Rob Pannell Nominated for ESPY

Rob Pannell, the NCAA, Ivy League and Cornell lacrosse player of the year, has been nominated for an ESPY award.  You can vote for him by visiting Cornell's news page - click HERE.

Rob Pannell (3) in the 2009 NCAA Championship game

The ESPYs, an award show hosted by ESPN, is a celebration of the best sports moments and athletes of the year. The 2011 ESPYs will be held on Wednesday, July 13th at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, Calif.  Fans can vote to select the winners online or by mobile device by July 9 at espn.com/espys or on the ESPN Facebook page: facebook.com/espn. Additionally, fans can follow the official ESPYs Twitter page: @ESPYs. 

Joining Pannell in the Best Male College Athlete category is: Jimmer Fredette (BYU Basketball), Andy Miele (Miami-Ohio Hockey), Cam Newton (Auburn Football), and Kemba Walker (Connecticut Basketball). 

In addition to being named the USILA Player of the Year, Pannell also repeated as the Jack Turnbull Award winner as the Division I national attackman of the year. He is a three-time All-American and is the reigning two-time Ivy League Player of the Year. He led the nation in points per game (5.24), while ranking second overall in assists per game (2.76), and 10th overall in goals per game (2.47). He was also the first Big Red player since 2001 to lead Cornell in points, goals and assists in the same season. Pannell owns the longest point-scoring streak in the nation, having registered at least one point in each of his 52 career games, and he has the most career assists (140) and career points (236) of any active player in Division I men's lacrosse. 

The ESPYs and related events benefit the V Foundation for Cancer Research in memory of the late Jim Valvano.

Coming Down the Home Stretch for the Pan Mass Challenge:

Here's the latest of news as well as a clip of a prior post I made back in mid-June. I will follow this post up with a GREAT story that ran today in the Boston Globe and on Boston.com -- a story on the PMC founder Billy Starr who recently appreared on "Outside the Lines" and on ESPN's First Take.

So, let's cut the the chase, as they say: I need everyone to STEP UP now. We've raised nearly $1,000 and my goal is to raise another $1,000+ in the next week. Please click on the headline above and donate $10, $20, $25 or whatever you can afford. It GOES DIRECTLY to cancer research at Dana Farber, via the JIMMY FUND. Aside from the V Fundation, it doesn't get any better than this charity for direct aid to cancer research. Please donate by clicking here: TERRY's PROFILE at the PMC ONLINE SITE.

Update on the bike: The good folks at International Bicycle Center stepped up in a big way and made it possible for me to afford a nice TREK 2.1 road bike. I stepped up the training and will continue to do so until the big race (Day Two for me) on Sunday. My support also goes out to John Caron, proud owner of Johnnie's on the Side, who is doing the full two-day event.

By the way - Johnnie's is slated for a GRAND Re-OPENING on or about September 1, 2009. It's BACK in FULL GEAR!! YAHHOOOO.

Now, one last item. In today's mail, a "Lance Armstrong" type yellow wrist band with the name of TONY SNOW was awaiting, courtesy of the good folks in DC that worked with Tony at The White House . In prior posts, I noted that my Davidson connection and basketball played a much stronger role than my political beliefs and actions when it came to my love and support for Tony and his family. It's a long story on how it all came about, but suffice to say, I connected and related to Mr Tony Snow - a lot and I love and support his wonderful college and its basketball team, the Davidson Wildcats.

So, Tony... I'll be thinking of you on some of the tougher stretches of the race, knowing how you - gracefully and inspirationally - met your (really big) challenges. God Bless Tony and God Bless America.

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Read on...

And...Thanks for all the kind emails, calls and notes of support, but, PLEASE get your donation(s) in today.

Every little bit counts. It doesn't have to be a lot of ca$h.

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As you know from a few prior posts, I am training to ride in the Pan Mass Challenge which benefits cancer research. Here is the official "about us" with regard to the good folks at the Pan Mass Challenge and Dana-Farber:

The Pan-Massachusetts Challenge raises money for life-saving cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through an annual bike-a-thon that crosses the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Since its founding in 1980, the PMC has successfully melded support from cyclists, volunteers, corporate sponsors and individual contributors. All are essential to the PMC's goal and model: to attain maximum fundraising efficiency while increasing its annual gift. Our hope and aspiration is to provide Dana-Farber's doctors and researchers the necessary resources to discover cures for all cancers.

I have been training by riding up and down the famed "Heartbreak Hill" of the Boston Marathon which is only a block or so from my joint in Newton Centre, Mass. Upon return from the NBA Finals, I will step it up a notch.

I am also looking to either rent or get a new bike which will make it possible to ride in a more competitive fashion. I am currently training on a very nice GIANT Cypress DX

But, I have been eye-balling the very nice Scott Speedster from my local bike shop, Farina's, already been the bike shop of choice for two new bikes for the Lyons-Martin family kids.

If anyone has any other suggestions or a way for me to rent or save some $$ or to raise some money, buy it, ride it for Pan Mass Challenge then auction or sell it off, I am all ears. Please send your suggestions.

If I'm halfway competitive in the one-day Pan Mass Challenge, I hope to enter the grueling two-day event in 2010, depending on the dates and the schedule of the 2010 Basketball World Championship in Istanbul. We'll worry about that another day.

Anyhow, please send your donation into the Pan Mass Challenge web site and see my page by clicking on the headline above.

For donation page, please check HERE:

For additional info see:

Terry Lyons will be riding vs Cancer in honor of the following people and groups:

Shelby Strother (former columnist and all-around GREAT GUY)

Chuck Daly

Jimmy V

Tony Snow (former White House press secretary)

Corky Meineke (former Detroit News NBA writer- and I will wear his last press pass from the Pistons '95-96 season)

Timothy F. Lyons, Jr. (I will carry his baby bracelet and his mass card)

Mary the wonderful 'kid' and the rallying point-person for everyone at Johnnie's on the Side

http://www.pmc.org/egifts/TL0089

Thanks for your consideration and a small donation,

Sincerely,

Terry Lyons

As this is my first attempt at a bike race, I am entering the Wellesley One-Day event:

This route began in 2007 to accommodate riders who could only ride on Sunday or those looking for a less grueling ride. The ride starts with, what seems like a 15 mile descent following the classic Wellesley to Bourne route. Then the route heads east through Walpole and onto the Sharon water stop where riders returning on the two day ride from Bourne are arriving at their second water stop. The ride then heads back to Babson College

This ride begins at 7:00 am and depending on pace and rest times, can last from 2.5 hours to 6 hours. Most riders arrive back at Babson College between 10:30 am and 1:00 pm.

TL to Ride in Pan Mass Challenge: August 2

How cool!  A wonderful person who helps organize the Pan Mass Challenge noticed one of my posts for fund raising for the bike race and sent a log a nice note to help me direct my blog, facebook and tweet audiences to the right page for donations.  

In case you missed it, I am riding in the Pan Mass Challenge (a 2-day event of which I'm signed up to do a (long) 1-day excursion of 70+ miles through Eastern Mass in the Wellesley area.

I am riding in honor and in memory of:

Coach Chuck Daly

Coach Jim Valvano and the V Foundation

Shelby Strother, the great columnist of Florida Today, Denver Post and Detroit News.

and, my late brother, Timothy F Lyons III

Check this out:

The PMC folks wrote:

I caught your fundraising tweet and I have a suggestion for a more direct connection:

Send them to www.pmc.org/egifts/tl0089

And if you want to be so bold as to suggest a fundraising amount you can add that after the link.

Thanks for riding and good luck with your fundraising.

TL to Ride in Pan Mass Challenge: August 2

Terry Lyons will be riding vs Cancer in honor of the following people and the V Foundation, as always my favorite charity:

Shelby Strother
Chuck Daly
Jimmy V
Timothy F. Lyons, Jr.
Mary of Johnnie's on the Side

http://www.pmc.org/egifts/TL0089

Thanks for your consideration and a small donation, as I am determined to raise $2,000 to pay tribute to Coach Chuck Daly, Coach Jimmy V, and my lost friends and family member(s).

Sincerely,

Terry Lyons

As this is my first attempt at a bike race, I am entering the Wellesley One-Day event:

This route began in 2007 to accommodate riders who could only ride on Sunday or those looking for a less grueling ride. The ride starts with, what seems like a 15 mile descent following the classic Wellesley to Bourne route. Then the route heads east through Walpole and onto the Sharon water stop where riders returning on the two day ride from Bourne are arriving at their second water stop. The ride then heads back to Babson College

This ride begins at 7:00 am and depending on pace and rest times, can last from 2.5 hours to 6 hours. Most riders arrive back at Babson College between 10:30 am and 1:00 pm.

Jimmy V Week on ESPN

The entire ESPN family will activate in unison this week as ESPN hosts "Jimmy V Week" from November 28 to December 4.

You can help.

Click here to go to the official Jimmy V website

Bonds' ball goes to a guy from NYC ...

Is the ball on its way to the land of Oz? Does Quantas have safe deposit boxes on board? Will the guy from Queens sell out or save it? Theses are the questions to ponder after Barry Bonds cracked his 756th homer into the rightfield seats in San Fran.

A great piece of reporting on the chaotic scene can be found on the SF Chronicle's web site.

It makes you wonder. What would you do if you had the ball?

Keep it forever... Sell to the highest bidder...Lock it up and save it for a future payoff...Give it to Barry...Give it to Baseball...Keep it, but allow the Baseball Hall of Fame to display it (at a cost)... all viable answers to a question that has no 'right' answer.

Personally, I would try to create some goodwill for a charitable cause with the ball, which I believe rightfully belongs to Bonds.

I am NOT a big fan of the man, trust me. But I do believe that Bonds should be the one to end up with the ball. So, I would challenge the 43,154 people at AT&T Park by creating a web site to raise some money. How about my favorite charity (The V Foundation) getting a cool $863,080 bucks if every person in the crowd ponied up a $20.

The challenge would gain publicity everywhere and fans could add to the pot. (in a separate pool). Add the rank and file MLB players who can easily contribute $1,000 a man to the project. I will call upon full 40-man rosters for the 30 MLB clubs and at $1,000 per player, that would raise another $1.2 million.

Now, if MLB would match it all?

The whole project could raise $4,126,160 for the V Foundation if donations from each group would hit my benchmarks. My part? The ball would be presented to Bonds when the donations reached their targets.