March 23, 2014


 

Welcome to week one hundred three of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week's first 10 stories include:
  1. NHL's San Jose Sharks welcome youth with heart condition to practice, signs 1-day contract, and gets to experience pre-game introduction
  2. Chevy, ManU Launch Campaign to Help Underprivileged Kids Experience Soccer
  3. Cooperation and Collaboration - Spokane Indians baseball uniforms sport Salish word
  4. The Winter Paralympics Are The World's Best Showcase Of Sports Technology
  5. Knight Commission, panelists call for stronger focus on educational mission in college sports
  6. OK, Glass, have an NBA player dunk in my face
  7. Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation and Telos Corporation Donate More than $30,000 to TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors)
  8. New Jersey Devils and Prudential Center Launch MY TOWN Series
  9. North Dakota State Thinks Big, Has Fun, Earns Attention 
  10. "CARTON BLANC": a symbolic initiative to celebrate the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. 
Introduction
There is a recent trend in the world of sports experiences that we are more than happy to feature. While the situation often entails someone dealing with a difficult health or personal problem, the response has regularly been multi-faceted, profound, and inspirational. An example of the trend is our first story this week as a young man with a lifelong heart ailment was given the full "professional player" experience by his favorite team, the NHL's San Jose Sharks.

Not to minimize at all the value of a signed picture or jersey or a visit by a favorite player, but some of the stories we have been featuring involve teams, leagues, companies and organizations providing a "360 degree" experience for the person, often a child or teenager. We have seen everything from contracts signed, press conferences held, and involvement in team practices and scrimmages, amongst other perks. These entities have tapped into that most special of feeling - the love we have for sports and those who perform at the highest levels - and are providing not a fleeting moment but rather an experience of a lifetime. We applaud all of those involved for sharing their time, resources, and empathy for those dealing with difficult life circumstances. Everyone deserves to smile and be happy and sports continually serves to make that a reality.

Other stories that we are happy to feature include: Chevy and Manchester United; the Spokane Indians baseball team; Google Glass; Monumental Sports & Entertainment; the New Jersey Devils; bracket busters like North Dakota State University; the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (April 6); the Special Olympics; and NFL Hall of Famer Anthony Mu�oz; amongst others.

 

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So enjoy. And have a good week.       

 
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Top Stories of the Week
"Sam Tageson practiced with the Sharks this morning, and will skate onto the ice with the team through the trademark shark head Tuesday night before San Jose's game with the Florida Panthers, then stand on the blue line during the national anthem. "No way to top today," he told reporters in his own media scrum after the first event in a day arranged through the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Sharks Foundation." For more, please click here.

San Jose Sharks help out fan with heart condition 
San Jose Sharks help out fan with heart condition
 
"As part of the cause program, Chevy and Manchester United will send the team's top current and former players to developing countries to work with kids and coaches. The automaker says it is doing so now in Bandung, Indonesia, where it is also rebuilding the town's soccer pitch on behalf of a local organization for people with HIV/AIDS and people who use drugs. Chevrolet is also talking about the work online with videos on the program at a co-branded microsite." For more, please click here.

 
"In Spokane - or should we say Sp'q'n'i - both the tribe and its namesake team have worked hard in recent decades to establish the name Spokane Indians as a tribute, as opposed to just a mascot. In 2006, the tribe helped to create new circular team logo, with words written in the Salish language. This year, the tribe worked with the team in creating the new Sp'q'n'i jersey, and supplied the team with an accurate rendering of the word (which also includes a final symbol not found in the English alphabet)." For more, please click here.
Beginning in the 2014 season, the Spokane Indians baseball team will sport the team name in Salish on home jerseys.
 
"For the winter games, whatever sport you decide to do, you need equipment for it," he says. Whether that's flying down an alpine ski course on a sit-ski, or curling from a wheelchair, or playing hockey in a sled, the demands of the cold weather sports include gear. And it's phenomenally competitive. The Paralympics, like the Olympics, are now a game of centimeters, grams, and milliseconds." For more, please click here.
Alpine skiers use a sit-ski along with two ski blade-like poles for steering.
 
"Panelists expressed a strong desire to address issues of health, safety and educational outcomes for college athletes from a variety of perspectives. During the meeting, University of Hartford President Walter Harrison credited academic reforms inspired by the Knight Commission with increasing graduation rates for Division I athletes to 82 percent." For more, please click here.

 
"Johnson, McCallum, and Thompson were wearing Google Glass as part of a new program the Kings have started that is designed to let fans see things like shootarounds, pre-game workouts, and even in-game huddles from the players' perspective. Using technology developed by San Francisco's CrowdOptic, the Kings plan on making feeds from Glass being worn by players, announcers, the team's mascot, and even its cheerleaders, available during games to anyone running its app on their own Glass, on TV, and on the arena's JumboTron." For more, please click here.
Sacramento Kings players Orlando Johnson, Ray McCallum, and Jason Thompson (left to right) scrimmage while wearing Google Glass. (Credit: James Martin/CNET)
"Courage hats autographed by various Wizards players including Bradley Beal, Marcin Gortat, Otto Porter, John Wall and Martell Webster were sold at the Verizon Center Team Store resulting in proceeds of $31,571.77. During the Wizards game against the Brooklyn Nets on March 15, Ted Leonsis, majority owner, chairman and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment was joined by John Wood, Telos CEO and Chairman to present the funds to Bonnie Carroll, founder and president of TAPS." For more, please click here.

 
"MY TOWN will celebrate greatness throughout the stories of everyday leaders and heroes in our towns. Nominations can be submitted by visiting: newjerseydevils.com/mytown. "We are honored to celebrate our dedicated fans and work with local community leaders to develop inspiring platforms that give back," said Hugh Weber, President of Devils Arena Entertainment. "We work hard to represent our community, and to create experiences through Devils games and concerts that we can all be proud of."" For more, please click here.
 


"But Thursday's basketball victory was bigger, Taylor said. Such things are hard to measure, but Taylor told the story of a friend who wore a North Dakota State jacket into a Washington, D.C., bar to watch Thursday's game. The bar erupted in excitement when guard Lawrence Alexander made a 3-pointer to force overtime, and patrons cheered the Bison to victory, 3,000 miles from Spokane and a world away from the college's campus in Fargo." For more, please click here.
Lawrence Alexander of North Dakota State forced overtime on Thursday with a 3-pointer. Credit Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

CARTON BLANC: a symbolic initiative to celebrate the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.

"To celebrate 6 April, Peace and Sport invites you to rally around the symbol of a white card and tell people what you are doing to play your part in peace throughout the world. Whether or not you've registered a project on the April6 website, and no matter where you live, you can make known your support of the peace through sport movement everywhere in the world. Along with Paula Radcliffe, Aisam Qureshi and other Champions for Peace and international sports men and women, take the stage and hold up your card like a referee, no matter where you are and who you're with, and show everyone that... you too are an actor for peace!" For more, please click here.  

 

In addition to the 10 great stories above, we have 10 more that can be seen at the Sports Doing Good blog. For more, please click here.  
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Contact Information
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Sarbjit "Sab" Singh
sab@sportsdoinggood.com
516-287-7141
Assistant Professor
Sport Management
Farmingdale State College

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