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Cheer up sports fan, there's still plenty of good people doing good things for society that happen to be athletes.
Obviously there's a bit of a pall over the sports world thanks to the actions of a certain athlete in a certain league that made matters much worse by totally and completely botching their discipline of said player. But you can read up on that awfulness just about anywhere else. Let's focus on one of the better aspects of sports: charity work! Like Mariano Rivera's farewell last season, one of the nicest parts about Derek Jeter's exit has been that the opposing teams sending him on his way have been donating to Derek's charity: the Turn 2 Foundation. Their goal is "to create and support signature programs and activities that motivate young people to turn away from drugs and alcohol and "TURN 2" healthy lifestyles.". Sounds like a good cause to me, but he's far from the only member of the Yankee family with their own charity doing valuable work.
Mariano Rivera
The Mariano Rivera Foundation is a community-oriented organization with emphasis in Youth Oriented Programs.
The PitCCh In Foundation’s mission is to enrich the lives of inner city youth.
mission is to lend support to charities and organizations helping those affected by tragedies and to provide humanitarian services for individuals in need.
Former Yankees:
The RC 22 Foundation (the url will make you sad)
The mission of the RC22 Foundation is to positively impact the lives of underserved children and communities both locally and globally.
aid positive youth development via education, physical fitness and nutrition - providing tools and resources for educational and societal advancement.
Joe Torre:
educating to end the cycle of domestic violence and save lives
There's obviously more that members of the Yankees family are doing to give back: Jacoby Ellsbury works with The Navajo Relief Fund, Mark Teixeira works with Harlem RBI. And of course there's the Yankees own Hope Week efforts that run every year in June that involve many noble causes.
Not to get too preachy on everybody early on a Tuesday morning, but there's more to making the sports world (and society as a whole) better than just punishing and admonishing the wicked. There's also rewarding and assisting the noble and good. So if you awoke today feeling depressed about the state of sports in general, donate some money to one of your favorite player's charities. There's good and bad in just about any interest you can have: lets push the needle back to the good for following sports a little by helping out the less fortunate.