Emotional Story Inspires ESPN Anchor To Quote Mariah Carey

There's a lot going on here. A lot of stimuli, you know. Let's break it down.

There's the story itself, which is that Chiefs all-purpose big dude Leonard Pope jumped in the pool at a party in his hometown, Americus, Georgia, to save a six year-old boy from drowning. The kid didn't know how to swim, and Pope did. He jumped into the pool with his clothes on, cellphone in pocket. Good deeds. Hooray, Pope.

Then there's this ESPN interview. Reischea Canidate, who is apparently not related to Trung, felt such a strong connection to this story (or to Mariah Carey?) that she had to mention her song, "Hero," in her intro. Of course, there are so many songs that might mention heroes, or songs whose vaguely uplifting lyrics are equally peripherally relevant to this story. But Mariah! No, really, you guys!

Then there's also that fairly lengthy discussion about swimming, and when Leonard Pope learned how to swim, and how important it is to learn how to swim. Oh, Not-Trung. We think we speak for all races when we say that there are bigger problems affecting our nation's young people than a lack of swimming knowledge. And we're not saying that just because we could never quite perfect the butterfly.

But maybe, if someone, say, a hero came along, with the strength to carry on, and we cast our fears aside, and we know we can survive, we'd butterfly like champs. Alas.

Leonard Pope saves boy's life [ESPN]