wondering

[strikeout]

I was just curious about what everyone thought of yesterday's MLB 4 ALS games. True, the players all wore the patches and at least the Yes network did there best to mention it during their broadcast, but the two games we tuned in to did not air the reading of Lou Gehrig's speech. I felt, once again, where ALS awareness is concerned, it was a disappointment.

 

[BethU]

Strikeout, I was disappointed, too ... but considering that ALS got any national attention at all, it's a giant step. Even the close-ups of the patches on the uniforms reinforced the message. Most people have literally never heard anything about ALS, so going from zip to maybe 5 or 10% awareness is great.

I watched the Dodgers/Padres game and understood that they would play LG's speech during the 7th inning stretch, but instead Fox cut away to 5 minutes of commercials. So apparently those in the ballpark got to hear the speech, but not the TV audience. However, in an earlier inning, the announcers did mention LG and ALS, and they showed a very brief clip from the speech ("Luckiest man").

I love the slogan "4 ALS" since LG's number was 4 ... very clever. It's my impression that MLB will continue to support ALS research, financially and otherwise. Hope so.

Letters from LG to his doctor after his retirement (which are posted online now) show that LG did not know ALS was incurable, untreatable, progressive and 100% fatal when he retired. (Sorry Joel ... I know it's not fatal if something else kills you first. ) Apparently his doctor and wife kept the real nature of ALS from him. Up until a few months before his death, he was still begging his doctor to tell him the truth about his condition. They kept telling him he had a 50/50 chance of survival.

I wonder if he would have said he was the luckiest man in the world if he had known the truth. I suspect he would have. He was the definition of class.

 

[strikeout]

Beth,
Unfortunately, I guess we'll have to settle for what we can get. On the MLB website there was a letter from a woman with ALS who was at the Great American Ballpark who said they showed 15 seconds of video vying for attenion with free t-shirts being tossed into the crowd. She stated "The t-shirts won, we lost". Another letter was from someone at the Angels game who said there was no onfield reading. no stamp on the program, not even a video of LG giving the speech. They quickly flashed the portion of him saying "the luckiest man". My husband watched the whole yankee game, my guests and I ran in at the 7th inning, watched it all and with very little time in between the game went right into the 8th. We couldn't believe it. It's the Yankees for God's sake. Apparantly somewhere near LG's memorial, a wreath was placed and video ran of different players saying different lines from the speech. But you would have had to go looking for it. They ran a show with some of those letters you mentioned above on ESPN, and I also read more of them online. Very interesting. I agree about him having class. Pride of the Yankees will be shown tonight at 9:00 on the MLB network right after Bob Costas does an interview with Cal Ripkin about LG which will start at 8:00. I will surely tune into those.

 

[danjay]

I missed the game but channel 9 in Denver had a great segment on their evening news. Broadcast the critical sentences in Gehrig's speech twice and had an interview with a six year survivor, David Shouser - great interview.
If you'll let me, here is the url. Otherwise, google channel 9 Denver and search on Gehrig.
http://www.9news.com/rss/article.aspx?storyid=118882
Dan

 

[hopingforcure]

In Philly, and the Yankee's they all did it before the game. Why not during the 7th inning also? My husband kept saying why dont they explain ALS.. Show patient's, show clinics, most people that I talked to still did not understand ALS.. It was something and I am forever grateful to the man who started this, my hubby hoped that it just would get bigger for the next 5 years, and that the 75th anniversary would be a big awareness. I watched most of the 15 games, and kept thinking a dollar from each person, gosh what kind of impact that would be. The Yankee's donated 25,000, not that much.

The Phillies are big supporter's.. Shane V. got the Lou Gehrig award.. Curt Shilling was our God send, even naming his first son Gehrig, he is missed in the MLB.
I think they should of talked about donations, not much about that. I had an amazing time, and hope that this is the start of something great. It is surely the most awareness we have had in a long time. The Estee's from project ALS were at the Phillies game, they are amazing. I think that people should learn more about Lou Gehrig, I am a fanatic, and there is so much more than the speech.. Wonder how the speech would have been different if he would have known the outcome, sometimes I think it would have shed so much light to sport's fan's, most do not have any info of progression.. All in all it was a start, and number 4 is a true ICON...

 

[strikeout]

Thanks Dan - Great story, don't know why but video would not play.
Hoping - agreed

 

[nattyb]

I was also dissapointed that ALS did not get the attention I expected it would. I called my family and friends very excited about the baseball games on the 4th. I don't wish this terrible disease on anyone, but if more wealthy and influential people had been diagnosed, we probably would get more attention!

 

[strikeout]

Natty,
I e-mailed everyone I know and told them about MLB 4 ALS and told them to tune in :roll:

 

[BethU]

It's not over till the fat lady homers ...

Just got a message from ALSA that the Dodgers are having a "4-ALS Awareness" Day July 20th. It is also a fund-raiser.

It sounds like MLB is actually getting involved on a bigger scale than just the 4th of July ceremonies in promoting awareness and supporting research.

This could be the ticket to finally getting a national push for a cure.

 

[strikeout]

I hope so, Beth.