It's because of Latrell Sprewell and the NHL Players Union that we, as fans, have often jumped to assumptions and tabbed most athletes as greedy moneygrubbers.
You know the drill. We've all scoffed when players like Eli Manning have held out before displaying an ounce of credibility in a professional football game or when a Pedro Martinez has lobbied for that extra hundred-thousand in his $55 million dollar contract.
You'll often find yourself muttering some form of derogatory insult, but on rare occasion, you might come across someone who is truly a most valuable player.
No, I'm not talking about a quarterback with a Sunday rating of 158.3, or a pitcher who has flame-thrown a perfect game, and I'm definitely not referring to a triple-double outing.
I'm talking about the charitable work off the field by players like Warrick Dunn.
To most, charity is best described as tossing a few coins to a nearby panhandler so he doesn't linger too closely to you and your fresh date. To others, it means examining your caller ID in order to avoid conversations with those pesky aid organizations.
To Dunn, benevolent contributions have another meaning.
He was recently honored for "Homes for the Holidays," a program where he pays the down payment on a new home for a single mother who has never had the luxury of owning a house.
This isn't a, "Here, take this check, and stop bothering me," sort of transaction. For each recipient, Dunn is present to handover the keys to the front door and is in attendance to witness the nonplussed reaction. So far, since starting the program in 1997, Dunn has helped 52 mothers with his cause.
Has it significantly hindered his life? He's donated just over a million dollars, but is currently in the midst of a $28 million contract. Most likely not. In return, he has directly changed the course of the lives of 52 families, and has opened a few doors that they were unable to unlock — literally
With so many athletes sullying the icon of the sports role model by drinking and driving, facilitating drug deals, or abusing their revered rank in society, it's important to recognize the few that do use their privileged circumstances as a tool of generosity.
At the end of the day, although the realm of sports is something that we spend countless hours following, it still just boils down to entertainment. That's why it will never matter how many rushing yards or how many Super Bowl rings Warrick Dunn achieves because his actions off the field have given some lesser fortunate individuals an opportunity to succeed in life, and that is what truly makes him a most valuable player.
Greed and beneficence mix like Mondays and me.
"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." — George Orson Welles
Leave a Comment