Sports Doing Good Newsletter #382

Jan. 23 – Feb. 5, 2022
Welcome to issue three hundred and eighty-two of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. Kansas City Chiefs fans, in nod to Bills Mafia, donate $178,000 to Buffalo children’s hospital (ESPN)
2. Virgil Abloh’s Legacy Lives On Through Ghana’s Freedom Skatepark (Teen Vogue)
3. How Pro Endurance Athletes Became The Hardest-Working Creators on the Internet (GQ)
4. WNBA raises $75 million in first-ever funding round, valuing entire league and teams at $1 billion (CNBC)
5. N.F.L. Players Wear Their Hearts Under Their Uniforms (New York Times)
6. From CERN to LFC: The ‘weird’ journey of William Spearman, Liverpool’s lead data scientist (Liverpool FC)
7. Jake Paul’s UFC ‘Social-Impact’ Campaign Looking Like a Win-Win (Sportico/JohnWallStreet)
8. Kaitlyn Weaver: ‘There was so much more to me than I was able to show’ (The Guardian)
9. ‘He’s as tough as it comes’: Why the Bengals’ Joe Burrow plays QB like a linebacker (ESPN)
10. For Eric Weddle, It Was (Apparently) Never Over (SI)

10+
Olympians and Paralympians call on world leaders for vaccine equity (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/en/article/news/olympians-and-paralympians-call-world-leaders-vaccine-equity
5 Sport and Human Rights Issues to Look Out For in 2022 (Centre for Sport & Human Rights)
https://www.sporthumanrights.org/library/5-sport-and-human-rights-issues-to-look-out-for-in-2022/
When Opportunity Knocks, What Do You Choose? (by Elizabeth Williams) (The Players’ Tribune)
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/elizabeth-williams-wnba-basketball-washington-mystics-atlanta-dream
Nigerian Footballers Jon Campaign to End FGM (Beyond Sport)
http://www.beyondsport.org/articles/nigerian-footballers-join-campaign-to-end-fgm/
New Peace and Sport CEO Appointed (Peace and Sport)
https://www.peace-sport.org/news/new-peace-and-sport-ceo-appointed/

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!

Pillow fighting: yes, it’s professional combat sport – video (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/video/2022/feb/04/pillow-fighting-yes-its-professional-combat-sport-video
Oakland Roots Sports Club makes Black history on and off the field (Fox KTVU)
https://www.ktvu.com/black-history-in-the-bay-area/oakland-roots-sports-club-makes-black-history-on-and-off-the-field

Introduction
A major trend that we have seen in business, and not just in sports, is the increased prominence of content, especially content consumable online. While the idea of content having value in society, beyond economic value, might turn off some due to the wild variance of the quality of said content, the reality is that it is here, and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.
I have certainly featured on a regular basis, content that I think has value, especially “good” content. It is , in a way, the foundation of this newsletter. Good content gets featured at Sports Doing Good, and sometimes it is the concept of content versus the actual content that gets the attention. This week we feature some emerging forms of content, as well as a content provider, aka an influencer, who is leveraging his power as a content provider to try to effectuate change in sport.

I was thrilled to see the news that the WNBA, entering its 26th season, attracted $75 million in investment from a group of financial and sport industry leaders. Much has been said over the years that a real commitment to women’s sports has to be made. And by real, we were meaning a financial commitment. Well, we got one this week. And it surely won’t be the last for the league and other leagues looking for solid ground.

A second story featured has to do with the somewhat different/unusual/strange amongst us, and I say that in the most complimentary way. Those folks are endurance athletes, especially extreme endurance athletes. Turns out the curiosity they generate makes them, well, good content.

Lastly, a third story that I feature is one that caught me by surprise because I don’t really look at “influencers,” as they are traditionally portrayed, as that good in terms of what they do and impact they have. Much of that influence seems to be based on rather trivial drivers of popularity, that is, “famous for being famous,” and not worthy of serious attention. However, I was attracted to a story involving influencer, and yes, boxer, Jake Paul, for his desire to push the UFC to be fairer to his fighters, at least with respect to the payments they deserve. Who thought that Jake Paul would be the person who gets the multi-billion-dollar entity, who heretofore has chronically underpaid its fighters, to possibly rethink its approach to financial security for its fighters? In that area, we are all in with Jake Paul.

Oh, I forgot, check out in the video section for a clip on, wait for it, a new form of content, professional pillow fighting!!

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.

Kansas City Chiefs fans, in nod to Bills Mafia, donate $178,000 to Buffalo children’s hospital (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33152010/kansas-city-chiefs-fans-nod-bills-mafia-donate-178000-buffalo-children-hospital

Virgil Abloh’s Legacy Lives On Through Ghana’s Freedom Skatepark (Teen Vogue)
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/virgil-abloh-ghana-freedom-skatepark

How Pro Endurance Athletes Became The Hardest-Working Creators on the Internet (GQ)
https://www.gq.com/story/the-endurance-creators

WNBA raises $75 million in first-ever funding round, valuing entire league and teams at $1 billion (CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/03/wnba-completes-first-ever-investment-round-with-backers-including-nike.html

N.F.L. Players Wear Their Hearts Under Their Uniforms (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/sports/nfl-tshirts-bruce-thompson.html

From CERN to LFC: The ‘weird’ journey of William Spearman, Liverpool’s lead data scientist (Liverpool FC)
https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/cern-lfc-weird-journey-william-spearman-liverpools-lead-data-scientist

Jake Paul’s UFC ‘Social-Impact’ Campaign Looking Like a Win-Win (Sportico/JohnWallStreet)
https://news.yahoo.com/jake-paul-ufc-social-impact-105509529.html

Kaitlyn Weaver: ‘There was so much more to me than I was able to show’ (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/feb/05/kaitlyn-weaver-there-was-so-much-more-to-me-than-i-was-able-to-show

‘He’s as tough as it comes’: Why the Bengals’ Joe Burrow plays QB like a linebacker (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33218282/tough-comes-why-bengals-joe-burrow-plays-qb-linebacker

For Eric Weddle, It Was (Apparently) Never Over (SI)
https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/02/04/inside-story-of-eric-weddle-unretirement-return-to-rams-daily-cover


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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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