Dec. 29 – Jan. 11, 2025
Welcome to issue four hundred and fifty-six of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. Teenage sensation Luke Littler, 17, becomes darts’ youngest ever world champion (CNN)
2. Cal guard Jayda Noble paints custom shoes to express her artistic side when she leaves the court (AP/Favorito)
3. Latinos are the fastest-growing fanbase in the NFL. What’s the league’s playbook? (NPR)
4. Predicting the 25 Best Athletes of the Next 25 Years (Bleacher Report)
5. Nearly half the players on the GTHL’s Don Mills Flyers are Asian. It could be the start of a trend (Toronto Star)
6. Pistons and PeacePlayers Unite to Launch 6-Week Youth Initiative to Combat Violence in Detroit (Michigan Chronicle)
7. Why James Franklin–Marcus Freeman Matchup Is Progress for Black Coaches (SI)
8. Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin scores ‘Superwoman’ goal before 19,038 in Vancouver (The Guardian)
9. Christian Pulisic Is Doing Things in European Soccer That No American Has (GQ)
10. Myles Garrett has neat moment with Ravens’ Roger Rosengarten (ESPN)


10+
Laureus USA Welcomes New Executive Director, Joanne Pasternack (Laureus)
https://laureususa.com/news/laureus-usa-welcomes-new-executive-director-joanne-pasternack/
Co-creation in sport for development: The Living Lab approach (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/research-learning/guiding-toolkits/co-creation-sport-development-living-lab-approach
Hand the Ball to the Damn Referee, Patrick (by Pat Freiermuth) (The Players’ Tribune)
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/pat-freiermuth-nfl-football-pittsburgh-steelers
The Beyond Sport Team Reflects on The Most Impactful Sporting Moments of 2024 (Beyond Sport)
https://beyondsport.org/2024/12/13/the-beyond-sport-team-reflects-on-their-most-impactful-sporting-moments-of-2024/
Photos of the Year 2024 (The Players’ Tribune)
https://projects.theplayerstribune.com/photos-of-the-year-2024/p/1


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!

How the Atlanta Falcons Started the Cheap Stadium Food Movement (Front Office Sports)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcgNB0mvQ3c
The Miscalculation of Zach Edey (The Check Up)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grf1vQs6_To


Introduction
My goal with Sports Doing Good is to shine a light on the people, teams, leagues, companies and organizations that are making a difference in the world of sports and in society in general. As I have said before, I have never had a tough time putting together a newsletter due to a lack of stories. There are always enough to highlight, and my task is to curate a group that will educate, inspire, and motivate.

Many of the articles featured are longer in nature and give a good background on the subject of the article, as well as an update on current happenings. But length of story is not an overt factor in the selection of the stories for the newsletter. And this week, one of the shortest articles I have featured, highlighting a quick interaction in an NFL game, is the one I wanted to highlight.

“You ain’t never a nobody. I got you.” Those were some of the words that Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett said to Baltimore Ravens’ Roger Rosengarten, a rookie in the League, during their game. Rosengarten was asking Garrett for his jersey after the game and started the request with, “I know I am a nobody…” The quick interaction was captured by NFL Films for “Hard Knocks: In Season With the AFC North.”

In just a few seconds Garrett took what Rosengarten said and flipped it on its head. Rosengarten is one of the best at what he does, as evidenced by his inclusion on an NFL team. While a rookie, he has done the necessary hard work to get where he is. Garrett, the NFL’s number one draft pick in 2017, has been a star for a while but shut down the supposed gap between the two players. Garrett mentioned how Rosengarten is in the League, his team is winning games, and they are looking great, and then finished with “You ain’t never a nobody. I got you.”

It might be hard to fathom how a pro football player could see himself as a “nobody.” Most people would say otherwise. But Rosengarten’s statement is one that many of us have said or thought in various situations. New at a job? “I am a nobody.” Freshman at a large university? “I am a nobody.” We all have questioned our standing at some point in our lives.

I was really taken with this interaction between Garrett and Rosengarten. Looking at it through a larger lens, the interaction fits with many stories featured in the newsletter dealing with mental health, crisis of confidence, and other situations where we question who we are. Garrett may have not been thinking about it in such a profound context; he maybe was just saying to a fellow player, “you are legit and you are doing well.” But I really read into that statement, “You ain’t never a nobody.” It is something we all need to hear, whether someone else is saying it or we are saying it to ourselves. I am glad the interaction was captured, and I hope others really read into the larger significance of what was said between the two players.

I want to finish with a link to a page at GoFundMe that features the incredibly challenging situations so many of our friends and family are dealing with in Southern California. https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/wildfire-relief/california Just today, LA Dodgers star Freddie Freeman and his wife Chelsea donated $300,000—$100,000 each to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, the Pasadena Fire Department and the Salvation Army, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. I am sure we will be hearing of donations and other efforts involving supporting our neighbors. I have seen stories on the news in which people are saying, “It is all gone,” or “There’s nothing left.” Heart breaking. This will be a long-term recovery effort, and I am confident the world of sports will be there to help.

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.

Teenage sensation Luke Littler, 17, becomes darts’ youngest ever world champion (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/04/sport/luke-littler-darts-world-championship-spt-intl/index.html

Cal guard Jayda Noble paints custom shoes to express her artistic side when she leaves the court (AP/Favorito)
https://apnews.com/article/cal-jayda-noble-painting-shoes-a2dff3c370f792b54d5741f8c85ef803

Latinos are the fastest-growing fanbase in the NFL. What’s the league’s playbook? (NPR)
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/21/g-s1-38443/latinos-growing-fanbase-nfl

Predicting the 25 Best Athletes of the Next 25 Years (Bleacher Report)
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10148251-predicting-the-25-best-athletes-of-the-next-25-years

Nearly half the players on the GTHL’s Don Mills Flyers are Asian. It could be the start of a trend (Toronto Star)
https://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/nearly-half-the-players-on-the-gthls-don-mills-flyers-are-asian-it-could-be/article_6bf3a572-c3e7-11ef-b7de-e735748b290b.html

Pistons and PeacePlayers Unite to Launch 6-Week Youth Initiative to Combat Violence in Detroit (Michigan Chronicle)
https://michiganchronicle.com/pistons-and-peaceplayers-unite-to-launch-6-week-youth-initiative-to-combat-violence-in-detroit/

Why James Franklin–Marcus Freeman Matchup Is Progress for Black Coaches (SI)
https://www.si.com/james-franklin-marcus-freeman-matchup-is-progress-black-coaches

Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin scores ‘Superwoman’ goal before 19,038 in Vancouver (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jan/09/marie-philip-poulin-goal-montreal-toronto-game

Christian Pulisic Is Doing Things in European Soccer That No American Has (GQ)
https://www.gq.com/story/christian-pulisic-ac-milan

Myles Garrett has neat moment with Ravens’ Roger Rosengarten (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/43337683/myles-garrett-roger-rosengarten-cleveland-browns-baltimore-ravens-nfl`

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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.

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