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Jim Harbaugh's touching gesture to retired high school QB

Evan Hilbert ,  Jace Evans   | Paste BN

PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT

JD Johnson, a quarterback from Phoenix, was offered a scholarship by Jim Harbaugh and the University of Michigan. Unfortunately, Johnson had to retire from football due to a heart condition. Harbaugh, though, will honor the young man's scholarship.

Johnson best summed up the gesture: "I am witness to Coach Harbaugh’s character and integrity in a situation where he has every reason to tell me, 'Good luck with your future.' He means what he says, and stands behind his commitments when he could have taken the easy way out. He demonstrated a high level of loyalty to a player that will never throw a touchdown pass for him." 

NOT A BAD START

A 16-year-old high school junior threw a 42-yard touchdown pass in a game this week. Not a big deal. Except it came from Holly Neher, the only girl on Florida's Hollywood Hills High School's 50-member varsity team, who threw the TD strike on her first pass attempt in the fourth quarter of her team's 21-7 loss to Hallandale High School. It was her first action at the varsity level. 

SHATTERED

Back in 2013, a South Korean man named Kim Chang-ho set the record for climbing the world's 14 highest peaks. It took him nearly eight years. Last week, a Nepalese man named Nirmal Purja broke that record. It took him 189 days.

THE PRINCIPAL CAN DUNK

Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris just inked a contract worth $180 million, and he's already putting his money to good use. Harris pledged $1 million to various education non-profits. 

“I’m a firm believer that knowledge is power, and for me it’s the fact that I can do something that's going to impact the next generation. A lot of that has to do with education."

Harris said once his playing days end he wants to work in education, perhaps as a principal.

30-SECOND TIMEOUT

NFL HITS THE MIDPOINT

It's Week 9 in the NFL, which means the we've officially hit the halfway mark of the season. Our experts take stock of the league at the midpoint:

LEBRON'S GOOD DEED

A while back, LeBron James entertained the idea of trademarking the term 'Taco Tuesday.' That was a bad idea. Last Tuesday, however, LeBron had a good idea. He sent first responders battling the Getty Fire a taco truck so they could have lunch.

NATIONALS WIN D.C.'S FIRST WORLD SERIES IN 95 YEARS

The Washington Nationals are World Series champions, defeating the Houston Astros in a seven-game thriller that included bat carrying, a rare ejection and, in the end, a series where the road team won every single game. 

Game 7 was highlighted by:

Stephen Strasburg was named World Series MVP and, like fellow playoff hero Anthony Rendon, he could be a free agent this offseason. That leaves the Nationals with some tough decisions to make. The toughest immediately facing them? Whether to attend a Monday celebration at the White House with President Trump – who received loud boos and chants of "lock him up" during his Game 5 visit to Nationals Park. Reliever Sean Doolittle is on the record as not attending.  

Still, before making those choices the team had time to cut loose with Saturday's parade and rally in the nation's capital celebrating the district's first World Series champions since the 1924 Senators. 

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