On Monday, a professional baseball player did one of the most shocking things I have ever heard of and very few people are talking about it.
Russel Westbrook's fashion choices are always HUGE news.
Even though it should have been huge news, a blurb has not appeared on the crawl of the bottom of my TV screen as I watch ESPN. This information is not plastered all over social media or the internet. It is not the lead sports story of any local news broadcasts (outside of the city in which the culprit plays). It is not blowing up all over the 473 sports talk radio stations in the country.
I am appalled!
Whenever an athlete commits a violent act, gets caught cheating, fails a drug test, gets in a "beef" with a fellow player, commits a technical foul, is accused of a crime (even if later completely exhonerated), asks for a trade, denies asking for a trade, goes on a boat with his teammates, has a crazy dad trying to sell a shoe for $495, wears a funny suit, or goes on a date with a Kardashian it is nearly impossible to avoid this news... even if you aren't a sports fan.
Stop the presses! A Kardashian and an athlete are on a date!
Yet, this player's jaw dropping action has barely made a ripple in the sporting world.
The player in question is Anthony Rizzo, the All-Star first baseman for the Chicago Cubs ( the team I had despised for 44 years).
What unbelievable act did he commit?
Anthony Rizzo donated 3.5 MILLION DOLLARS to Lurie Children's Hospital.
Ho Hum... just some guy changing people's lives.
Lurie Children's Hospital is the largest pediatric hospital in Chicago. Not only do they treat medical conditions, they are also searching for cures.
What will The Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation's donation be used for?
"The money will go toward setting up a pair of endowment funds, with one going toward providing grants to families struggling with expenses related to their children’s cancer care, and one paying for a pair of oncology specialists whose job it will be to help work with kids as they make their way through the process of fighting the disease." (NBC Chicago)
Yeah so he is only helping families who have kids fighting cancer. That is clearly nowhere near as important as finding out whether or not the 2008 Boston Celtics will invite Ray Allen to a reunion.
Which multi-millionaire should call the other multi-millionaire in order to end the "beef"? Ooooh now that is news!
Do you know what Rizzo was doing in 2008? He was fighting Hodgkin's lymphoma... and winning. At the same time, Rizzo's grandmother was battling breast cancer. Unfortunately, she did not pervail.
Rizzo has not forgotten his battle or his grandmother's...
"In every big moment in my life — like when I got called up to the big leagues — I always think about my grandparents. Every big game I play in, during the national anthem, I always say a little prayer and speak to them, and it’s hard not to choke up and think about how proud they’d be to see what I’m doing now because they know how much I love this game."(Chicago Suntimes)
Rizzo's $3.5 million dollar donation is going to change the world for many families engaged in their own battle with cancer. It's too bad that Rizzo didn't wear a funny suit and have someone named Kyle, Khloe, or Kendall on his arm... then maybe someone would have noticed.
Perhaps millions of people will never know what Rizzo did... but this kid will.