It has to rank up there with one of my all-time pet peeves. And
we hear it told us to us every time a horrific tragedy occurs.
“Well, Bob, this catastrophic tsunami disaster over in southern
Asia really lets us know how unimportant these Packers games are.”
It’s just assumed that we, as sports fans, need something terrible
to happen before we can truly realize that there are more important
things out there than the Su
per Bowl and our fantasy baseball team.
It has to rank up there with one of my all-time pet peeves. And we hear it told us to us every time a horrific tragedy occurs.
“Well, Bob, this catastrophic tsunami disaster over in southern Asia really lets us know how unimportant these Packers games are.”
It’s just assumed that we, as sports fans, need something terrible to happen before we can truly realize that there are more important things out there than the Super Bowl and our fantasy baseball team.
Well, thanks guys, but most of us know that already. Most of us can decipher between the loss of thousands of lives and the loss of Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder.
If any of you people do, please seek help – immediately.
No, most of us are smart enough to put sport in its proper place. But we’re also smart enough to know the role athletics can play in a person’s life. Sports are enjoyed by kids all over the world, from the plush ski resorts in Switzerland to the dusty sandlots in the Dominican.
Which brings us back to southern Asia, along with the eastern tip of Africa and everywhere else affected by the tsunami, which killed an estimated 150,000 and left another 150,000 missing.
It’s been about a month now. About a month since one of the worse natural disasters this world has ever known. If history is any indication, this is usually about the time we start to forget about such things and move on.
But the moving on goes a bit slower when your town is still a lake. It doesn’t get much better when your family is still homeless, like millions still are in the affected areas.
Now, thanks to overwhelmingly generous support from around the globe – including $37 million from the sports world, by the way – the basic needs of the survivors are being taken care of.
At some point, though, normal everyday life will return. At some point, little kids in Sri Lanka will want to kick around a soccer ball. Little kids in India will want to race each other in the swimming pool. Little kids in Thailand will want to work on their jump shot.
So let’s help them out. Why not us?
I’m not necessarily talking about monetary donations here. I’m sure many of you have already given generously and you should be commended for that. You’re making a difference.
No, what I’m talking about is simple – simple, but profoundly important in my opinion.
Gavilan assistant basketball coach Mike Baumgartner feels the same way. A Hollister native and former boys’ hoops coach at Gilroy High, Baumgartner comes ready-made with a big heart.
For years, his family has sponsored children from around the world, and he – like the rest of us – watched helplessly last month as kids wondered around in the rubble looking for their parents. Looking for any form of hope.
With your help, Baumgartner wants to provide a little bit of that hope.
“I’ve actually been interested in trying to get a group of local coaches and ex-athletes together for a little fundraiser in our community,” he said. “Honestly, it could easily be done with a little effort from a few people.”
Just ask Luigi Aprea Elementary. Earlier this school year, under the direction of Principal Sergeo Montenegro and with the help of Sportmart, school kids brought in soccer balls and other sports equipment to donate to their fellow school kids in Iraq. By all accounts, the idea worked wonderfully.
We’re not talking about millions of dollars here. No, let’s think more creatively and on a lesser scale. Something down the line of bringing sports back to a ravaged community – or at the very least a smile or two.
So let’s do something good, sports fans.
For information, email Mike Baumgartner at
mb*************@ya***.com
Brett Edgerton is a columnist for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at
be*******@gi************.com
