@ClintStoerner When I’m puzzled, I like to show grace and ask them to explain to me the rationale. I can’t wait for the credentialed to ask that question.
J.J. Watt asked the internet for $200,000 to help Houston after Hurricane Harvey.
He hit that number in two hours.
He ended up with $41.6 million. The largest crowdsourced fundraiser in the history of the world.
August 2017. Harvey stalls over Texas and dumps an unfathomable amount of water on Houston. More than 300,000 structures flooded. At least 68 people dead. Entire neighborhoods underwater.
The Texans can't even get home. The team is stuck in Dallas after a preseason game, rerouted, watching their own city drown on television.
So from a hotel room in Dallas, Watt pulls out his phone and records a video.
He wasn't polished about it. He just said he knew the recovery was going to be massive and that a whole lot of people were going to need help getting back on their feet.
Then he put $100,000 of his own money in and set the goal at $200,000.
Two hours later it was funded.
And then it just did not stop.
A week in, it was past $18 million. Within three weeks, $37 million. Donations came from every state and dozens of countries. Kids sent lemonade stand money. Rival fanbases sent thousands. Corporations matched.
Late checks kept arriving after the deadline closed, and the final total came to $41.6 million.
Here's the part that separates this from a viral moment.
Watt didn't hand it to a single charity and walk away. His foundation spent a year distributing it across eight organizations: All Hands and Hearts, Americares, Boys and Girls Clubs, Baker Ripley, Feeding America, Habitat for Humanity, Save the Children and SBP.
Then they published exactly what it did.
More than 600 homes repaired and rebuilt. More than 420 childhood centers restored. Over 26 million meals distributed. Health care provided to more than 6,500 people.
Watt's own words about the responsibility: "There's a tremendous amount of responsibility that comes with the situation I was in."
And he went out and saw it himself. He described visiting a family in a house his fund had rebuilt, and then looking at the houses around it that were still wrecked.
He asked about the neighbors.
The answer was that they hadn't seen those people since. They'd just abandoned the houses and never came back.
That's what he took away from the whole thing. Not the record. The blocks that didn't get fixed.
His statement a year later put it on everyone else:
"The fundraiser that I started with a simple goal of $200,000 turned into an unbelievable outpouring of support from people all around the globe."
He was 28 years old. He had already won three Defensive Player of the Year awards. He was arguably the most dominant defensive player in football.
And the thing he'll be remembered longest for is a shaky phone video from a hotel room.
$200,000 to $41.6 million.
Because one guy who couldn't get home decided to ask.
For more stories like this, follow us on any platform @thesportsontap
@TheAstrosLocker This is a great proxy. I have been trying to explain this to friends for a while now. Baseball is killing the Golden Goose. Major free agents in NFL (best league by far) do not go to LA Chargers or Rams because the NFL (& other major pro leagues) have rev share & $ parity.
Maybe we should put our kids in BJJ.
This study looked at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu's effect on young people. The results are incredible.
Kids did jiu jitsu 1-3x per week, 45 minutes on average, and they increased their self control by double digits compared to their peers.
They showed more inhibitory control - aka, less easily distracted, more focus.
Other studies say the same thing:
One looked at MMA vs BJJ, and the kids who did BJJ had:
• Increased self-control
• Increased pro-social behavior
• Decreased levels of aggression
Another study looked specifically at boys with autism. It found that the social + motor control aspects of martial arts have a huge effect:
The group who did martial arts had a 12.79 LOWER score on problem behaviors than the control group.
In a world that’s constantly trying to distract us, BJJ makes you disciplined.
In a world where kids are increasingly isolated, BJJ puts them together & challenges them physically and mentally.
What do you think? Would you put your kids in martial arts?
Last 15 days for #Astros bullpen Big 3 (5 games each):
Abreu: 1.69 ERA, 5.1 IP, H, ER, 11 K
Pressly: 1.93 ERA, 4.2 IP, 5 H, ER, 8 K
Hader: 1.42 ERA, 6.1 IP, 4 H, ER, 9 K
That's 28 K, 3 ER in 16.1 innings.
POWERFUL. My buddy @NDKalu sent this a few minutes ago. I watched it, then watched again. It’s about bein a man, and what means. Strong as horseradish. I’m stunned by the power of this message.
https://t.co/OqX691w2Mx