So I was reading Scoops new column...
... and I come across this...
KG and Oprah
How do you make Mother Moses cry? In a year when ball players were getting press for "str8 stupidness" it seemed strange that Kevin Garnett's written appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show went notice-free.
He wrote her a letter. They gave her the letter on-air as a surprise. In the letter, he said he wanted to donate something to her Angel Network, which was building houses for those who lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina. His pledge: To build one house per month for the next two years. That's 24 homes! Two seasons of "Extreme Makeover." Financially funded by one person  with no commercial return on his donation. A gesture that should have landed him on the cover of Time alongside Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono as Persons of The Year. A gesture that made Oprah -- read it again, Oprah -- break down.
But still, no member of the media wrote a story about it. USA Today scripted a blurb; ESPN.com made a mention. But overall -- nada.
Now, let Kevin Garnett or any other athlete run a stop light; let them miss a practice unexcused; let them miss a child support payment -- Bam! Lead story on "SportsCenter," forum discussion on "Rome Is Burning," breaking news on CNN.
In an era when it is too often publicly asked: "Where are our kids' role models?"; in a society that is starved for areas of positiveness to come from our professional athletes; in a world where we have been conditioned to believe that every one of these young superstars is unappreciative, ungrateful, undeserving and a void soul, a situation arose that could have shifted the entire perception of their existence. What Kevin Garnett did was just that big.
But guess who dropped the ball? Us. The media, for not saying anything about it, and the public, for not demanding that we do.
The moral of this story: How do you make the media not pay attention to you when you are a superstar athlete? Do something humane.
I've just this year begun reading Scoop's columns and I'm thankful that I have. He covers the topic of racism in the sports world in a way that makes itnoticeablee. Did you hear about the KG thing? If you did I bet it was brief. This is incredible and it renews my faith that sports superstars can be role models and should be. This act of charity is simply stunning and I don't want it to go unannounced. Thanks Kevin.
KG and Oprah
How do you make Mother Moses cry? In a year when ball players were getting press for "str8 stupidness" it seemed strange that Kevin Garnett's written appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show went notice-free.
He wrote her a letter. They gave her the letter on-air as a surprise. In the letter, he said he wanted to donate something to her Angel Network, which was building houses for those who lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina. His pledge: To build one house per month for the next two years. That's 24 homes! Two seasons of "Extreme Makeover." Financially funded by one person  with no commercial return on his donation. A gesture that should have landed him on the cover of Time alongside Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono as Persons of The Year. A gesture that made Oprah -- read it again, Oprah -- break down.
But still, no member of the media wrote a story about it. USA Today scripted a blurb; ESPN.com made a mention. But overall -- nada.
Now, let Kevin Garnett or any other athlete run a stop light; let them miss a practice unexcused; let them miss a child support payment -- Bam! Lead story on "SportsCenter," forum discussion on "Rome Is Burning," breaking news on CNN.
In an era when it is too often publicly asked: "Where are our kids' role models?"; in a society that is starved for areas of positiveness to come from our professional athletes; in a world where we have been conditioned to believe that every one of these young superstars is unappreciative, ungrateful, undeserving and a void soul, a situation arose that could have shifted the entire perception of their existence. What Kevin Garnett did was just that big.
But guess who dropped the ball? Us. The media, for not saying anything about it, and the public, for not demanding that we do.
The moral of this story: How do you make the media not pay attention to you when you are a superstar athlete? Do something humane.
I've just this year begun reading Scoop's columns and I'm thankful that I have. He covers the topic of racism in the sports world in a way that makes itnoticeablee. Did you hear about the KG thing? If you did I bet it was brief. This is incredible and it renews my faith that sports superstars can be role models and should be. This act of charity is simply stunning and I don't want it to go unannounced. Thanks Kevin.
posted by Dan at 6:06 PM
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