In my birthplace, Northeastern Ohio, LeBron James announced that he and his foundation would fund college scholarships, in the amount of $41 million, for aspiring students who had completed his academic development program.
LeBron James, the four-time NBA MVP and two-time NBA champion, is ready to give thousands of children a college education.
The LeBron James Family Foundation and the University
of Akron will fund full scholarships for students who complete the
foundation’s academic program, which James has been sponsoring for five years.
Forbes, 8/16/15
In my chosen hometown of Chicago, a fading basketball hero, Michael Jordan, who no longer lives here, is suing a defunct supermarket chain for $10 million for using his name and "brand" without his permission.
The ex-Bull could testify as soon as
Monday to explain why he meticulously guards his image.
Sports agent David Falk testified Friday
that Jordan never enters into small, one-time deals because they weaken his
value. He said Jordan prefers long-term mega contracts, like the one with Nike.
He likened Jordan to the Hope Diamond,
saying it's so valuable because it's so rare and never cut into pieces.
Chicago Tribune, 8/17/15
As a long-term resident of Chicago, I often query my friends who have lived here all their lives, and ask them why they don't expect more from their community, their leaders, and their lives. Why it stays the same, and no one pushes back. The city is awash in corruption, and similar corruption has bankrupted the county and state as well--and they still vote for the same leaders. They shrug their shoulders and say, "It's Daley's/Madigan's/Jesse Jackson's fault" and "It's the same everywhere."
Then there's the problem (and yes, I consider it MY problem up here on the north side) of the continuing death and violence on the south and west sides. At a party recently, I posed the comparison of a city like Chicago, which has about 3 million residents and about 500 murders per year with a city like New York, which has 8 million residents and about 250 murders per year. I think that this statistical comparison speaks volumes about an end-stage social system that one ethological research, John Calhoun, has called "the behavioral sink". She told me that I focused too much on the negative, and asked why I didn't focus on the positive that was happening in the city! As if the Millennial Park concerts, City Dance, and bike lanes speak to ultimate quality of life for all in our city. *
I compare and contrast the two 23s, both African-American basketball superstars, both from teams in Rust Belt cities, to suggest that different communities do indeed have different cultures.
Jordan thrilled the city from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s with his style of play under the brilliant leadership of Phil Jackson. He, too, left this hometown for a shot at professional baseball, and then returned for the second of two NBA championship three-peats. And most certainly, Michael Jordan sponsored charity ventures during his tenure here.
That being said, Jordan came to Chicago, became rich and famous and gave citizens something to take their minds off of the terrible mess the city was turning into. When his star set, he left. Now, as his agent says, Jordan remains interested in his Chicago legacy, primarily by continuing to protect his private wealth and brand. The Hope Diamond is an excellent metaphor to highlight the way in which the Chicago sports star acts as the 1% in a town of the 99%, from which he is emotionally, socially, and geographically distanced.
Cleveland has been an underdog city for the last half century. I grew up in a privileged and thoughtfully and intentionally integrated suburb next to the city proper, and so had some relationship with the city, but not a huge stake in its wellbeing. Recently the city has done the work of gutting its corrupt county government system and finding more common cause with the rest of the "Red State" that Ohio is; Ohio was one of the states that has expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, something that Republican presidential candidate John Kasich underscores in his campaign speeches. They have built up their internal strengths in healthcare and become a service and innovation powerhouse in medicine and research.
LeBron James became a Cleveland Cavalier out of an Akron high school and carried the city's hope for a championship for many years. Yes, the Cleveland community was bruised and angry when LeBron James went to Miami to make his national star. Yet, when he returned, he and the city settled into a reciprocal and mutually beneficial relationship. He took them to the championship finals in 2015. Apparently, he is capable of thinking of himself nationally and internationally, but he acts locally. He invests in bettering the citizens and quality of life in his community, just as he does in building and maintaining his brand. Sure, he'll age out of the NBA at some time, but his contribution will continue to impact Northeastern Ohio in a way that a Jordan's statue in front of the United Center or a great set of Air Jordan Nike sneakers, will never benefit this home town of mine.
I am wondering if Chicagoans will read this and ask for their leaders to change, or to organize to vote them out; or if someone else will think to ask their sports leaders, like the Blackhawks, who are so good at bringing the Stanley Cup around to be touched and photographed in selfies, to double down and to commit to the city and its underprivileged and hardworking young adults going to college. I know that some of the much less rich and famous Chicago Bulls do good work in the community now, but as the saying goes, "To whom much is given, much is required."
Cleveland has been an underdog city for the last half century. I grew up in a privileged and thoughtfully and intentionally integrated suburb next to the city proper, and so had some relationship with the city, but not a huge stake in its wellbeing. Recently the city has done the work of gutting its corrupt county government system and finding more common cause with the rest of the "Red State" that Ohio is; Ohio was one of the states that has expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, something that Republican presidential candidate John Kasich underscores in his campaign speeches. They have built up their internal strengths in healthcare and become a service and innovation powerhouse in medicine and research.
LeBron James became a Cleveland Cavalier out of an Akron high school and carried the city's hope for a championship for many years. Yes, the Cleveland community was bruised and angry when LeBron James went to Miami to make his national star. Yet, when he returned, he and the city settled into a reciprocal and mutually beneficial relationship. He took them to the championship finals in 2015. Apparently, he is capable of thinking of himself nationally and internationally, but he acts locally. He invests in bettering the citizens and quality of life in his community, just as he does in building and maintaining his brand. Sure, he'll age out of the NBA at some time, but his contribution will continue to impact Northeastern Ohio in a way that a Jordan's statue in front of the United Center or a great set of Air Jordan Nike sneakers, will never benefit this home town of mine.
I am wondering if Chicagoans will read this and ask for their leaders to change, or to organize to vote them out; or if someone else will think to ask their sports leaders, like the Blackhawks, who are so good at bringing the Stanley Cup around to be touched and photographed in selfies, to double down and to commit to the city and its underprivileged and hardworking young adults going to college. I know that some of the much less rich and famous Chicago Bulls do good work in the community now, but as the saying goes, "To whom much is given, much is required."
Can you imagine requiring more of Chicago leaders?
*On Thursday, August 13, 2015, Kristen McQueary, an editor at the Chicago Tribune, published an editorial whose premise was that Chicago needed a Hurricane Katrina to "reset" its corrupt and bankrupt system!
(I can't make these things up.)
I can't find the original, but she states what was in her "heart":
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-chicago-hurricane-katrina-column-20150814-column.html
I cite this as another example of how city leadership, including the press, is in such profound denial of its own responsibility to be involved in exposing corruption and in providing information about change that it conjures a massive disaster to fix the system. And I rest my case about Chicago's violence culture. To McQueary, widespread death, as in almost 2000 human lives lost in Katrina, is just the cost of doing business in a city like Chicago.
(I can't make these things up.)
I can't find the original, but she states what was in her "heart":
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-chicago-hurricane-katrina-column-20150814-column.html
I cite this as another example of how city leadership, including the press, is in such profound denial of its own responsibility to be involved in exposing corruption and in providing information about change that it conjures a massive disaster to fix the system. And I rest my case about Chicago's violence culture. To McQueary, widespread death, as in almost 2000 human lives lost in Katrina, is just the cost of doing business in a city like Chicago.
