I remain a loyal subscriber to Sports Illustrated. Part of the reason is I can count on the magazine to go beyond stories of actual team and league issues (I do find those interesting) to highlight stories about the beauty of sports, the elements of determination, courage, perseverance, and sometimes heartache, we see exhibited or felt by participants and those who care about their fellow man or woman.

Sports Illustrated (SI) had two stories this past week that I strongly recommend. One is the Point After column by Phil Taylor entitled “Gratitude Adjustment” that talks about Cody Ross, an MLB player who achieved great individual and team success as his SF Giants won the World Series. This Everyman piece reminds us that most players in sports are not prima donnas (at least not all the time) and that there struggles are similar to our, just in different context.

The other piece in SI, “The Courage of Jill Costello” by Chris Ballard, is a truly moving profile of Jill Costello, a student-athlete at the University of California-Berkeley. I don’t want to say too much about the story as it is something that should be read without any hint of the story’s arc. However, I will say the story is one that does entail every element mentioned before – “determination, courage, perseverance, and sometimes heartache we see exhibited or felt by participants and those who care about their fellow man or woman” – and will leave you thinking about all that we have to be thankful for.