I got a great e-mail this morning from Cara Smith, a fellow basket wife who is married to Tyler Smith (pictured below). Tyler was Joe’s teammate and roommate at Penn State and is currently playing professionally in Japan. Here was the e-mail she forwarded to me from Tyler:

Hey Hooligans,

I was inspired this past summer by a friend of mine who ran a half-marathon and dedicated her run to a young boy who was battling cancer. She listens to her iPod when she runs these insane distances. I am not sure anything could distract me from wanting to kill myself if I were to run 13 miles. But, she is a warrior and I’m a little school girl deep down inside.

For a small donation, you were able to be a part of her run and pick a song that she listened to on her run. The money went to the young boy who was fighting for his life.

Given the rules of paying for songs, the cruel side of me wanted to buy every song for her run so that she only listened to the music I chose. And I would then tell her it was Shania Twain’s “From This Moment On”. On repeat. For 13 glorious miles.

Her lawyer said that it wouldn’t go down like that. So, I naturally picked the most inspirational tune known to man that we all secretly know the words to by heart. Ice Ice Baby. Dum dum dum da da dum dum (ch).

Anyway, I began thinking that maybe I could do something similar in regards to raising awareness and funds for a cause that meant something important to me. Something that helped people who may be in need. Rather than just playing basketball, I want to turn it into something more.

I recently came across a guy named Doc Hendley who is turning Wine into Water. He started a non-profit organization “WINE TO WATER” (www.WineToWater.org) that is focused on providing clean water to needy people around the world. He holds wine tastings in the US and the donations made during those events go towards clean water projects around the world in India, Sudan, Cambodia, and other developing countries. He is nominated as one of the Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2009.

Personally, I drink a ton of water everyday. I sweat more than 99% of you on a daily basis b/c of basketball. And one of the best parts of my day is when there is a break in practice. I walk over to the water cooler. I take a huge swig (yeah I said swig). It’s cold, clean, and rejuvenates me. Never for a second do I think that my water might be contaminated. I would shove my tiny Japanese manager Sakamoto in a trashcan if it were. Never do I worry that I could get sick. Or that the water little Hannah drinks at home could give her a disease.

But, the fact is that 1 billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water. Here I am chugging it down like a whale. My heart goes out to people who drink and bathe in the same dirty water. Or those who walk 3-5 hours each day to get clean water. Tragic. Occasionally I am too lazy to walk 3-5 steps. What a loser I can be.

So, here is the game plan. My thought is that for every point I score and every rebound I grab this year I am going to make a donation to this organization (Wine to Water) that provides clean water to those who don’t have it.

I’d like you to join me.

Yeah yeah. Everyone is asking you for money and you don’t have any. Listen, my personal feeling is that literally any amount counts. A little old lady once put 2 practically worthless coins in an offering tray a while ago and this guy named Jesus said she gave more than the big dawgs who gave their hundreds and thousands of dollars. Every bit helps.

When was the last time you were really thirsty? On a long car ride, so you pulled over? During a workout, so you grabbed your water bottle? Tasted divine. Didn’t it?

Just to give you an idea of how many points I may score or rebounds I may grab. It looks kind of like this:

Current PT Ave – 10 pts/game ( x 40 – 50 games) = 400-500 total points (approximately for the full season)

Current Reb Ave. – 3.6 rb/game (quit laughing) ( x 40 – 50 games) = 150-180 total rebounds (approx. for the full season)

This is assuming I don’t suddenly catch fire and go Kobe-esque on my small samurai competitors.

EXAMPLE: if you donated $0.10 per point I score this season you would donate about $50. You can donate $0.01 per point if you want. Seriously. No one will know. I’ll never judge you on it. You’ll be contributing to save lives and bring hope to people who may not have much.

You can donate however you’d like. Donate per point. Per Rebound. Both. Or something you make up on your own like personal fouls or number of Japanese words I learn to yell at the refs.

We’ll even throw in some wild card donations for you gamblers.

A Dunk – $25 (I haven’t had one since…… ummmmmm…. I’ll get back to you on that)

A Championship – $100 (my team Hitachi made the Finals last year, but has never won one)

NBA Call-up – $250 (hey, you never know. Celtics could be scouring Japan’s league as we speak for the next white sensation)

As the season progresses, I will update you on my points and rebounds. (Maybe I should give back $ for turnovers). At the end of the basketball season (April ’10), I will inform you of my total points and rebounds. And you can make your official donation then by check, cash, gold bullion, or credit card online via PayPal. 100% of the money will go to Wine To Water. Zero to me and my Krispy Kreme Addiction.

If you’d rather make your donation monthly b/c that is easier, I can arrange that. I just figured that 1 lump sum would be simpler at the end of the season.

PRIZES

* The Top 2 donors will receive an authentic Hitachi “Smith” Jersey. Highly limited (value is debatable). I will wash it first

* The Next Top 5 donors will get a signed Hitachi basketball poster by the whole team. They’re pretty sweet.

* Top Next Top 20 donors will get a Hitachi trading card of me. Yes, you can put it in your bike spokes.

* EVERY donor will receive regular updates from me with ridiculous Japan basketball stories and the point and rebound update.

Please join me in this small but significant effort to make a difference. The change from your car ash trash counts. My goal is to raise $17,500 by the end of the season which is enough for 35 new clean water wells in a place like Cambodia. I wear #35. (Wells are $500 each)

Please pass this along to others so more can be involved. They get a ton of spam anyway. What’s one more?

I can’t imagine what it’s like to not have clean water. Let’s help make it so that others don’t have to live without it.

Gratefully Yours,
Sweaty Guy Ty

If you are interested, please just send me a one-liner saying you are in and however much you’d like to contribute. Arigato.

Watch as I now turn into the White Japanese Lebron. A slower, weaker, and less explosive version. But, I can throw white hand chalk way higher in the air than him.

90-sec video of Wine to Water – http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/30/heroes.doc.hendley/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

Blog Updates will be here – http://www.proplayervideo.com/blogs.php?user=2&blog=17

Isn’t that a great idea? Tyler is creative like that (another of his great ideas was Pro Player Video. Check it out and join if you are a baller!) So Joe and I of course are excited to join in on Tyler’s idea, but I wanted to see if I could stir up some more support to his goal of raising money for 35 water wells. So I am going to add a little incentive to giving to this cause.

If you contact Tyler (tyler@proplayervideo.com) and commit to giving, leave a comment in this post and you will be entered in a drawing to win a $25 gift card to iTunes, Amazon, or Dick’s Sporting Goods. I will pick two names on Friday.

Now I know sometimes it can be weird on the internet to get involved with people you don’t know. Many of you may not know Tyler, as many of you may not know me personally. I have noticed a shyness here on my blog. My nifty little stat counter tells me that I get an average of 75 unique visitors to my website every day. And yet in the last month only 6 different people have left comments. So that leads me to conclude one of a few options: 1) My blog doesn’t leave you thinking anything you feel you need to comment on, 2) My comments aren’t working (If that is the case shoot me an e-mail at erin@marriedtoaballer.com and I will try and get it figured out), or 3) you are too shy to say anything. Since I am hoping it is the third option, I want to encourage you to come out and comment more. So if you commit to giving to Wine To Water and leave a comment on my blog PLUS you leave another comment on my blog before Friday, I will enter your name 2 times in the drawing. So come on out of your shell and say “hi” to both Tyler and I. Neither of us are scary people, I promise you!

Ok, so let’s get 35 new wells built for those without fresh water. Even if that doesn’t inspire you, just receiving Tyler’s hilarious e-mail updates will be totally worth it!

There is a contest over on Maria’s blog this week (actually it ends today) and the question she posed was this:

Post on your blog (and leave a link) or Facebook or leave a comment describing how you balance humbleness with activism.

So I first went and checked out exactly what the definition of activism is. Here is what the Merriam-Webster dictionary said:

a doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue

— ac·tiv·ist \-vist\ noun or adjective

Although there are definitely controversial topics that I have a strong opinions on (ie. abortion), the most important controversial “issue” to me is obviously the issue of whether Jesus Christ is Lord of the universe or not. The reason this whole blog was started was to find another way to point to God’s beauty through the life of one who is living in the arena of professional basketball. That is the area I would call myself the strongest “activist”.

So how do I stay humble in trying to point others toward the truth of Jesus and persuade them to submit their lives to Him? The best way I know to stay humble is to know who I truly am. As the Evangelical Free Church of America (our home church’s affiliation) says in their statement of faith, the human condition is as such:

We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.

When you realize that you are a sinner and it is only by God’s grace that you can be saved and do any good, you can no longer become frustrated or angry with another. Of course, this is if we fully comprehend the work of Jesus on the cross at all times, which no one can do perfectly. But when I feel frustration, anger and pride creeping up in my heart towards those who feel differently, act differently, speak differently, etc. than me, the obvious root is pride in thinking I myself am inherently good.  Any truth I believe, good I do, or grace I impart into another’s life is solely because of God’s previous and continuing work of grace in my life.  When you fully grasp that, humility is the only response.  So my aim is to meditate as much as possible on the work Jesus did on the cross.