Don’t give up, don’t ever give up!

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a true Tar Heel, that I bleed carolina blue and that I do not cheer for any team besides the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (college or pro). In other words, the phrase “I am Tar Heel bred and when I die I will be a Tar Heel dead” applies to this old Carolina faithful. Also, those that know me a bit know I am still one of those people that will usually give ESPN a pass on things that others might not. But once a year I take on a new team, and while I am not here to tell you what to do, or to make you a believer in the world leader in sports, I am here to ask you that today you cut them a break and follow them as, on the only day that there is no sports on ESPN Radio, they do their annual “Jimmy V Foundation” auction, named after ex head coach and ESPN analyst Jimmy Valvano.

By no means am I saying “pull out your wallet” or “you have to donate”. No, not at all. I am here to ask that today you watch and pull for those that can afford/want to give, so that they give as much as possible. For any of you that watched the MLB All Star game and saw the pre-game you saw those people that were honored for their efforts in helping people. People helping other people, such an easy theory, that unfortunately, sometimes goes by the wayside. I know that I cannot beat cancer, but I know that cancer has tried to beat several people I know. I also know that one out of three people in this world are either hit by cancer or know someone that has been. Every minute someone passes away due to this cruel disease, which means if you watch the video below 11 people will have died from cancer by the time it finishes.

      

While as fans we have our rivals, cancer has none. Cancer does not care who it goes after. Cancer kills! As a team we try to win (and lose) with dignity, cancer does not. It kills in any way it can, most of the time hurting the person it attacks as well as the members of his/her family. Maybe one day the “Jimmy V Foundation” might not be needed anymore, and it won’t be because only North Carolina State fans donated, or because just people that follow ESPN gave. It won’t be needed because any that could give did so. Be it by getting one of the items that the are up for auction or just giving a dollar. Just like the sport you follow, you need the “big hitters/superstars”, but there is also the “role player”. In the end all of us can make the difference, and with a penny every three days you can give a dollar, and that might just be the one that finds the cure, the one that makes it so no one else has to ever donate or worry about cancer.

I do not work for ESPN or for the Jimmy V Foundation, I am just an old Tar Heel that has watched familes I knew, as well as my own, go through the pain of having someone they care for, that they love, having to battle cancer. Is giving up a double cheeseburger at McDonald’s or a Junior Whopper at Burger King once a year to give a dollar for this fight worth it? For me it is, and that is why I write it. Maybe that dollar (or whatever you give) can save a friend, a family member, and then giving up a lot more than a sandwich would be worth it, wouldn’t it? Tomorrow I will go back to my “hating” on my rivals, to trash talking, or whatever else. Today I extend a hand to any and all, whatever team they root for, so that we may make the strongest and longest chain possible in trying to win this game. A game that can help every single person on this earth.

I will finish by saying what Jim Valvano said at the first ever ESPY’s in his speech, two months before he would pass away: “We need your help. I need your help. We need money for research. It may not save my life. It may save my children’s life.” The motto of the foundation is “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up”, let’s not give up, never, we can win this fight and maybe, just maybe, next year I won’t have to write this post again. But if cancer is still around, mark my words, I will be back, because it’s worth it, or should I say it’s worth it for me. Thank you for reading this post, it might not have been about sports, but it is about life, and without life there is no sports, or for that matter, without life there is nothing!

Cancer takes a life every minute of every day. If you spent 2 minutes reading this post, two lives were lost while you did so. Dig deep and give what you can. 100% of every donation goes to research.