ATHLETES ‘DO RIGHT’ BY ME
Essence. Such a beautiful word…and such great content…once again, Essence is highlighting 50 sexy, single, successful brothers for their annual celebration of Do Right Men 2008. Aside from the fact that these men will make you drool, Essence has broken them down by merit…yes merit- something we forget now and again-something easily forgotten when the six-packs are displayed…but something which is becoming the center of attention in more than one publication…merit is making a come back…thank god Im not the only one who’s had enough of men behaving badly…two ballin’ beasts to behave well enough to make the Essence cut? Ovie Mughelli (L) and Antonio Gates (R).

Ovie Mughelli, 28, Atlanta; Fullback for the Falcons. His Ovie Mughelli Foundation uses summer football camps as a platform to support nutrition, education and health initiatives. “I wanted to impress upon these kids that working hard pays off, and I wanted to make sure other kids have what I did not.” And his motto: “You are not your own. Any greatness you achieve you did not accomplish on your own. It’s your -responsibility to do what you can to bless someone else.” Antonio Gates is from my hometown of San Diego, so back off ladies…the San Diego Charger has been ‘Doing Right’ since sponsoring his first Shoot to Cure HD athletic event in 2005, raising money to provide research toward a cure for Huntington’s Disease, a hereditary disorder of the central nervous system. Gates decided to take action after someone close to him was diagnosed. “It’s very painful to see people who are suffering from a disease that people don’t really know about,” says Gates, who’s doing his part to raise both public awareness and clinical knowledge. His motto: “Only the strong survive.”

DO WRONG MEN: LEBRON JAMES
To each and every one of you who wrote to me about my ‘harsh’ opinion of Lebron James…to each one of you blinded by name, rank and status to care what goes on when the balls not around…I’m not the first one to call him out. Im not gonna be the last and I’m certainly not about to give him a break…

Essence calls out Lebron James (Thanks for having my back peeps)….

DOING WRONG: Where do we start? James sparked a media firestorm when he refused to sign a teammate’s letter condemning the Chinese government’s complicity in the Darfur genocide, attributing his hesitance to “not having enough information.” In April, he was the first African-American man to grace the cover of Vogue, but the image of a wild-eyed James with a basketball in one hand and Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen drew fouls for its perpetuation of stereotypes of Black men. The press has not proven to be James’s only adversary: Last December he was pulled over in Ohio for driving 101 mph, an offense he called “no big deal.” Responding to some of his negative press, James said to The Cleveland Plain Dealer in March 2008, “Everything my name is on is going to be criticized. … Who cares what anyone says?”

As always, thanks for reading. Delinda Lombardo
delinda@athlebrities.com