It was a busy week spending a few days in Washington, D.C. with members of the Sports Philanthropy Network and attending the Aspen Institute’s Future of Sports event.

Aspen Institute—The Aspen Institute held another forum in their series entitled “The Future of Sports.”  You can read my full write titled “NCAA Under Attack” which goes into a lot more detail.  Bottom line, changes are coming.  The only remaining question is how quickly the process will move and what the final result will be.  As you will see in my earlier article, the choice is either a level playing field or a completely open market. Stopping some place in the middle will not work well and attempts to do so will only create more problems by virtue of the additional regulations that would be required.

Washington, DC Holiday Party—We had such overwhelming interest for the Sports Philanthropy Network’s DC holiday party, that the Washington, DC, market is likely to be one of the initial Chapters the Sports Philanthropy Network will launch in 2020.  Despite many conflicts, even the people who were not able to attend last week reached out and specifically asked how to get involved with the network and were especially interested in our Membership Levels.

Chicago Holiday Party—We hosted this event in the Top Golf Swing Suites in 900 N. Michigan (Bloomingdales).  It is a terrific venue and a fun place to eat, drink and network.  I love getting the opportunity to meet people who are just learning about the Sports Philanthropy Network and telling us how they would like to get involved and joining as members of our network.

Meeting Great People and Organizations—One of the best parts of launching the Sports Philanthropy Network 11 months ago, has been the opportunity to meet and engage with so many people who are finding innovative ways to use sports to create stronger, healthier and more inclusive communities.  The caliber of people and their efforts is truly amazing.  I feel fortunate to be a part of this process, learn as much as I can about their work and hopefully be a part of the solution.  As there people join the Sports Philanthropy Network through our Membership Program, we learn more about their needs and their abilities. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to speak to me, meet with me, record a podcast, speak at the Sports Philanthropy World Conference and participate in any of our other events.  We accomplished so much in 2019.  We have set our sights even higher for 2020.  Thank you for your support and encouragement.

Chanukah Party—Earlier today Kayla and I hosted a Chanukah Open House and it was fantastic to celebrate with Julia, Brett and many friends.  I am appreciative to have these people in my life and enjoy having the time and ability to host people to share these special occasions.

Holiday Time—As we head into the final 10 days of the year, I am thankful for the great people in my life. I am very fortunate to have two living parents who have been incredibly supportive to me during difficult times.  My sister, Sharon, is an amazing bundle of energy who has taught me many things despite her disabilities.  Julia had a great first semester at college in Madison and Brett is doing well in his Junior year at Stevenson HS.  Kayla has been an incredible addition to my world these last 17 months and I cannot imagine life without her.  While life gets hectic and we rush around a lot.  I feel fortunate to have a great network of friends, a warm home, plenty of food and clothes.  Perhaps most importantly, I have my health, something which I do not take for granted as I see so many other struggling.  I also recognize that many people are alone during this holiday period.  I encourage you to reach out and include them.  Having company is much more important than the food, drink or venue. They will appreciate your kindness!

If you didn’t have a chance to see some of the other things I have been involved with or written recently, take a look here:

• Sports Philanthropy Newsstand, December 20, 2019
• NCAA Under Full Attack at Aspen Institute’s “Future of Sports”
• Sports Philanthropy Newsstand, December 13, 2019
• PODCAST: Fred Mitchell, Chicago Blackhawks
• Sports Philanthropy Newsstand, December 6, 2019
• Roy’s Ramble, December 1, 2019
• PODCAST: Tony Giarla, AVP First
• Why an 8 Team Playoff Will Save College Football
• FIRE SABAN!! Be Careful What You Wish For ‘Bama Fans
• Why Second Guessing Playcalling is Like Second Guessing Rock, Paper, Scissors
• 25 Life Lessons that I learned from Sharon

HUMOR FOR THE WEEK

MOTIVATION FOR THE WEEK

Wishing all of my loyal readers a Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas and positive vibes for 2020.

Rolling Stone Senior Writer Jamil Smith hosted this session to look at how we can make changes in our world.

The first interview involved Heidi Stevens and Cleo Wade, as they examined how Cleo decided to make an impact on the women’s prison population. Cleo set forth her definition of HOPE defining it as: “the belief that our tomorrows can be better than our todays.“

Cleo reiterated that it is important to recognize that it is not merely wishing for the best, but working towards the best. You want people to allow for what is possible and to build communities by telling stories. She provides live advice columns for the Women’s Prison Association. One of the things that she does is to ask people “What story would you tell if you knew that it could save one person’s life?”

Cleo’s research has shown her that women are the least visited people in prisons. She is pushing to help preserve their dignity, invest in spaces that help avoid trauma in the first place and to put more focus on how we help them re-enter the world. She emphasized that it needs to be an “us against the problem” mentality, so that we all need to collaborate to attack the problem.

Jamil Smith then sat down with Dan Edelman, founder of the famous Edelman PR firm. He started talking about their research which actually showed that consumers would be more likely to buy products from a company whose CEO stood up to gun violence. He feels that the NRA is actually holding back progress and acting counter to its own interests. He says that most gun owners are disappointed and feel that they are now getting a bad rap because of the irresponsibility. His message is that “it is okay to stand up to the NRA.” His recommendation is to focus the efforts on two critical points: 1) Proper background checks; 2) Safe storage of the weapons.

Edelman believes that the focus needs to shift on restoring the responsibilities that go with gun rights, as opposed to the frequent demand for unrestricted access. He thinks that requiring background checks for every gun sale and removing the rights from domestic abusers would help close some of the loopholes.

His research shows that 4.6 million children live at homes that do not have locked guns. The NRA has helped pass a law that prevents pediatricians from asking a family if there is a gun at home and if it is locked up.

Gun violence kills over 100 people every day. We need to train teenagers to interrupt the cycle of violence in their own homes.

The challenge of the state laws is that guns can cross state lines as easily as cars do. In Chicago, 20% of the guns come from Indiana. So we need to make sure that the solutions are federal because otherwise we are only as safe as the state with the weakest gun laws.