Inspiration at the NBA All-Star Game

I love professional basketball, especially since the teams have begun using defense. Up until a couple of years ago professional basketball was nothing but a bunch of really tall guys running up and down the court making sensational scores, dunking the ball, shooting from unbelievable distances, with no opposition except an occasional deliberate foal.

If you haven't watched the NBA recently, the best teams are winning because they are not only playing offense, they are defending against the other team making points. What a concept.

Anyway, what is so inspirational about that? Nothing! What was inspirational was the time devoted in last night's all star game to pointing out the NBA's role in volunteering to the communities where they have their franchises, but to sending the message to viewers that they need to do their part. It was not just a couple of public service announcements... they devoted the entire half-time to it. It included one of the all-stars discussing the importance of community awareness and participation in volunteer efforts and a video message from President Obama about the importance of helping others. In the spot where most all star compititions bring on their spectacular entertainers, the NBA had a gospel choir backing up John Legend and Juanes presenting music associated with the theme of volunteering and helping others.

The NBA players are a mix of races and nationalities -- From Chinese, to Australian, Croatian to Ukrainian.
But most are African-American. These guys are role models to teenagers of all races, but especially black teenagers who see basketball as their identity. With these role models setting the example of helping by volunteering in the community a whole new movement can begin.

If you are not familiar with Legend and and Juanes (I really was not)...Legend is a 5-time Grammey Award Winner for both performance and song writing and Juanes has won 15 Grammey Awards for his Latin Music. They performed Legend's hit "If you're out there" which deals with being out there with a purpose. Here is the complete lyrics of the song.