This summer a large group of athletes once again answered the question what about in Chicago when retired Chicago Bear Sam Acho joined forces with several athletes and the nonprofit, By The Hand Club for Kids to work with youth in the Austin neighborhood in Chicago. The athletes participated in healing circles, talked to youth to learn about their experiences growing up in the neighborhood, talked to the youth about some of the needs in the neighborhood and toured the neighborhood.
Among the athletes taking part were past or current members of the Chicago Bears, Chicago Bulls, Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago White Sox, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers and New York Jets.
And one member of the Carolina Panthers: Former Dartmouth offensive lineman Matt Kaskey.
Speaking of Kaskey . . .
This video, where he visits with patients at Rush University Medical Center and reunites with a doctor who treated him as a young boy, is pretty special:
You've got to love this part . . .
Doctor: In 2006 you were what, about 8 or 9.
Kaskey: Yeah, I was in fourth grade I think.
Doctor: Look at you now. You're huge.
Kaskey: Yeah, I've grown a little bit since then.
Yes he has. The Panthers list him at 6-foot-7, 325 pounds.
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More than 150 Dartmouth faculty members have signed a letter calling for the college to “adopt a fully remote, non-residential plan,” for the fall quarter. The Dartmouth has a story HERE.
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EXTRA POINT
I remember it like it was yesterday. When I finished my journalism studies back in the dark ages and reported for my first sportswriting gig my editor said to me, and in no uncertain terms, "There will be absolutely no vacations in the fall." Period, end of sentence.
The reason? Football, short and simple. We staffed every high school game, writing long, detailed accounts of each one and keeping "official statistics."
Most newspapers don't cover high school football that way anymore. Times have changed, but until this fall they hadn't changed for me.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining, but I never had a fall vacation as a sportswriter. Not at my first newspaper. Not as sports editor at my next newspaper. Not when I worked at the college. Not when I returned to newspaper work, and certainly not since starting Big Green Alert in 2005. In fact, there hasn't been a fall day off since I started BGA.
I wish it weren't so but this year there's obviously plenty of opportunity for a fall vacation.
We had originally planned to fly out to Colorado in the spring to visit That Certain Dartmouth '14 but the pandemic scuttled that idea. That being the case, Mrs. BGA and I have decided to pull on our masks and load up the 1984 VW poptop camper van with enough food, latex gloves, hand sanitizer and the like to last us for three weeks as we head west. We'll stop for a day outside of Louisville to visit with my brother, spend a week with TCD'14 in Gunnison, Colo., and then have a weekend with my sister in Dillon, Colo., before heading home.
A little background. For the past year I've thought about driving the 36-year-old VW across the country and trying to sell a magazine story about the places and ways we broke down, and all the kind people who helped us. I still think it would be a good idea but (hopefully) it went by the wayside when we sent the van to someone I've taken to calling, "The VW Bus Whisperer," with instructions to do whatever he could to make sure I couldn't write that story.
We've given the old vehicle a pretty good workout the past couple of months and are (relatively) confident it can make the trip. The plan is to sleep in it both ways – avoiding campgrounds – and for safety reasons to stop only for gasoline and overnights in other VW bus owner driveways and parking lots.
I shouldn't do this but I'm going to bring along the laptop and update BGA Daily when I can. But this is to warn you I'm not going to be able to spend the same amount of time I usually do digging stuff up. What I can find quickly I will post. If there's significant news, I'll dig a little harder.
BGA Daily readers have been helpful sharing news of players past and future, as well as other links of interest and I'm hopeful that will continue while we are on the road. Who am I kidding? I hope it will pick up. Whatever you can send along would be a big help!
We'll be leaving in the wee hours this Saturday and the plan is to be back here at some point on Saturday, Sept. 19. In the meantime, do keep stopping by this electronic precinct for whatever Dartmouth/Ivy League news I (we?) can find and for periodic updates on our trip and how the VW is faring.
