WHAT I'M READING

By B -- 12/28/05

-- Chuck Klosterman has a new article on Spin.com, his sixth in a series called My Back Pages.This particular piece discusses January of 1995. It’s a fun read if you like sarcastic wistfulness. I know I do.

-- The City Pages staff has decided on their Artists of the Year. A few of my favorites include Kanye West, Dave Letterman, Craig Finn, Gwen Stefani and Sarah Silverman. Also on the list: a whole lot of people I’ve never heard of. Education meets reaffirmation.

-- The Morning After Pills, about the best hangover remedies on the market, as seen in my favorite magazine Radar. Got a subscription to Radar for Christmas and damn near hugged. another. family. member. out of excitement. The article was in the first issue I received, and it’s online, and it’s humorous and informative. Curiously, the author doesn't attempt the age-old "hair of the dog" strategy (though I haven't either. If any readers have, please let me know if it works).

-- Now for the important article: Scoop Jackson’s year-end summary for ESPN’s Page 2 rehashes all the Most Racist stories of 2005 (basically just an uncomfortable and unnecessary reminder). However, there is one bit of information that I amazingly never heard about:

“KG and Oprah
How do you make Mother Moses cry? In a year when ball players were getting press for "str8 stupidness" it seemed strange that Kevin Garnett's written appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show went notice-free.

He wrote her a letter. They gave her the letter on-air as a surprise. In the letter, he said he wanted to donate something to her Angel Network, which was building houses for those who lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina. His pledge: To build one house per month for the next two years. That's 24 homes! Two seasons of "Extreme Makeover." Financially funded by one person … with no commercial return on his donation. A gesture that should have landed him on the cover of Time alongside Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono as Persons of The Year. A gesture that made Oprah -- read it again, Oprah -- break down.

But still, no member of the media wrote a story about it. USA Today scripted a blurb; ESPN.com made a mention. But overall -- nada.

Now, let Kevin Garnett or any other athlete run a stop light; let them miss a practice unexcused; let them miss a child support payment -- Bam! Lead story on "SportsCenter," forum discussion on "Rome Is Burning," breaking news on CNN.

In an era when it is too often publicly asked: "Where are our kids' role models?"; in a society that is starved for areas of positiveness to come from our professional athletes; in a world where we have been conditioned to believe that every one of these young superstars is unappreciative, ungrateful, undeserving and a void soul, a situation arose that could have shifted the entire perception of their existence. What Kevin Garnett did was just that big.

But guess who dropped the ball? Us. The media, for not saying anything about it, and the public, for not demanding that we do.

The moral of this story: How do you make the media not pay attention to you when you are a superstar athlete? Do something humane.”

In most cases, I agree with Jackson’s views but disagree with his jaded,hostile delivery. Here though, I can’t agree more. Kevin Garnett is a monster on the court and a hero off, and I wish everyone in America knew about this story. Do the right thing and spread the word.

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