Champions of Kindness: The V Foundation

Aside from Championship Week and March Madness, we'd go as far as saying that this is the biggest season of the basketball season.

You know why? It's Jimmy V week.

For those of you who don't know who Jimmy V is, his name's Jimmy Valvano, and he's a basketball coach.

He died in 1993 of cancer, and he won the NCAA Championships with North Carolina State.

But when as he found out he was dying of cancer, he didn't just roll up into a ball and cry: he battled.

He talked about fighting the disease. He started up a foundation - 'The V Foundation', which gives 100% of his money to cancer research - just eight weeks before he was enshrined in the Great Floor In The Sky. We only hope we can find a cure.

I hope that we - and a lot of people - can go by some of his speech at ESPN's awards which read:

"I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get you're emotions going. To be enthusiastic every day and as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Nothing great could be accomplished without enthusiasm," to keep your dreams alive in spite of problems whatever you have. The ability to be able to work hard for your dreams to come true, to become a reality."

Amen, brother. Amen. See you in heaven.

Here's the full speech:



And the coaching highlight:

Welcome one, welcome all!

Having seen too much written about boys (and girls) behaving badly in websites and newspapers this week, we've decided that enough is enough.

It's now important to champion people 'doing good things'. No, this is not another blog proclaiming the brilliance of Joe Paterno, but it's another blog proclaiming the kindness that one person shows to another.

We realize that there a lot of sportspeople out there that probably belong in jail. But then again, there are a lot of sportspeople out there who deserve a bit of recognition for going that extra yard.

If you know anyone who's done anything 'Shred-Worthy', then let us know and we'd glad to put something up!