Fun Doing Good:

Terrence Jones keeps promise to bring flowers to Louisville cheerleader
Three weeks after the Kentucky forward barreled into Louisville cheerleader Jerica Logue chasing down a loose ball during the Final Four, Jones found a way to atone for the four stitches she had to get at halftime to close the wound on top of her head.
Jones showed up to Louisville cheerleading practice on Monday night with a bouquet of flowers just as he said he would do when informed about Logue’s injuries the night of the game. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/terrence-jones-keeps-promise-bring-flowers-louisville-cheerleader-135500155.html

Kevin Na gets his revenge on TPC San Antonio hole where he carded 16
Revenge is usually  a dish best served cold, but in Kevin Na’s case, he prefers serving it up with  a red-hot chainsaw. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you most likely witnessed the video of Na coming unraveled and carding a 16
on the par-4 ninth hole at last year’s Valero Texas Open. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/golf-devil-ball-golf/kevin-na-gets-revenge-tpc-san-antonio-hole-200450630.html

The 2011-12 NBA regular season: In pictures
The 2011-12 NBA  regular season went by in a blur. But that doesn’t mean little happened — far  from it. From a determined Kobe to Lob City, from Metta’s elbow to Odom’s meltdown, from a banged-up MVP to a championship-hungry Big Three, to the thing
known as Linsanity, it was quite a year. Playbook Visuals takes a look back at the 66-game campaign, bringing you 16 eye-catching pictures covering the year’s biggest storylines. http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/visuals/post/_/id/1024/the-2011-12-nba-regular-season-in-pictures

Athletes Doing Good:

Accountant To Play Football For Miami Dolphins
Ever since Dan Marino retired, the Miami Dolphins have wasted a lot of money signing top college football players to contracts that never really paid off, so now they’ve decided to give accountants a try. In short, the story seems to have been delivered directly from a Hollywood script. Les Brown, an accountant at a private equity investment firm in West Palm Beach, Fla., just signed a contract to play tight end for the Dolphins. http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/dish/201204/accountant-play-football-miami-dolphins

Cal Ripken Jr. and Energizer go to bat for neighborhoods in need; celebrate national partnership with Habitat for Humanity
Working with baseball legend and philanthropist Cal Ripken Jr., Energizer will donate more than $350,000 and 1,500 volunteer hours to Habitat through a 13-city series of volunteer projects to help build new homes and revitalize existing homes with
local families in need of improved housing. http://www.habitat.org/newsroom/2012archive/04_27_2012_cal_ripken_jr_and_energizer_go_to_bat.aspx?print=true

NBA Sportsmanship Award
Cleveland’s Antawn Jamison, Dallas’ Jason Kidd, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul, Miami’s Shane Battier, Minnesota’s Luke Ridnour and New York’s Jeremy Lin were selected by a five-member panel of former players as divisional winners for the 2011-12 NBA Sportsmanship  Award. The NBA Sportsmanship Award, designed to honor a player who best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court, is voted on by NBA players. The NBA will announce the winner after the regular season. http://knicksnow.com/posts/1123/nba-sportsmanship-award

Bo knows how to make charity pitch
While making a rare visit to Turner Field on Wednesday afternoon, Bo Jackson spent time with his former general manager, threw a ceremonial first pitch to a University of Alabama fan and also promoted Bo Bikes Bama, a 300-mile bike journey that will take him and other celebrities through tornado-ravaged communities to raise money for the Alabama Governor’s Emergency Relief Fund. All of the proceeds of this charitable endeavor will go to those victimized by the deadly tornadoes that ravaged parts
of Alabama on April 27, 2011. Those interested in making a donation or learning more about the event can visit http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120418&content_id=28986784&notebook_id=28987698&vkey=notebook_atl&c_id=atl

Tampa Bay Rays: Sean Rodriguez has personal stake in charity fundraiser; Jeff Niemann has
personal connection to perfect game
INF Sean Rodriguez said he and his family had a great time participating in Saturday’s Walk Now for Autism Speaks event at Raymond James Stadium. The cause hits home. His 2-year-old son, GoGo, was diagnosed with autism. Rodriguez said he spent part of the morning trying to keep up with GoGo. “It was awesome,” Rodriguez said. “My little man is a runner.” http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/tampa-bay-rays-sean-rodriguez-has-personal-stake-in-charity-fundraiser/1226356

Yao still at center (of charity)
“Although I am retired, basketball is still an important part of my life,” Yao said during the launch of his new charitable project, Hope Primary Schools basketball, at China Youth University for Political Science on Thursday. “Since I first played the game when I was 9, basketball has taught me how to be optimistic about facing difficulties as well as how to coordinate my own interests with those of the team,” Yao said. “I’ve realized a lot of my dreams and had so many precious experiences thanks to the game.” Now, Yao hopes the game will inspire children who are living in poverty and earthquake-stricken areas. The six-month program is a joint initiative led by the Yao Foundation, China Youth Development Foundation and the Chinese Basketball Association to improve physical-education manpower and facilities in 47 schools in rural regions across the country. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-04/21/content_15104447.htm

Bartolo Colon throws 38 straight strikes, most since 1988
Bartolo Colon put together an amazing run of consistency on Wednesday night, throwing 38 consecutive pitches for strikes in a 6-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels.  http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/bartolo-colon-throws-38-straight-strikes-most-since-154441200.html

Events Doing Good:

Sports and Arts in Schools Foundation (SASF)* Champions Awards Gala, May 15
A Benefit Reception with Silent Auction honoring Lenny Wilkens, Cal Ramsey, Jay Fiedler, and others who have helped improve the lives of kids growing up and going to school in New York City.
* Sports & Arts in Schools Foundation (SASF), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, is one of the largest providers of school-based after-school programs in New York City and the metropolitan region. SASF serves more than 25,000 students in over 150
public schools.  These students typically live in low-income neighborhoods and attend academically struggling schools in
grades K-12.  http://www.sasfny.org/pdf/SASF%20Save%20the%20Date.pdf

Charity tournament scores win for homeless
Hockey Helps the Homeless is an annual event played in major cities across Canada that allows hockey enthusiasts to play three games on a team with NHL alumni. For the price of a $300 registration fee, participants receive a team jersey with their name on the back and an invitation to a dinner and a silent auction. The tournament raises between $150,000 to $200,000 in cities such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, with 35 per cent of the money used to pay to run the tournament. http://www.yourottawaregion.com/news/local/article/1339998–charity-tournament-scores-win-for-homeless

Leading Organizations Confirmed for the Beyond Sport Summit
Sport Accord, Sony, UNHCR, USAID, Global Action Forum, and PwC are just a few already confirmed to attend the Beyond Sport Summit taking place July 23-25 in London. Make sure you are there when the action happens and book your place now. http://www.beyondsport.org/the-summit/invitation/attendee.php

Ideas Doing Good:

April is National Youth Sports Safety Month
April is National Youth Sports Safety Month. Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue (www.pwcgov.org/fire) and the Center for Disease Control urge parents, coaches and kids to take precautions to eliminate and/or reduce the number of injuries children sustain when participating in a sports activity by wearing appropriate protective equipment such as pads, helmets, mouthpieces, face guards, protective cups and eyewear. http://woodbridge-va.patch.com/articles/april-is-national-youth-sports-safety-month

Beard-A-Thon raises over $200,000 in four days
Hockey fans across North American have come together this playoff season to raise over $200,000 in just 4 days for charity. The 4th Annual Beard-A-Thon®, proudly presented by Just For Men, encourages hockey enthusiasts to grow their own playoff beards for the 2012 Stanley Cup® Playoffs or pledge their favorite NHL players. In addition to participating in a great hockey tradition, beard growers are raising money for charities across the nation. http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=628568&print=true

Leagues Doing Good:

The NBA Development League announced that it will bring back the Boost Mobile NBA D-League National Tryouts
Boost Mobile ® in conjunction with the NBA D-League, the official minor league of the National Basketball Association, will hold the Boost Mobile ® NBA D-League National Tryouts in Los Angeles* and Chicago*. This event will challenge NBA D-League hopefuls, via full-court games, to showcase their skills for NBA D-League player personnel executives, coaches and industry scouts with the hopes of gaining eligibility for the NBA D-League Draft in November. For more, please click here.  http://www.nba.com/webAction?actionId=surveyInitializeIntegrated&target=/dleague/tryouts/registration.jsp&surveyId=1888

For Earth Day, NASCAR releases ‘White Paper’
“This report brings to life some of the substantive examples of NASCAR’s commitment to green innovation and our role as a leader in sustainability,” said Dr. Michael Lynch, managing director of green innovation for NASCAR. “Even with the largest sustainability program in sports, NASCAR — along with our teams, tracks and official partners — continues to create innovative platforms to help reduce the environmental impact of our sport.” http://www.nascar.com/news/120419/nascar-earth-day-white-paper-on-green-initiatives/index.html

Media Doing Good:

Williams Visits Mexico City Slums for New Sports Charity Film
A trip to the slums of Mexico City has given father-to-be Robbie Williams a taste of how the world’s poorest kids have to fight to survive.” Right now, children are suffering and it shouldn’t be like this.” The Take That star jetted off to Mexico this week with children’s charity Unicef and his own charitable organization Soccer Aid to shoot a short film to coincide with a fundraising soccer
match featuring Williams and other celebrities which is scheduled for next month (May12). http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/music/musicnews/Robbie+Williams-236259.html

Medora (documentary)
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/medora/medora-documentary-film. You can learn more about the brave, resilient players and coaches of Medora High School through this absorbing New York Times article which inspired the film.  “In Rural Indiana Town, Even Basketball Suffers” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/sports/28medora.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

AMERICAN  EXPERIENCE: JESSE OWENS ADVANCE SCREENING AND DISCUSSION
Jesse Owens, a new film about the athlete whose stunning triumph at the 1936 Olympic Games captivated the world – even as it infuriated the Nazis – will have a special advance screening during the Penn Relays competition. (Jesse Owens premieres on
the PBS series AMERICAN EXPERIENCE on Tuesday, May 1 and is available on DVD simultaneously via PBS Distribution.) For more, please click here.

Q&A: Anthony Robles
Robles shares his thoughts about “On the Mat,” his career and his secret crush http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7833398/qa-national-wrestling-champion-anthony-robles

Organizations Doing Good:

American Council on Exercise Kick Starts National Physical Fitness and Sports Month in May
American Council on Exercise (ACE), in support of National Physical Fitness and Sports Month in May, is launching the ACE PALA+ Challenge to help individuals kick start a program to achieve the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA+). The ACE PALA+ Challenge consists of weekly cardiovascular and resistance workout plans for May and beyond that allow participants to fulfill the requirements for PALA+, reinvigorate a habit of daily physical activity, or begin a new plan to live their most fit life.  http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/26/4445706/american-council-on-exercise-kick.html#storylink=cpy

Kirilenko Promises Basketball  Court for Orphans
The charity foundation of CSKA and Russia forward Andrei Kirilenko will donate a basketball court to a Moscow orphanage, he told RIA Novosti on Saturday. The former NBA All-Star made the announcement at the opening of a play room that his foundation also paid for at Children’s Home No. 59 just outside the capital.”Today we opened a play room, the basketball court is to come,” Kirilenko said. “I want the kids to develop an interest in basketball.” “It is important that they grow physically and lead an active and healthy way of life.” http://en.ria.ru/sports/20120421/172958415.html

NFL Legends Team With Nonprofits To Create New Playbook To Address Nation’s Affordable Housing Crisis By Revitalizing Neighborhoods
The United Athletes Foundation (UAF), Builders of Hope and Consumer Education Services, Inc. (CESI) today announced an initiative, Bring It Home, that will revitalize blighted communities by developing quality, safe, affordable housing and teach financial literacy to the new homebuyers and renters moving into the renovated houses.  The organizations will pilot
this innovative program in Baltimore and Atlanta. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nfl-legends-team-with-nonprofits-to-create-new-playbook-to-address-nations-affordable-housing-crisis-by-revitalizing-neighborhoods-149213055.html

People Doing Good: 

Sustainable community development through sport and events: A conceptual framework
Nico Schulenkorf is the Deputy Editor (Sport & Peace) at the newly created Journal of Sport for
Development (JSFD) http://www.sportanddev.org/en/?4367/New-publication-Sustainable-community-development-through-sport-and-events-A-conceptual-framework

*Remember to sign up for Sport and Dev’s newsletter. http://www.sportanddev.org/

Teams Doing Good:

Aaron Ross to miss some training camp to watch wife compete in Olympics
When Sanya Richards, the girlfriend of cornerback Aaron Ross, ran the 400m in the Beijing Olympics, he couldn’t be there to support her. He had to attend training camp for the New York Giants. For the 2012 Olympics, his new team, the Jacksonville
Jaguars, has already promised that he will get to cheer Richards-Ross, now his wife, in person. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/aaron-ross-miss-training-camp-watch-wife-compete-024601782.html