The 2008 Olympic Games have become the most anticipated sporting event of our lifetime. The lead-up to the event officially tipped-off this morning with the opening ceremony to the 2007 Special Olympics World Games. The special olympic games are running Oct. 2-11, 2007 in Shanghai, China.
This is not to be confused with the Paralympic Games which will be staged from September 6-17, 2008 in Beijing, China, immediately after the Summer Games.
I clipped an AFP report on the opening ceremony to the Special Olympic World Games and you can access it by clicking on 'the very Special Olympics' headline above.
Yao Ming, the star of the Chinese Men's Olympic basketball team and an NBA All-Star as you well know, stayed in Shanghai to take part in the ceremony. Yao has been an active contributor to the special olympics cause over the years. He has conducted numerous clinics for special kids, one in 2005 that I helped stage as part of the inaugural Basketball without Borders - Asia.
Yao missed the first few days of NBA training camp in order to participate. Because of NBA collective bargaining and team rules, Yao had to pay a substantial fine in order to do so, according to reports in the Houston Chronicle.
The NBA has had a long-standing relationship with the Special Olympics, dating back to the mid-70s when then-NBA Commissioner Lawrence F. O'Brien worked together with Eunice Kennedy Shriver to help build awareness and raise funds to support the cause. Your internet search engines can tell you how O'Brien had strong ties with the Kennedy family as he etched his impressive career as a part of the JFK camelot crew. After o'Brien became NBA Commissioner in 1975, he supported the idea that each and every year, at Christmas time, the NBA would make a donation to the special olympics in the name of the media that cover the league.
A number of NBA teams support the special olympics through their own network of NBA Cares initiatives. So many of the players do the same - just like Yao.
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