happen in a million years?

Joey should expect a nice gift basket at his door or at least one of those cards that play music in the days to come, as the junior’s gesture gave a senior a chance to play in another game.

But for several hours Wednesday, Howard did not know if he was going to be a high school basketball player anymore. How much stress must he have been under in the hours leading up to Crichlow’s decision? Probably comparable to Jon Gruden after his kicker misses an extra point.

The letter and video pleas are the rare part of this story, but Howard’s monster night provided the exclamation point.

Upon learning of his newfound freedom, Howard unloaded on SJM for 23 points, carrying 11th-seeded Monache past the No. 6 Panthers on the road. It was the defining win for the Marauders this season and probably the defining game of Howard’s career.

It was the biggest upset (by seed) that we’ve seen this winter. And it wouldn’t have happened under normal circumstances. 

Monache now gets to play against No. 3-seeded Garces tonight for the chance to stun another team and advance to the Division II Valley semifinals, but there’s no way that game comes close to having the lasting impact this one did.