Sports Doing Good Newsletter #365

May 23 – June 5, 2021
Welcome to issue three hundred and sixty-five of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. The Marathon Men Who Can’t Go Home (GQ)
2. US soccer superstar Tobin Heath wants to be seen as ‘an artist on the field’ – and off of it, too (Yahoo)
3. In Sailing, Women Are Taking More Than a Seat (New York Times)
4. At the Indy 500, Roger Penske Is Still Running Circles Around Everyone (SI)
5. Whoop Live and other wearable tech devices are showing the world what being an athlete is really like (SportsBusiness Journal)
6. How to Buy a Sports Team: the Blueprint Behind the New Albany FireWolves (Sportico)
7. Christian Pulisic’s Champions League win with Chelsea headlines an American run on European silverware (ESPN)
8. How Soccer Clubs Became the Latest Must-Have Celebrity Investment (Yahoo)
9. Alienware, Team Liquid Form Esports Scholarship Program
10. Desai’s success fueled by perseverance, hard work (Chicago Bears)


10+
I Am So Lucky (by Trey Mancini) (The Players’ Tribune)
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/i-am-so-lucky-trey-mancini-orioles-cancer
Mental Health Awareness Month: Working to end the stigma, one story at a time (Beyond Sport/ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/espnw/story/_/id/31459633/mental-health-awareness-month-working-end-stigma-one-story
IOC launches the International Safeguarding Officer in Sport Certificate (IOC)
https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-launches-the-international-safeguarding-officer-in-sport-certificate
Play Equity Should Be Our Goal As Schools Open In Wake of COVID-19 (LA84 Foundation)
https://la84foundation.medium.com/play-equity-should-be-our-goal-as-schools-open-in-wake-of-covid-19-a9df9b9c398b
ChildFund partners with Rugby World Cup 2021 (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/en/article/news/childfund-partners-rugby-world-cup-2021


We present again our “Featured Video” offering(s). With the explosion of video content out there highlighting the good in sport, we want to showcase such content for your enjoyment and learning. This will be an ongoing effort. And now we add podcasts!

African athletes uplift their countries with Olympic pursuits (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2021/05/31/olympic-athletes-uganda-joshua-cheptegei-nigeria-uche-eke.cnn/video/playlists/african-voices-pre-roll/
Meet Vanderbilt’s dynamic 1-2 punch: Rocker and Leiter (ESPN)
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=31509357


Introduction
I am asked relatively often about my process in identifying and ultimately selecting articles to include in the Sports Doing Good newsletter. I don’t have any “article alerts” set up with websites that feed me stories. I don’t want it to be automated like that. I like coming across articles just randomly.

When I do randomly come across articles, I certainly am attracted by the title of the article and/or its sub-heading. What else helps? Pictures, especially pictures with captions. This last trigger was the one that got me to select our first article, “The Marathon Men Who Can’t Go Home,” from GQ Magazine.

While the title of the article might imply some negativity embedded in the storyline, the mention of Van Cortland Park in the Bronx and Ethiopian runners escaping civil war caught my eye. After reading the article, I knew it was right for the newsletter. Actually, it was exactly the type of article that motivated me to start the newsletter nine years ago. That is, I wanted to do something to get more people, even if just a few more, to see articles that spoke to the good in sports. And that seemed to be at least part of the motivation for the author of the article, David Alm. He mentions his anticipation that someone would read the article and help out these brave runners. I, in fact, did reach out to the West Side Runners club and its 81-year old leader, Bill Staab.

While there is disappointment grounded in the great risk these runners face, as well as their families, if they try to return to Ethiopia at this time, there is hope and fuel for survival to be found in their respective love in running. Van Cortland Park, not too far from where I live, is an escape for these runners, providing a sense of normalcy in a frenetic world. I normally don’t explicitly ask for help in the newsletter for a particular person or organization, though it certainly can be implied, I will ask in this situation to take a look at this article and see if there is a way to help these runners and others fleeing Ethiopia or other countries under duress. That would be a great example of sports doing good. As Staab says in the article, “It just feels good to help people. It’s what life is about.”

If you think others would like to receive the newsletter, please feel free to forward it on or have them contact us directly at sab@sportsdoinggood.com. (If you do not want to receive the newsletter anymore you can use the Unsubscribe button at the end of the email).

So, enjoy. And have a good week.

The Marathon Men Who Can’t Go Home (GQ)
https://www.gq.com/story/ethiopian-marathon-runners-bronx-new-york

US soccer superstar Tobin Heath wants to be seen as ‘an artist on the field’ – and off of it, too (Yahoo)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-soccer-superstar-tobin-heath-130636982.html

In Sailing, Women Are Taking More Than a Seat (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/sports/sailing/women-competition.html

At the Indy 500, Roger Penske Is Still Running Circles Around Everyone (SI)
https://www.si.com/racing/2021/05/28/roger-penske-indy-500-2021-daily-cover

Whoop Live and other wearable tech devices are showing the world what being an athlete is really like (SportsBusiness Journal)
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2021/05/24/Upfront/Data-and-technology.aspx

How to Buy a Sports Team: the Blueprint Behind the New Albany FireWolves (Sportico)
https://www.sportico.com/personalities/owners/2021/albany-firewolves-owners-oliver-marti-sports-investing-1234630941/

Christian Pulisic’s Champions League win with Chelsea headlines an American run on European silverware (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4398761/christian-pulisics-champions-league-win-with-chelsea-headlines-an-american-run-on-european-silverware

How Soccer Clubs Became the Latest Must-Have Celebrity Investment (Yahoo)
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/soccer-clubs-became-latest-must-154332740.html

Alienware, Team Liquid Form Esports Scholarship Program (Sport Techie)
https://www.sporttechie.com/alienware-team-liquid-form-esports-scholarship-program#

Desai’s success fueled by perseverance, hard work (Chicago Bears)
https://www.chicagobears.com/news/desai-s-success-fueled-by-perseverance-hard-work


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More About Us
Our goal is to have Sports Doing Good be a portal housing original content and excerpts from and links to the increasing number of articles, websites, video, and other media that showcase the good in sports and society. We aim to celebrate those concepts, activities, events, and individuals by highlighting them for a wider audience. Much of the news today, whether sports- related or not, is incredibly negative and increasingly polarizing, biased, and quite annoying. We are trying to refocus some of the discussion on the good, with a focus on sports.

Our mission is to have Sport Doing Good be a consistent, and significant, contributor to the areas of sports, social responsibility, and development. We look forward to partnering with other stakeholders in producing content, in creating and/or sponsoring athletic and service events, knowledge sharing, and conferences/seminars, and even having a commercial arm that could be the source of innovative social businesses.

We invite you to send in news, press releases, and guest pieces for possible publication, and email us with suggestions about the content and format of the newsletter and Sports Doing Good website.

Contact Information
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Sarbjit “Sab” Singh
sab@sportsdoinggood.com
516-287-7141
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