ESPN gets a lot of (deserved) criticism for some things, but one thing they hit out of the park was sponsoring Jimmy V Week.
Whatever you felt about him as a coach or a person, this is simply a courageous, inspiring speech and deserves to be replayed every year. I can only hope I would have the same attitude in his position.
You know, there a lot more people who are dying of cancer and who are not college basketball coaches. Worship all you want, but Jim Valvano only gave a shit about cancer when he found out he had cancer.
Yes, Mince, I know how a lot of people view Valvano. That’s why I led with “Whatever you felt about him as a coach or a person”… It’s not about him, as much as it’s about the attitude he showed that night. Maybe it was theatrics having to be helped up and down the stage, maybe not. I have no idea. Either way, it was an inspiring speech given by a high-profile person who was facing death, and in fact, dies less than two months later. It doesn’t make him better than anyone else who suffers through cancer. It helped continued awareness and the need for research funds. If you hold that in disregard, that’s certainly your prerogative.
I’m not ripping you, just pretty much stating facts.
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It helped continued awareness and the need for research funds.
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That’s great, too bad such a high profile character couldn’t have started that crusade earlier. But I guess it’s good he reacted natuarally when he had a stake in the matter.
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If you hold that in disregard…
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Not true.
Whoever the announcer was during last night’s ESPN broadcast of UNC-Wisconsin (I think it was Jay Bilas) made a faux pas (in terms of deifying Valvano) when recalling his humorous side:
He mentioned the comment Valvano made to the late Lorenzo Charles to get him to work hard for rebounds: {paraphrase} “I want you to go after that ball like it’s a hubcap!” Very funny.:rolleyes:
Did Jimmy V do any charity work prior to forming the foundation that bears his name? There seems to be an assumption that he did nothing prior to that time which may or may not be true.
added…
Once affected, the more “natural” thing would have been to focus on personal survival. The foundation (belated or not) had no chance of helping Valvano, it was to fund research to help others avoid his situation.
The only negative thing I can think of with the whole Jimmy V thing is the overt involvement of a certain annoying Dicky V…
And that speech gets me…every…single…time.
I had the pleasure of meeting Coach Valvano when I was in high school. He was a very nice man, who would take the time to meet fans.
In other words, he was like almost everyone else in the world. I find it hard to fault someone who isn’t active in raising money for a cause until that cause affects them personally.
It would be a different story if Coach Valvano had gone about telling people with cancer where to stick it until he had gotten cancer himself. But he didn’t. He just didn’t think about it, until he had to.
he did some local charity work when he was a coach. Not sure how much. I was at NCSU when he was coach.
My friend could not get his car started and Valvano walked by. He jumped on the bumper and said “here is an Italian blessing.” And the car started on the next try.
I must have just missed you. I was at State right about when the N&O was finally able to drum him out.
I’m not faulting him, at all. And I’m not ripping him for the work he did do. But I’m also not going to anoint him Sir Righteous Holy Defender of Those Afflicted by Cancer, either. He had an advantageous position and reacted naturally. That’s great, but, Jimmy V week?
I get all that too. I don’t read it so much as a week to worship Jim Valvano the person/coach. It’s the Jimmy V Foundation week. In the clip, he says explicitly that shortly before the ESPYs that year ESPN helped create the foundation with his name on it. A lot of celebrities die of cancer. They don’t all try to raise awareness about it before they die. A lot of regular folks would do so if they had the pulpit. He did.
[MODERATING]
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RickJay
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