April 21, 2024
Welcome to week four hundred and thirty-eight of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include: 1. Cooper DeJean the latest NFL draft find from Iowa (ESPN) 2. Caitlin Clark’s path to stardom paved by pioneering players who changed trajectory for women’s hoops (AP) 3. Aaron Estrada’s Alabama ascension also March Madness boon for Hofstra (New York Post) 4. Elysian Park Ventures: A Different Brand Of Moneyball (SBJ) 5. From window-shopping to MVP short list: Inside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s improbable two-decade rise (ESPN) 6. Global domination: How the NFL is seeking its next stars beyond U.S. borders (Yahoo! Sports) 7. Inside the NBA’s Twin-flux (The Ringer) 8. Jake Bates didn’t kick a FG in college. Now he’s a Michigan Panthers hero after epic kick. (Detroit Free Press) 9. After 40-year wait, Athletic finally set sail on the gabarra (ESPN) 10. Crohn’s Disease Has Not Slowed Mikey Eyssimont, Tampa Bay’s Masterton Nominee (Forbes) 10+ IOC launches Olympism365 Innovation Hub to support innovative sport-based development projects (Olympics.com) https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-launches-olympism365-innovation-hub-to-support-innovative-sport-based-development-projects Manchester United Foundation pupil wins global Rise Challenge (Sport and Dev) https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/manchester-united-foundation-pupil-wins-global-rise-challenge-0 How Baltimore is improving sports access for children (Project Play) https://projectplay.org/news/2024/4/9/how-baltimore-is-improving-sports-access-for-children To My New York Family (by Jalen Brunson) (The Players’ Tribune) https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/jalen-brunson-new-york-knicks-nba-basketball Sun Life and Beyond Sport Partner on Youth Basketball Program in Asia (Beyond Sport) https://beyondsport.org/press-releases/sun-life-and-beyond-sport-partner-on-asian-youth-basketball-program/ We present 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! Victor Wembanyama’s best plays of his rookie season so far (ESPN) https://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=39905688 Iowa locker room after the loss to South Carolina (WBB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdiNcJGsVpA Opening Doors | Bryan Herta Hyundai TCR Lead Engineer Explains How She Got Into IMSA Racing (IMSA) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb3Mv0iG0Sk Why women’s sports are reaching new heights in popularity and revenue (PBS) https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-womens-sports-are-reaching-new-heights-in-popularity-and-revenue |
www.loveequals.net Introduction: Being a fan, a committed fan, of a sports team can be hard. Very hard. You, at the very least, hope to have more good times than bad, with an occasional title celebration giving you a 5–10-year honeymoon before the losses start to truly bother you again and ruin your week. I really don’t have detailed recollection of the last title celebration by one of my favorite teams. That is not surprising since it was 37 years ago that the Mets won the World Series. Take away that championship and the one won by Georgetown in 1984, before I was a student there, and I am looking at a solid 50 years without a title. That…is…amazing. So, when there was a chance to hear from one of the players who was responsible for that Mets championship in 1986, I was all in. This past week I was in the audience in New York where I got to hear from Mets legend, Dwight “Doc” Gooden, who just had his jersey retired by the team a few days prior. The hour-long Q&A was terrific. It seemed he could tell stories for hours and hours, no problem. Dwight is seen by some as one of those “what might have been,” athletes due to his off-field troubles. I understand the sentiment. I choose to focus on “what was” and had a great time hearing from him. So back to the part about losing. With one title in 50 years, why stay a fan? Good question. I never really considered not being a fan of these teams due to the losses, mismanagement, and embarrassments, e.g. Butt Fumble, Aaron Rodgers, etc. And I never thought of switching allegiances. That is just not done in my book. But what type of payoff am I looking for? Maybe one that mirrors what took place last week in Bilbao, Spain after the city’s LaLiga squad won the Copa del Rey trophy for the first time in 40 years. Athletic Bilbao (aka Athletic Club) is not a team devoid of championships in its history or passionate, wonderful fans. But it had been a long time since the faithful had a chance to go down the river in “la gabarra,” or the barge. As in “Fight Club,” the first rule of the gabarra is “don’t talk about the gabarra.” There is a fine line between winning and losing and you don’t want to jinx anything. The ESPN article, “After 40-year wait, Athletic finally set sail on the gabarra,” by Sid Lowe, paints a wonderful mosaic of great fans, legendary players, the pain of losing multiple times in the finals, and the burst of joy that comes with not only winning the trophy, but getting to celebrate with a million of your friends. Athletic Bilbao and la gabarra give me hope. Are you listening Jets, Knicks, Mets, and Hoyas? Please continue to send along your stories. You’re both our audience and best source of stories. Our Twitter handle is @sportsdoinggood, and you can find us at www.facebook.com/sportsdoinggood and on Instagram. Finally, 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. |
Join our Mailing List! Top Stories of the Week Cooper DeJean the latest NFL draft find from Iowa (ESPN) For full story, please click here. Caitlin Clark’s path to stardom paved by pioneering players who changed trajectory for women’s hoops (AP) For full story, please click here. Aaron Estrada’s Alabama ascension also March Madness boon for Hofstra (New York Post) For full story, please click here. Elysian Park Ventures: A Different Brand of Moneyball (SportsBusiness Journal) For full story, please click here. From window-shopping to MVP short list: Inside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s improbable two-decade rise (ESPN) For full story, please click here. Global domination: How the NFL is seeking its next stars beyond U.S. borders (Yahoo! Sports) For full story, please click here. Inside the NBA’s Twin-flux (The Ringer) For full story, please click here. Jake Bates didn’t kick a FG in college. Now he’s a Michigan Panthers hero after epic kick. (Detroit Free Press) For full story, please click here. After 40-year wait, Athletic finally set sail on the gabarra (ESPN) For full story, please click here. Crohn’s Disease Has Not Slowed Mikey Eyssimont, Tampa Bay’s Masterton Nominee (Forbes) For full story, please click here.? www.loveequals.net |
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sarbjit “Sab” Singh sab@sportsdoinggood.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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