"Get past headlines, see the good sports stars do "(Yao & Tracy mention)

Hey guys!

I thought we needed a break from all the negative Rox threads--here's a great article on some generous sports stars --there's a Yao and Tracy mention ......

http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/articles/1195637.html



Get past headlines, see the good sports stars do

If you are feeling bad about the state of the sports world, here are a few athletes and their actions that will inspire you.

You watch NFL players throw obscene gestures at fans, PGA golfers throw clubs, ATP Tour tennis players throw tantrums and NBA players throw punches at fans, and it's easy to feel like throwing your tickets in the trash.

You are tempted to lock out every sports network on your cable or dish receiver and tell your kids to take down every sports poster from their bedroom walls.

And yet to do so would be to throw some role models out with the bath water. If you are feeling down about the sports world, here are a few athletes to lift you up.

For starters, after the tsunami-earthquake catastrophe caused a death toll that has reached 170,000 -- that's two Rose Bowl stadiums filled to capacity! -- a lot of athletes showed character to admire.

After playing an exhibition match in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams each auctioned their rackets for about $5,000 to aid tsunami survivors.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, meanwhile, lived up to his "Big Ben" nickname by donating his first playoff check worth a big $18,000.

Before the Lakers played the Rockets on Jan. 7, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady each pledged to donate $1,000 for each point they scored: McGrady scored $26,000 worth while Bryant topped him with $27,000.

And then there is seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher who pledged $10 million to tsunami relief efforts.

• • •

But it is not just in the face of the tsunami tragedy that pro athletes routinely shown their heart and generosity.

This past Thanksgiving, new Laker Brian Grant bought 500 turkey dinners for needy people in L.A. and at Christmastime bought gifts and food for 10 down-on-their-luck families.

When the Heat came to play the Lakers on Christmas Day, Shaquille O'Neal played Shaq-A-Claus by filling up a truck with bicycles, computer games and other high-priced toys and then personally giving them out to 250 underprivileged kids in South L.A.

While it's "Game Over" when Dodgers closer Eric Gagne takes the mound, off the field the giving is never over. In a small example, he donated the cap he wore while earning a record 84 consecutive saves to a charity auction.

On a grander scale, former Dodgers outfielder Shawn Green donated $1.5 million during his days with the team to the Dodgers Dream Foundation, which supports numerous causes.

The above is just a handful of pro athletes from our back yard. A sprinkling from further away includes ... PGA golfers Brad Faxon and Billy Andrade, who created a charity foundation which in 11 years has distributed more than $4 million to fund camps for emotionally handicapped youth and kids with cancer, and a residential substance abuse treatment facility for teens.

When Rockets' center Yao Ming heard about a boy whose dying wish was to meet him, he immediately made a fast break to the hospital.

The Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki is also big on visiting hospitals and Timberwolves forward Mark Madsen has visited the Middle East to meet with U.S. troops. Packers' legendary quarterback Brett Favre has donated $1.2 million to various charities.

In the past two years alone, Andre Agassi's annual Grand Slam for Children benefit concert and auction has raised $18.9 million.