The Philadelphia Citizen: How Philly Athletes are Stepping up to Help During the Coronavirus Crisis

It’s been 28 days since the NBA season was suspended. 672 hours since the last tipoff. Soon after March 11, the NHL season was also suspended. Then MLB Opening Day was postponed. NCAA canceled its March Madness tournament. And now, the Tokyo Olympics are pushed to 2021.

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Step up

If you’re not a sports fan, this means very little to you. But to those of us who care if a ball is in or out of bounds, the loss is profound. Sports is a fabric of daily life for millions of Americans.

The spectacle and the scale make it extraordinary. But the consistency makes it ordinary.

This combination makes sporting events an exquisite venue for communal healing. Think of George W. Bush’s opening pitch at Yankee Stadium after 9/11. Think of rival stadiums singing the Boston’s team anthem, “Sweet Caroline,”after the Boston Marathon bombing.

But in the wake of Covid-19, sports have been suspended. And In the face of this pandemic, it’s not the teams, but the players themselves who have been leading the way in embracing their role as cultural leaders.

Here, we round up the contributions made by our local athletes, and celebrate the impact these players have chosen to make off the field.

EAGLES 🏈 Ertz starts a trend

• On March 20, Eagles tight end Zach and soccer superstar Julie Ertz donated $100,000 to Philabundance. The Ertz play was the first domino for other Eagles teammates. The next day, Eagles center (and Citizen columnist) Jason and Kylie Kelce donated $100,000 to Philabundance. And two days later, Connor and Laura Barwin, former Eagles linebacker and new front-office assistant (and Citizen columnist, too!), donated $25,000.
• In other Eagles news, Safety Rodney McLeod is looking to fill the Malcolm Jenkins-sized hole in our hearts by donating $25,000 to support the School District’s Grab and Go Campaign, and Carson Wentz’s A01 Foundation allocated $100,000 to a new “Love from the Crumb” initiative in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Read the rest of the article here: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/philly-athletes-helping-coronavirus/