The Good Guys

I wanted to interrupt my NCAA 2006 love-fest for a few minutes to write about the good guys of sports. I have been a subscriber to the Sporting News the past three years, and each year I have enjoyed reading the annual Good Guys (What’s right about sports) issue. This year the Falcons’ Warrick Dunn was singled out as the top good guy.

While it does not really matter how much these guys give, I always get a kick out of reading that such and such superstar gave $100K to a chosen charity. The jaded person in me immediately thinks that “so and so gets x million a year, but only gave $100K!” I admit that is the wrong direction, instead I try to focus on the fact that a professional athlete is actually giving something back to the community besides another illegitimate kid, another costly court case, another highly publicized run-in with the law, or even worse. The bad guys always get so much attention that it amazing that everyone in sports is not all that bad (I am being a little sarcastic, but I am sure you get my point).

It is funny that most of us never get our names in lights for giving money; it is just one of those things that Americans do. We are a generous people. So it is just another sign of the times that we actually care about what athletes give, but as I said, we (well, I do) expect so much focus on bad behavior that we are often surprised by the good stuff.

At any rate, be sure to check out the July 8, 2005 Sporting News to read about the good guys in sports for a happy-feel-good kind of day.

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