WASHINGTON – As the Gallaudet University football team prepares for this Saturday's homecoming game against Husson University, fans and supporters of the Bison can enjoy Friday's Washington Post sports column about the team. Mike Wise, an award-winning journalist with The Post for the past six years and the New York Times for 10 years before that, stopped by campus Wednesday to interview Coach Chuck Goldstein and senior Adham Talaat (Springfield, Va.). Wise contrasts Gallaudet's undefeated season to the recent Grambling State situation while explaining the true meaning of being a Division III student-athlete.
Here is a brief excerpt from the story:
Talaat has no regrets about not playing at a big-time school. Like most Gallaudet student athletes, he's bilingual — fluent in English and American sign language. Because all his teammates sign, he doesn't play with his hearing aids (about half the roster is legally deaf, the other half hard of hearing.)
"I tell the officials if the kid on the other team keeps running after a screen pass that was whistled dead, they're probably going to get hit," Goldstein says. "But we really haven't had any problems this season."
The Bison have 54 players. Their starting offense serves as the scout team for the defense. Their farthest league game is in Bangor, Maine — a 13-hour bus trip, one way. Their closest league game is five hours' north — in the Bronx.
The complete story can be viewed in Friday's newspaper or online here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/gallaudet-universitys-football-team-is-a-long-way-from-grambling-state/2013/10/24/ead7054c-3cde-11e3-a94f-b58017bfee6c_story.html
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