Our pro teams ought to step up to help program
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UPON READING the condemning front-page story on the state of sports in Boston Public Schools (“Missed opportunities,’’ Page A1, June 21), I remembered John Donne’s poetic message: “All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; . . . the bell that rings to a sermon calls not upon the preacher only but upon the congregation to come.’’ No one goes through this life alone. No matter where we live in Massachusetts, industrialized city or leafy suburb, Boston is our city upon the hill.
My idea, for what it’s worth, is to involve professional sports’ heavy hitters into the moribund life of the Boston school system. Does this sound doable? We scratch our heads whenever we read about the exorbitant salaries and signing bonuses now rampant in professional sports. The figures are beyond our comprehension.
I would ask everyone on the roster of every professional sports team in our region to donate to the Boston schools’ sports program. Along with this money would come the requirement that a special master be in charge of every dollar spent. No school would stand ahead of any other, save for student count.
We as sports fans delight almost every night in our favorite teams’ exploits. Now it is time for them to stand up and be counted. These kids need help.
Joan Barbary
Scituate
IT IS rare that there are readily achievable solutions for devastating problems. However, the lack of funding for the Boston Public Schools sports programs, as detailed in Bob Hohler’s series “Failing our athletes,’’ has a relatively easy solution. We are blessed with four overwhelmingly successful sports franchises in Boston. If each of the teams - the Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots, and Bruins - were to contribute to a sports fund for Boston’s schools, the city’s students could have the programs they deserve. And if each team were challenged to get 100 percent of their players, coaches, managers, and owners to make a personal contribution to the fund, just think what we could accomplish.
Imagine, with a mere half of one percent of each player’s salary, Boston’s students could have one of the best sports programs in the country. They would not only have an opportunity to play sports with proper equipment, uniforms, and fields, but they would gain self-esteem, have an incentive to focus on their academics, learn teamwork, develop leadership skills, work toward goals, and have an alternative to the streets. We all would benefit from the generosity of our sports heroes.
As only a fair-weather sports fan, I would definitely become a fanatic if our professional teams stepped up to the plate to help give students a chance at success - in sports and in life.
Nadine Cohen
Newton 
