USC football's Jake Olson is a long snapper. He's also blind, having lost his sight from cancer at age 12. He and the nearly seven million people nationwide with a visual disabilityĀ likely see theĀ Bird BoxĀ Challenge that'sĀ sweeping the nation as a standard Tuesday. Still, it was pretty coolĀ to see Olson easily snap a football wearing a blindfold:
But Olson hasĀ been doing the long snap routineĀ for a while now. He's even performed it in a live football game.Ā
Olsen's path to a football field outpaces any sort ofĀ Bird BoxĀ challenge we can dream up. The guy's a blind long snapper at a major college football program. WeĀ can see just fine, and there's no way in hell we can keep a straight spiral when snapping a football. Throwing in some gigantic defenders looking for blood makes it all theĀ more impressive.
TheĀ Bird BoxĀ challenge, which involves trying to do things while wearing a blindfold, has taken the country by storm, much to the dismay of Netflix. It's become such a phenomenon that it even permeated last night's game against the Warriors and the Rockets.Ā
But if you're contemplating doing the Bird Box challenge, remember JakeĀ Olson and the over seven millionĀ other Americans who live it on a daily basis.Ā And thank goodness people likeĀ Olson stillĀ exist in this country because otherwise we'd be so screwed. (This post was written without a blindfold.)