The Cincinnati Kid

Dear Mr. Reilly,

I hope I am one of about 5,782 people from Cincinnati who have alerted you to one of the most inspiring sports stories we've ever seen.  But just in case the other 5,781 are asleep at the switch, here is a clipping about our incredible local athlete, Dustin Carter, who just made state in high school wrestling.  He is also a quadruple amputee.  I have been following his story with tremendous interest in the paper.  I don't know jack squat about wrestling, but I know a great heart when I see one. 

Best wishes,
Jana Riess

This is a copy of a note I sent to Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly this morning, after reading in yesterday's paper that Dustin Carter has achieved his dream of making the state tournament in wrestling.  I am so inspired by this young man, I just can't tell you.  I think he would be a terrific subject for Reilly's weekly column about people in sports.  You can watch Dustin here on YouTube; check it out.

And speaking of Reilly, I recently read his hilarious and touching book Hate Mail From Cheerleaders and now consider myself a fan of his writing, even though I don't subscribe to SI and don't follow any of the sports that SI subscribers would consider actual sports (i.e.. anything other than gymnastics and figure skating).  The book has about 100 of Reilly's favorite columns from the last few years, taking on the heroic and inspiring as well as the bad-boy excesses of Barry Bonds and his ilk.  Some of the columns are wet-your-pants funny, and others brought me to tears.  It's a  great collection.

Moments