{"id":94,"date":"2008-01-24T14:35:01","date_gmt":"2008-01-24T19:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=94"},"modified":"2008-01-24T14:44:08","modified_gmt":"2008-01-24T19:44:08","slug":"transcending-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=94","title":{"rendered":"Transcending Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

(DISCLAIMER:\u00a0 This post may cross the line from sports commentary to social commentary.\u00a0 I am surprised it has not happened sooner, but I will let you be the judge.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Martin Luther King Day.\u00a0 To most of America, this day means an unexpected, post-holiday three-day weekend.\u00a0 Not to me.\u00a0 Martin Luther King, Jr is as close to a “hero” as I claim to have.\u00a0 In my opinion, no man has stood up against\u00a0seemingly impossible\u00a0odds with more class, more dignity and more effectiveness than Dr. King.\u00a0 His messages, despite their\u00a0apparent religiosity,\u00a0are genuinely human and universally moral, just and inspiring.\u00a0\u00a0His day\u00a0is a day in which we–as Americans of all colors–ought to think about how we treat one another and, more importantly,\u00a0why we may do so.\u00a0 That is all Dr. King would ask of us.<\/p>\n

The 1960’s were a time of social unrest and essential change in the United States.\u00a0 Now, four decades later, new\u00a0wars must be waged in a shrinking world.\u00a0 The\u00a0human atrocities\u00a0to\u00a0many\u00a0of the world’s<\/em>\u00a0citizens are coming to the forefront, just as\u00a0the atrocities\u00a0to many of America’s citizens did in the turbulent times in which Dr. King was a ray of hope and a warrior for justice.<\/p>\n

This year marks the 40th\u00a0anniversary (for lack of a better term) of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.\u00a0 There will be many sad\u00a0memorial services and\u00a0nostalgic,\u00a0optimistic\u00a0celebrations of his life’s accomplishments as we\u00a0draw\u00a0closer to the actual day, April 4, but tonight, one man\u00a0will take Dr. King’s message of hope, inclusion and public service and use it in his own arena–a sports arena.<\/p>\n

Ron Hunter, the head coach of the IUPUI men’s basketball team, will coach the team’s game tonight against Oakland\u00a0in bare feet<\/a>.\u00a0 He is doing this in an attempt to raise 40,000 pairs of shoes to be donated to West Africa–a place of the world where far too many\u00a0people do not have any\u00a0shoes.\u00a0 Whether the IUPUI basketball team outscores the Oakland University basketball team tonight or not, I say that Coach Hunter is coaching the winning side.<\/p>\n

As someone who has experienced, first-hand, what life is like in rural West Africa, I am not only grateful to Mr. Hunter for his efforts, but pleasantly surprised about the tact and the determination with which he is embracing this mission.\u00a0 Though any effort towards helping those in need\u00a0is certainly warranted, some efforts either miss the point of their intentions or are done for personal publicity or fame.\u00a0 This, however, does not seem\u00a0to do either.<\/p>\n

First of all, he has accurately identified a real issue in Africa.\u00a0 So many people think of West Africa and its people and think about starvation and sickness.\u00a0 Yes, there\u00a0are a lot of dire illnesses, and many people do go hungry.\u00a0 But, just as any other human culture anywhere in the world, they have found ways to survive and thrive in their environment.\u00a0 The typical West African does not go hungry.\u00a0 However, the typical West African\u00a0does go shoeless.\u00a0 Will\u00a0a pair of shoes\u00a0save their lives?\u00a0 Probably not.\u00a0 Will it make their lives a little easier?\u00a0 Absolutely, and what is really lacking in West Africa is exactly what we have in abundance in the developed world–ease of living.\u00a0 Hunter should be commended for recognizing a real\u00a0problem in this area of the\u00a0world and, even more impressively, recognizing that he has a platform\u00a0with which he can make a real difference.<\/p>\n

Secondly, Hunter is the coach of IUPUI and has been since 1994.\u00a0 He may have designs on a bigger program, but it does not seem like\u00a0it is\u00a0his primary motivation, considering he has been in the Mid-Continent Conference (now the Summit League) his entire career.\u00a0 (A coach looking for an ACC coaching position does not stay at IUPUI for 17 seasons.)\u00a0 And, from all that he has said about this, he\u00a0appears genuinely and passionately\u00a0concerned with making a difference.\u00a0 The only publicity he wants to raise revolves around\u00a0raising awareness for the problem and embracing the\u00a0organization for whom he is representing in tonight’s game, Samaritan’s Feet<\/a>.\u00a0 In fact, he even posted an inspirational message<\/a> on their website, explaining his intentions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, and the\u00a0most telling\u00a0part\u00a0of the story to me, is that Hunter is going to Nigeria in July to personally deliver some of the shoes that he raised.\u00a0\u00a0This strikes\u00a0me for two reasons.\u00a0 One is\u00a0that he wants to really be a part of his current mission.\u00a0 There is no way to really understand West Africa unless you see it.\u00a0 You cannot “learn” West Africa in a book, a magazine or on TV.\u00a0 You have to feel it.\u00a0 You have to experience it.\u00a0 You have to live it.\u00a0 And, trust me, it is worth it.\u00a0 It is, by far, my\u00a0favorite place in all the world because of its uniquely human character.\u00a0 It is the only place I have ever been that I can say is 100% “real” and 100% “human.”<\/p>\n

Secondly, and possibly even more significant, is\u00a0that the trip is planned for July.\u00a0 Now, that may not seem significant, considering a college basketball season is played from November to March, but as many people may not realize, July is the heart <\/em>of recruiting season for a college basketball coach.\u00a0 In an era of\u00a0so many people being defined by their work and so many so-called celebrities using their status for individual gain, Hunter is putting aside his work, for one month, and giving back to the world community.\u00a0 In an attempt to honor the 40-year memory of one of the most courageously selfless men to ever walk this earth, Coach Ron Hunter is putting himself and his own personal work aside to try and make a difference.\u00a0 He is using his relative celebrity as a pulpit for increased awareness and positive change in an area widely lacking in these things.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For that, Mr. Hunter, I salute and I thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(DISCLAIMER:\u00a0 This post may cross the line from sports commentary to social commentary.\u00a0 I am surprised it has not happened sooner, but I will let you be the judge.) Martin Luther King Day.\u00a0 To most of America, this day means … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[182,181,180,183],"class_list":["post-94","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-hoops","tag-africa","tag-iupui","tag-ron-hunter","tag-social-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}