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Tragedy has struck the Colorado men’s basketball family. According to a news release from the Department of Defense, Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Tresse King, the mother of former Buffaloes star George King, died on Tuesday while deployed in Kuwait. No details were released other than saying King died “in a noncombat-related incident” at Ali Al Salem Air Base.
A report by Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake detailed what they called ‘paid patriotism’ – the United States military paying sports teams for advertisements, many of which looked like altruistic displays of gratitude for servicemen and servicewomen. At least seven NBA teams received money from the U.S. armed forces: Hawks: $230,000 Celtics: $195,000 Pacers: $115,000 Mavericks: $55,000 Trail Blazers: $35,000 Spurs: $26,666 Hornets: $25,000 The list might be longer, but the McCain-Flake report says the Department of Defense can’t account for its full spending.
But Silver reiterated that it's still up to NBA stars to make the personal decision to play for one's country. "It is a big risk without enormous financial reward," Silver said when asked about a sentiment shared by outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban during a "Commitment to Service" news conference to discuss a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense at Madison Square Garden. "But I am sitting next to our highest ranking military official," Silver said of General Martin Dempsey." I'm almost embarrassed to be talking about the risk that our players face compared to what our men and women in uniform face."
The NBA and USA Basketball announced a partnership with the Department of Defense to support armed forces members and their families. It will create a full schedule of events across the world including USO tours, exhibition games, clinics, open practices for military members, speaking engagements and game tickets. It will include NBA and WNBA teams as well as Team USA.
The NBA and the Department of Defense are teaming up to help service members and their families get healthier. The "NBA Cares Hoops for Troops Healthy Military Base Tour'' launches Thursday, a program that will feature player visits and clinics at military bases in the U.S, hosted by current and former NBA and WNBA players, coaches and officials. The first one is Thursday at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. The NBA said research has indicated that obesity and tobacco use among U.S. military add more than $3 billion per year to the DOD budget in health care costs and lost duty days. "We have a responsibility as a league to do whatever we can to help in the area of health and wellness, especially as it relates to the men and women who serve and protect us each and every day,'' NBA senior vice president of social responsibility Todd Jacobson said in a statement.
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Dick Pfander is a 77-year-old Department of Defense retiree who splits his time between Michigan and a doublewide near Winter Haven, Florida. He started collecting box scores while in grammar school in the late 1940s, he says. After a friend’s father finished with his copies of the Sunday New York Times, he would pass along the sports section to Pfander. “I read the articles,” Pfander said. “But what I really liked, were the box scores.” The hobby continued into high school. When a teammate learned of Pfander’s interest in statistics, he asked his grandmother, who lived in Minneapolis, to start sending box scores from the local papers. The Minneapolis Lakers were the dominant team of the time, and with her help, Pfander began extending his collection past the local papers and large national outlets.
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