Wednesday; April 11

Ninety-seven years ago our world changed.  Some of you might not have heard of this, but it was on April 11, 1921 that radio station KDKA in Pittsburg completed the first broadcast of a sporting event when Florent Gibson announced the boxing match between Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee.  I don’t know if anyone knows who won this match (and I don’t think that history really cares), but what began on that day has had a huge impact on the world.  In the last century sports has become so important to our society that we have regional sports stations, 24-hour sports channels, pay-per-view channels, talk radio sports channels, sport-specific electronic print, electronic and digital magazines.  Sports is a major money maker – both through legitimate and illegal means.  We are passionate about our sports!
What would happen if we took as much interest in our social issues as we do our sporting events?  How much good could be done if 2 million people would gather each summer to help the homeless in downtown Los Angeles ... or if 75,000 people invested four hours (and millions of dollars) for sixteen Sunday afternoons on the streets of Denver doing good deeds for people who couldn’t help themselves ... or if they held a parade in downtown Philadelphia in honor of the best teachers in the city?  I am a big sports fan, but sometimes I wonder if we have invested our priorities in things that don’t really matter all that much.
I hope your sports team has the best year ever (unless they are paying my sports teams), but let’s not forget that we have a more pressing calling.  Let’s cheer on the home town team ... but, let’s not forget to take care of our home town in the process.
Think About It!

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