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Nick Santonastasso has one arm equipped with one finger. That’s it. His right arm ends in a stump a couple of inches from his shoulder. He has no legs. He also has no limitations.
“I know anything’s possible,” the remarkable 12-year-old told TODAY’s Ann Curry Tuesday in New York.
Videos of Nick playing baseball and football, doing a headstand on his skateboard, playing the keyboard and drums, typing on a computer, helping in the kitchen and playing video games with his siblings were proof he’s right.
“My parents just keep encouraging me to do stuff — like, don’t give up and keep trying. If you fall down, get back up,” he said in explaining why he attacks life with such gusto.
When Nick’s mother Stacey was pregnant with him, doctors told her that he would be born “fragile.” He was diagnosed with Hanhart Syndrome Type II, a rare genetic disorder identified in only 11 other people.
The Santonastassos, who live in New Jersey, had three other children, and they resolved to treat Nick the same as their other children, with love but without excuses.
“We didn’t treat him any different than any of our other children,” his father Michael said. Even so, he’s impressed with just how normal his son is. “We’re supposed to be heroes to our children, but Nick is a hero to us. He’s proved to be a real trouper, and our hero.”
But heroes have heroes, too, and Nick’s is Tiki Barber, the former star running back of the New York Giants who retired last year and became a correspondent for TODAY. Curry told Nick, who was wearing a Tiki Barber jersey, that for his birthday, which was May 20, the show wanted to give him a new skateboard. The person who presented it to him in the studio was Barber.

today.msnbc.msn.com

Joba was largely a disappointment: In his 62-pitch quasi-limit, he couldn’t get through three innings and had more walks (4) than Ks (3).
SN’s Bill Eichenberger was on the scene and writes the buzz at Yankee Stadium subsided when the 22-year-old righthander looked every bit like a pitcher making his first major league start with a ragged 38-pitch first inning.
SN’s Sean Deveney writes the Yankees are gambling the season on Chamberlain’s ability to dominate as a starter. In other words, they’re tossing the 2008 season aside. And SN fantasy experts Bill Bender and Brad Pinkerton debate whether Chamberlain will be worthy of fantasy ace status at season’s end.
Meanwhile, SN’s Gerry Fraley writes with Martinez’s solid performance last night, all is well in the turbulent world of the New York Mets; but just for one game. The remaining 105 games will be more problematic. The Pedro-as-an-uplifting-presence failed last season, and even if Martinez makes 20 more starts, the Mets will have big holes in their rotation.
The Stanley Cup finals are back in Pittsburgh tonight, and Vincent Lara-Cinisomo writes if the Penguins win Games 6 and 7 to complete their improbable comeback, Petr Sykora’s game-winner in the third overtime of Monday night’s Game 5 could end up being forever linked with the “Immaculate Reception” and Bill Mazeroski’s home run in the pantheon of Pittsburgh sports lore.
As we await the NBA finals, rumors swirl that the Heat are willing to trade Dwyane Wade to the Bulls, presumably for the No. 1 pick. … SN’s Stan McNeal reports all signs point to Michael Curry taking over for the fired Flip Saunders in Detroit. … And Sam Smith writes the Lakers-Celtics series may represent the beginning of the debate about whether Kobe is the greatest player in NBA history.

sportingnews.com

According to the book “Charlie Wilson’s War,” the Texas congressman who helped bring down the Soviets in Afghanistan had his worldview shaped by his mother, who told him as a child, “Always, always stand up for the underdog. If you’re ever in doubt, back the underdog.”
This, of course, is an attitude subscribed to by many Americans, at least the ones who never had a vested interest in Notre Dame football. And that’s why the air was sucked out of a lot of living rooms Sunday night about the time when Stephen Curry passed off to Jason Richards.
That Kansas hung on to beat Davidson in the Midwest Regional final doesn’t mean it’s going to be a worse Final Four. In fact, if history tells us anything, it will be a better Final Four.
It just won’t be as interesting a Final Four during the lead-up this week.
As you’re aware of by now, this will be the first Final Four made up entirely of No. 1-seeded teams. Nothing against Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA and Memphis, but this Final Four will almost be like watching a corporate-colossus showdown between Wal-Mart, ExxonMobil, General Electric and Citigroup.
Who are you going to pull for there? Between UCLA, Kansas and North Carolina, there’s 19 national championships right there. The blood couldn’t be any bluer for this tournament unless the Kentucky Derby sent invites to Judge Elihu Smails from “Caddyshack” for high tea in San Antonio.
Davidson would’ve been a lot of fun, and goodness knows Bill Self almost punched the last ticket for the Wildcats with a classic case of college over-coaching. Self called time on Kansas’ last possession, which did little except break the Jayhawks’ momentum. Then, with the exception of greater Lawrence, just about everyone in America wanted to see Curry take that final shot.

jsonline.com