SPORTS contributed plenty of the same old agita this year—bad bets, empty boasts, taunts, tiffs and scuffles, plus the occasional riot—but its fair share of wry smiles, too.
There were courageous losers, random acts of kindness and a handful of wins handled with such grace it made you want to get up and dance.
Whoever called March mad never dreamed a 98-year-old nun would steal the show at the Final Four. In Mississippi, a homecoming queen swapped her tiara for a helmet and wound up kicking the game-winner for her high-school team. In Akron, Ohio, LeBron James went back to the future and unveiled a state-of-the-art school for at-risk kids, promising the kind of support he yearned for in the same town as a youngster himself.
And as feel-good moments go, this might have been the most hopeful development of all: teddy-bear throwing became “a thing,” stretching from the west side of Canada to the heart of Europe.
Here are some of the most heartwarming moments of 2018:
LOYOLA’S NOT-SECRET-FOR-LONG SECRET WEAPON
NEVER mind that Sister Jean Delores Schmidt arrived at the Final Four a few months shy of 99. Or that her last minute of playing time—for her girls’ high-school team—was chalked up in the late 1930s. Or that she’s listed in the team media guide (way too generously) at 5-foot, wearing custom-made maroon and gold-trimmed Nikes that would make any baller proud.
Because every time little Loyola of Chicago sprung another upset on its improbable run to the Final Four, Coach Porter Moser and his Ramblers’ postgame interviews were just the opening act. If you really wanted to know how a small Jesuit university kept knocking over rivals twice its size—the tactics and the theology behind it—you stuck a microphone in front of Sister Jean.
Image credits: AP