For many it was a lovely moment. That on it’s own meant a lot. For those with autism or supporting those with it. Emmet Ryan, an autistic journalist, on why Joe Ingles, Renae Ingles, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the NBA, and the whole of basketball moved him so much on Friday night.
We haven’t done warnings before on this site because we didn’t have to. This isn’t a warning either. BallinEurope wants basketball to be for everyone. So, if you are a parent or friend of someone with autism I have this to say. Please read this but, also, read it with that person in your life. My name is Emmet Ryan. I have a great life. I am also autistic. I have always been open about my mental health issues. Until Joe Ingles, Renae Ingles, and especially Jacob Ingles did what they did on Friday, I wasn’t really okay saying that on this site.
The trite nature of journalism
I hold the responsibility of what I do as a journalist important. That being said, the personality of a journalist is rarely meant to be blatant in any article. It’s meant to seep through. My natural personality, as a middle aged grouchy liberal from a working class background makes it easier. Having a posh accent in spite of that makes it easier.
Acknowledging who I am in terms of a condition, to even write the prior words in this statement, feels gauche. Yes, I am autistic. That I didn’t realise until my 40s while dating a doctor specialising in psychiatry is secondary. I have lived my live thinking I was, for want of a better word, normal. The things that were normal to others that irked me violently were odd eccentricities. So too were my specialisations in work, or my desire to spread beyond them.
I’m extraordinarily lucky. My parents had no idea I was on the spectrum but loved me and helped me for my oddness and all. Watching the Instagram stories of Renae Ingles, who is younger than me, made me think of my own mother. She didn’t have the knowledge Renae and Joe Ingles have, yet she and my father still put me in a position to succeed. Looking at what the Ingles family have done, I am so happy for the work they do for Jacob Ingles and his siblings.
A step back to talk about Joe
The image at the top of this article is not an accident. A prior partner of mine once came to see Barcelona play Estudiantes in Palau Blaugrana. For someone who cared little for basketball, her observations were ferociously astute. She told me that Joe Ingles looked like he was throwing himself about the place but was being really smart in how he did it.
Well, I remember the 2013 Liga Endesa Game 5. Technically I remember it for two reasons. Real Madrid hired a dreadful magician for the half-time entertainment. The second was that Joe Ingles was the only FC Barcelona player who believed they could win that game.
The effort of Ingles shone through that day. He is, unmistakingly, Australian. Joe Ingles is also a man Euro observers will love forever because of his drive. There is no wasted play with this man. Even after he finally won Euroleague with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2014, he found time to joke about doing Barcelona a favour. In simple terms, he’s a top bloke.
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The wider angle
Renae Ingles is right to say that a lot of articles will be written about this. Heck, this is one one of them. Context matters. Renae Ingles is an extraordinary athlete in her own right, an elite netball player. She parked her career to support the big gambles made by Joe Ingles. That is a serious commitment.
Couple that with what the Minnesota Timberwolves decided to do. Chris Finch started Joe Ingles for the first time since 2022 so that Jacob could see his dad play. My sensory overload issues are nothing compared to that wonderful young man but even still it touched me. Finch recognised the humanity that is fundamental to sport.
I write the next sentence as someone who is an unabashed fan of Joe Ingles. Nothing he does the rest of this season compares to Friday night. That he could do that, not just for Jacob but for everyone on the spectrum watching meant so much. It was, at least to me, that it’s alright for us to be part of society at large.
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Yes, this is emotional
On Friday night, I covered a dreadful football game. What made it better was that a young journalist called Ben Dorgan was beside me. This lad is just a kid starting out but eager to learn. He’s also eager to contribute.
That and what I awoke to on Saturday before my flight to Malaga gave me pause for thought. The luck we have in life. To name just a few, Aris Barkas, Alex Krstanovic, David Sardinero, Moshe Barda, Sam Meyerkopf, and Syra Sylla. In my life, as basketball journalists and people, I’ve been lucky to learn a taste of the challenges they have dealt with to be who they are.
That was how I felt watching the stories from Renae Ingles and looking at the reactions to Joe Ingles and Jacob Ingles. When people you care about work hard and find a way, there is no label or obstacle that can hold them back. The grind isn’t always enough. When it has people to help you on the way however, it means a great deal.
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