By Craig Kwasniewski
"Are we on camera? Okay good... in 3, 2, 1 and.... Great job kids! T-Mac is proud of y'all!"
The pictures show Tracy McGrady looking over renovation plans for the library done by the students at Ross Elementary School, the beneficiary of the Tracy McGrady Foundation Charity Softball Game.
Nothing beats the NBA Cares program when it comes to exposure. From 30 second spots during broadcasts, to video blurbs during timeouts at the arena, to links on team websites... believe me, we all know when "the NBA Cares." These two photos show the type of coverage these events get. You can see that there's more crew-members than charity cases.
Don't get me wrong, it's nice to see the NBA players get involved in the community (even though 90% of the time it's crappy players lilke Michael Doleac and Jason Kapono rather than real ballers like Antoine Walker or Gary Payton). But how charitable is it when you are throwing 237 cameras to cover Turkey Day at the shelter? Isn't the true nature of charity done out of good will and not for propaganda?
(Okay I'll stop being a preachy douche.)
So for the weekend here's a wacky photo of Sergio Rodriguez, the Portland Trail Blazers' new draft pick.
the nba cares is a good thing.
even the hockey press here in canada recognized the excellent 'psa' the nba churns out.
they said , ' why can't the nhl do the same '.
27 cameras or whatever , the finished product is what counts !
Posted by: nike | July 07, 2006 at 07:35 AM
Wait...why did The Knicks pick me again?
Posted by: Renaldo Balkman | July 08, 2006 at 05:00 PM
Did he say real ballers like... Antoine Walker? I would rather have the Chicago Bulls cop punching mascot on my team.
Posted by: Pimp Dice | July 08, 2006 at 05:06 PM
Hey I was at that Turkey Day shelter shindig. The turkey was alright but the cranberry sauce reeked like my nuts.
Posted by: Plutonics | July 08, 2006 at 05:08 PM
i think isiah made a mistake . in the last draft.
he meant blackman instead of bachman.
he's picking any blackman who know's how to play basketball in the entire state of new york to bail him out !
Posted by: coach | July 09, 2006 at 09:28 AM
Why is it that it seems that half the world of sports NBA etc...always seems to help the black kids when there is whited kids out there who need help as well.
Posted by: Heather | December 28, 2006 at 02:21 PM
Sorry for the typo meant to type white not whited
Posted by: Heather | December 28, 2006 at 02:23 PM
I feel that the NBA Cares Initiative is a great idea. For all of the service projects that we see on television, there's at least ten more that don't publicized. I'm in a public service sorority and we do tons of projects throughout the year. We take pictures, when its appropriate, because those are memories that we want to archive. Are we overexposing ourselves for that? Further, there's such a focus on the private lives and indiscretions of these basketball players a little good exposure certainly won't hurt and I think that anyone who is willing to bash NBA players doing good works in various communities of society is just pissed that they aren't reporting on the latest punchfest on the court during a game. Lastly, no one is trying to hide the fact that there are disadvantaged white children/people in our society. More often than not, a disadvanted community is comprised of whites, blacks, and members of other races as well, and again, what you see on television is not the whole story. There may be four black children sitting at the table that the camera happens to be on, but what about the white child sitting at the table in the corner that you aren't seeing? Helping those in need is helping those in need that is not a black or white issue but one regarding the well-being of our society. Stop making everythin about race people.
Posted by: Tierra | July 02, 2007 at 09:20 AM
heiii !
Posted by: Samantha | February 07, 2010 at 09:21 AM