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Thank you Richard Jefferson of the New Jersey Nets for pledging $3.5 million to Arizona‘s new $14 million basketball/volleyball practice facility. In giving back to his alma mater, Jefferson said: “A lot of players owe a lot to coach Olson …We’ve all learned the game of basketball and they’ve allowed us to go to the NBA and to make the money…It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get a practice facility of this type.”
While some have argued that sizable donations that typically go to universities may hold more significance if pledged to other causes, nothing but praise should be given to any individual who genorously gives back to the educational institution that helped them become successful.
Kudos to ESPN who was one of the ONLY national mainstream media web outlet to pick up this story. The only other mainstream sites that we have seen give it mention was USA Today and MSN. ESPN also reminds us of other bigtime college donations including:
– Carmelo Anthony $3 million to Syracuse (one of many separate donations on Carmelo’s part)
– Steve Smith gave $2.5 million to Michigan State.
– Alex Rodriguez donated $3.9 million to the University of Miami even though he never actually played ball for them.
Shame on the other Mainstream Outlets! Two days have past since ESPN posted the story, and almost none of the other mainstream websites such as Sports Illustrated-CNN, FoxSports, Yahoo Sports, CBS Sportsline, or many others felt it important enough to follow suit. However, almost all of these sites DID pick up another story that same day about Miami Heat player James Posey reaching a plea deal in his DUI case. COSELLOUT has specifically taken ESPN to task in the past for continually ignoring “good stories”, however, this is one more example of how the problem is far bigger than one sports outlet. And lets hope that ESPN’s coverage marks the beginning of a trend and not an aberration as The World Wide Leader.Â
[...] Richard Jefferson Pledges $3.5 Million – Kudos to ESPN By MODI Thank you Richard Jefferson of the New Jersey Nets for pledging $3.5 million to Arizona’s new $14 million basketball/volleyball practice facility. In giving back to his alma mater, Jefferson said: “A lot of players owe a lot to coach … COSELLOUT: Tellin’ It Like It… – http://www.cosellout.com/ [...]
Good find. I read about it somewhere – one site (maybe Larry Brown sports?) had a post about, and pointed out that RJ and Gilbert Arenas have a big ongoing competition, and that this is going to be part of that ongoing competition:
http://www.azstarnet.com/business/197000.php
OMG!!!11~! I googled “Positive NBA Piece” and this was the ONLY link available! God bless us all, wherever the Modi-wagon takes us!
Seriously, though, good read. You know I get down on the NBA probably WAY more than anyone so it’s good to hear things like this (the acts, not the lack of coverage). Even if you did slide in a bit of non-NBA goodness at the end. I suppose it’s goodness all the same.
SML, if Jefferson and Arenas are going to have this type of competition how great a story is that to cover! I hope that you are right. It got me thinking how years ago Ted Turner started a wave by being the first guy (I think) to donate more than 1 billion (to the UN) with hopes to spur on other billionaires. Years later Bill Gates donated $30 Billion to his foundation and then Warren Buffet, not to be outdone, did the same thing! I think that something like this Jefferson-Arenas thing could become a trend on a way smaller scale. I mean, since the Starbury’s came out, more and more athletes are trying to make their shoes reasonably priced.
Dee Haytch, OMG I just googled “Positive ESPN piece” and also found only one link… the Jefferson link! Seriously though, Posey’s DUI charge had to be included to show just how patheticly biased most media outlets are when choosing what is and is not news. And then the same outlets dare to write a follow-up about the NBA’s “image problems”… this sort of stuff from media can be maddening…