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A.J. Nicholson probably does nothing of the sort

May 27, 2007 Athletes who don't stab people, Batman, Big dudes doing the little things, DeMeco Ryans, Teams that aren't the Texans

Lending credence to the theory that no good deed goes properly reported in the NFL, I’ll bet you haven’t heard about this: DeMeco Ryans is running a FREE football camp for kids in and around his hometown of Bessemer, AL.

Just months after establishing the DeMeco Ryans Foundation, the reigning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year will kickoff the first of many foundation sponsored events on Friday, June 29 in his hometown of Bessemer, Alabama. The DeMeco Ryans Football Camp will give area youngsters the opportunity to directly interact with Ryans and other camp coaches. If the thought of learning fundamentals from an NFL star isn’t enough maybe the fact that Ryans’ camp is FREE of charge is convincing enough for youngsters to attend. The goal of the first DeMeco Ryans Foundation Football Camp is clear. ‘We not only want to teach the kids the fundamentals of the game but also give them the fundamentals of a successful life,’ explains Ryans. ‘When they leave the camp Friday afternoon we want them to realize that character matters and is huge to personal success.‘ The camp is limited to the first 100 to register and is open to youngsters entering the fifth through tenth grades (emphasis added).


Obviously, there are more than a handful of NFL players who would be well served to attend DeMeco’s camp, if only for that underlying message. But I’m sure Ryans is not the only player who does stuff like this during the offseason. Not that you ever hear about it. When I lived in Kansas City, Deron Cherry and Neil Smith did something similar for inner-city kids up there. I’ve heard that a couple different St. Louis Rams do a camp as well. But these things are buried in the back of Wednesday sports pages in the middle of summer. I don’t know what that says about society as a whole or about the NFL specifically, but, whatever it is, it is pretty messed up.

Still, between this and the Batman-Simmons thing, it feels good to be a Texans fan right now. Suck it, Cincinnati.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 27th, 2007 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Athletes who don't stab people, Batman, Big dudes doing the little things, DeMeco Ryans, Teams that aren't the Texans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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