....GOLFING FOR A GREAT AND WORTHY CAUSE
We ran the story on our Sunday Sports Extra show about kids and parents dealing with diabetes. Many thanks to Ric Eller and his family and to Titans coach Jim Schwartz for speaking to us about what their sons are going thru.
The JDRF of Middle Tennessee does a fascinating job helping families and kids dealing with this disease. They are having their major fundraiser, a golf tourney, on June 17th.
For more information on JDRF in Middle Tennessee and the golf tourney, here is the link.
http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewpage&page_id=23D16D1A-1321-C834-0343D4B82D078BCE
....AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL IN THE MUSIC CITY..
Here is the link for the Nashville Kangaroos, our Australian Rules Football team that has been around for over a decade. We spent Saturday as the team played a team from Ohio and it was a blast. Non stop action, lots of fun and a huge crowd on hand.
Here is the link for the ‘Roos.
..........Vince Young Football Camp.....
We talked to Vince Young earlier this week and said one of the main things he wants to do off the field is give back to the community in some shape, form or fashion. We hear psychobabble all the time from athletes and most of it is just that, but some players are different in that they make it a priority to give back and the Titans have several guys who do.
Keith Bulluck, Kyle Vanden Bosch, David Thornton, Cortland Finnegan, and I am probably leaving out a few, that give A LOT of their time to the community and a ton of worthy causes.
Here is the link to Vince Young’s football camp.
A Mom Gives Back....
……….Unfortunately, It has become a story that is all to common. A young athlete, with so much ahead, is taken away much to soon by Cancer. Senseless and tragic.
Graden Gaines was 14 years old when he passed away from a rare brain tumor. He excelled on and off the field. Thru his long 18 month battle with cancer, the community of Mt. Juliet stood by him and his family. When Graden passed away in September of 2005, his mom was so touched by the outpouring of love and support and compassion, she felt compelled to somehow, someway give back to the community.
She has started an annual softball tourney, with all proceeds going to fund a scholarship that will send two kids to college each year.
It is May 17th at Mundy park in Mt. Juliet. You can go to www.gradengaines.com for more info on the tourney and see all of the silent auction items.
Strength In Silence
Not many things truly surprise me any more. Sure, the Titans draft threw me for a loop and the Giants were not suppose to beat the Patriots, but neither left my jaw on the ground. Today a story did.
Chris Lofton stunned everyone when he revealed he battled and beat testicular cancer after the 2006-07 season. He got the diagnosis, no one knew. He had surgery, not a peep. 1 month of radiation treatments and as far as anyone outside of his inner circle knew it was business as usual. That’s a heck of a secret for you and those closest to you to keep. Bruce Pearl and U-T couldn’t say anything, there are rules against that, but what about everyone else? Mom? Dad? Girlfriend?
I’m a wear it on my sleave guy. If I stub my toe everyone knows about it whether they like it or not. I guess everyone has their own way of dealing with pain and adversity though. I like to talk it out, it’s like therapy. Lofton battled in silence. When he struggled at the start of his Senior year and we all wondered just what was wrong he didn’t budge. He had a pretty good excuse, he just simply refused to use it. Instead he kept working and kept improving.
Why not say anything though? Just what did he have to gain? Was it simply a matter of it not being anyone’s business or was he afraid of a season’s worth of cancer questions? If it’s the latter I can completely understand. Every bad game and every missed shot would be followed up with something about his battle and wondering if he was “really” back yet. Instead, he just played. Good or bad, didn’t matter, he was going to play and going to give it his best and he was NOT going to make excuses.
Chris Lofton led by example on the court last season and by keeping his illness to himself until now he’s leading all of us off the court. He didn’t need a public “pitty party”, he just needed the chance to fight and battle back with as few distractions as possible. He didn’t give in, he dug in and he won.
Congratulations, Chris.
