Chances are, Tim Hasselbeck will never find out what happened to Simone.
The young girl, perhaps 3 years old, clung to him the entire week he spent in Riverton City, Jamaica, a Kingston slum built around a trash dump. The connection was such that the Simone's teenage mother, seeing no future in such an ugly place, told Hasselbeck to take her daughter with him when he went home to America.
"I guess you never want to sound like you're soft or anything," Hasselbeck said. "But for me, yeah, emotionally, that was tough for me to see that. For a woman to say, `Take my daughter.' That was hard for me."
Of course, Hasselbeck couldn't accept. He was an American football player from Boston College trying to do some good during spring break, like his brother Matt before him, working with orphans and leprosy victims with a group called the Ignacio Volunteers.
Nearly six years later, in the cozy training facility of the Washington Redskins, the memories of that week stir Hasselbeck's emotions more than any talk of his first NFL victory -- just three weeks ago -- or the futility of his 0.0 quarterback rating in a game against Dallas.
"Kids are running around with no schools, no homes, no electricity, no place to go to the bathroom," Hasselbeck said. "When I was 3 years old, I was wondering what game we were going to play outside. If it was cold, I was going to come inside and have some hot chocolate."
And, as for Simone, one of many kids who turned Hasselbeck into a human jungle gym every day, he can only hope she turned out for the best.
"They live on a dump. They don't have an address," Hasselbeck said. "If there was any kind of way to find out, I'd love to know that things are a little bit better. It's sad thinking about."
This has been a special year for the Hasselbeck family. After years of pink slips from various NFL teams, Tim latched on with the Redskins. He is finishing the season as the starter because of an injury to Patrick Ramsey and appears to have earned himself a roster spot for next season.
Meanwhile, Matt is in Seattle, leading his team in the playoff chase in his third year as the starter and as the Seahawks' nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year for community service. Younger brother Nathanael is a red-shirt sophomore at Boston College.
Tim's wife, Elisabeth, has parleyed her success as a "Survivor" contestant into a co-host chair on the morning television show ``The View,'' getting the job just days before Tim got his first substantial playing time in the NFL.
Watching it all unfold is father Don Hasselbeck, who spent nine years as an NFL tight end.
"Everyone says `Congratulations.' The funniest part is I guess I'm excited for them, but I think Matthew is probably more excited about it than anybody," Don Hasselbeck said. "Because Matthew and Tim were so close."
The Hasselbecks are an emotional bunch, and their track record is one of caring. When Matt made the same trip to Riverton City, he watched a boy fall into a hole being used for a bathroom. The boy died, and one theory is that his assistance in the rescue effort is what gave Matt hepatitis, putting him in the hospital and causing him to miss spring practice the year he was vying for a starting job at BC.
After that experience, his parents couldn't believe it when Tim wanted to follow his brother's footsteps two years later. Yet they all agree: The boys came back as different people, and for the better.
"It was really a life-changing experience," Matt said. ``It changed my perspective on everything. Whereas before I might have been the `Why me?' thing. I just decided at that point, I was going to make the most of what I had and what I was given: God-given ability, health, all that stuff."
Don Hasselbeck didn't even want his sons to play football. The physical pounding prompted him to encourage other sports. Finally, he promised to let them sign up on the day he retired, figuring they would be over it by then.
Wrong.
"They were there the same day that I told [Bill] Parcells I was done with the Giants," Don said. "They were standing there with their footballs under their arm. `Can we go sign up?' I said, `No, it's too late.' `Please?'"
Matt recalled that his father "expected us to be upset" because he was retiring.
"My first reaction was, `Great,'" Matt said.
Don took them to practice and ended up coaching them for nine years, passing along NFL tips to Pop Warner kids. He had his sons play quarterback so they wouldn't get hurt.
But they were good.
Tim, who went through various training camps and a stint in NFL Europe, became Matt's biggest sounding board. Matt would call Tim from the Seahawks' team bus after a game and get the full critique from his brother. Now Matt can return the favor.
"That's the most exciting part of it," Don said. "I know these guys; they enjoy it. They're passionate about it. A lot of people said to Tim, `Have you ever thought about coaching?' Tim was like, `I want to play. I can always coach. I want to play.' He understands the game. I think that's what makes it fun for him."
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS