Oct. 6 – Oct. 19, 2024
Welcome to issue four hundred and fifty of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. From Grimace to The Playoff Pumpkin, Mets’ good luck charms explained (Major League Baseball)
2. The Pitcher Who Got His Kicks on Route 66 (Religion of Sports)
3. Dikembe Mutombo, a Towering N.B.A. Presence, Dies at 58 (New York Times)
4. Power Player: Inside the Journey of the NHL’s First Female Coach (Religion of Sports)
5. Before he was everything else, Kris Kristofferson was an athlete (Washington Post)
6. How Utah Hockey Club pulled off iconic first game experience (ESPN)
7. ‘It was a massive thing’ to be England’s first Black football player, says Viv Anderson (CNN)
8. Djokovic & Federer lead tributes to retiring Nadal (BBC)
9. Ryan Day and Chip Kelly started in small-town New Hampshire (ESPN)
10. ‘Dumplings in Chinatown!’ Chicago Bears bask in UK life before Jags clash (The Guardian)


10+
79th Session of the General Assembly; “United by our Common Goals – Ensuring the Impact of Sport on Sustainable Development and Peace” (United Nations)
https://social.desa.un.org/issues/sport-for-development-and-peace/79th-session-of-the-general-assembly-united-by-our-common
Beyond Representation: Exploring Comprehensive Gender-Inclusive Approaches to Elevate Women in Professional Sports (Breaking Barriers Academy)
https://www.breakingbarriersacademy.com/adidas-research-paper-beyond-representation
This Girl Can’s New Report Shares Tips on Engaging Underserved Communities in Sport (Beyond Sport)
https://beyondsport.org/2024/10/11/this-girl-cans-new-report-shares-tips-on-engaging-underserved-communities-in-sport/
Million Coaches Challenge To Train 25K Youth Coaches Across California (Beyond Sport)
https://beyondsport.org/2024/10/11/million-coaches-challenge-focuses-on-upskilling-california-coaches/
Utilising sport for mental health and social change in India (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/utilising-sport-mental-health-and-social-change-india


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!

These 17 Pictures Tell the Stories of Black Athletes in America (Smithsonian Magazine)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/these-17-pictures-tell-the-stories-of-black-athletes-in-america-180985088/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us


Introduction
One of the parts of the job of being a professor I take most seriously is being a reference and counselor when it comes to helping students navigate their career journeys. This is true for both the undergraduate and graduate students I have the benefit of working with. That being said, if your organization is looking for current students for internships and/or recent graduates for full-time positions, please let me know and I will make the introduction. Thanks.

The story I am featuring this week touches upon two things I love: sports and traveling. In “‘Dumplings in Chinatown!’ Chicago Bears bask in UK life before Jags clash,” by The Guardian, we get a much-needed look at the wonder one experiences when in a new culture/environment. As the article points out, pro athletes, especially younger ones, may have not had the chance until now, of traveling abroad. With such a laser focus on being a world-class athlete, downtime often entails staying in one place, recovering from the intense workouts.

While the NFL’s main purpose in playing games abroad is not the acculturation of its players into other cultures, the impact of the League’s international efforts on its players and other team employees should not be underestimated. As the Chicago Bears showed in its recent trip, there was enough time for its players to “live” like a normal person while in the UK. You can’t help but recognize the joy in the words of several players quoted in the article about their international journey. With the League’s regular trips to London each year and this year to Brazil, and future trips to Spain, Germany, and a host of other countries around the world, it is giving players, personnel, and fans a chance to experience the wonderment of travel while exposing multiple cultures to the most popular sport in the United States. That is sports doing good.

Please continue to send along your stories. You are both our audience and the best source of stories. Our Twitter handle is @sportsdoinggood, and you can find us at www.facebook.com/sportsdoinggood and on Instagram.

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.

From Grimace to The Playoff Pumpkin, Mets’ good luck charms explained (Major League Baseball)
https://www.mlb.com/news/mets-ties-to-grimace-lucky-playoff-pumpkin-explained

The Pitcher Who Got His Kicks on Route 66 (Religion of Sports)
https://open.substack.com/pub/religionofsports/p/the-pitcher-who-got-his-kicks-on?r=1dwlnm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Dikembe Mutombo, a Towering N.B.A. Presence, Dies at 58 (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/sports/dikembe-mutombo-dead.html

Power Player: Inside the Journey of the NHL’s First Female Coach (Religion of Sports)
https://religionofsports.substack.com/p/power-player-inside-the-journey-of

How Utah Hockey Club pulled off iconic first game experience (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/41719623/nhl-utah-hockey-club-opening-night-beer-chug-snow-fans-goals

‘It was a massive thing’ to be England’s first Black football player, says Viv Anderson (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/07/sport/viv-anderson-england-football-spt-intl/index.html

Djokovic & Federer lead tributes to retiring Nadal (BBC)
https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/articles/cy801wdv8p1o

Ryan Day and Chip Kelly started in small-town New Hampshire (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/41720815/ryan-day-chip-kelly-started-smalltown-new-hampshire

‘Dumplings in Chinatown!’ Chicago Bears bask in UK life before Jags clash (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/no-helmets-required/2024/oct/12/chicago-bears-jacksonville-jaguars-nfl-london

Before he was everything else, Kris Kristofferson was an athlete (Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/09/30/kris-kristofferson-soldier-singer-songwriter-sports/

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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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