In the Meadowlands
Saw something interesting this morning at the Meadowlands. At Giants Stadium, Kurt Warner and his wife, Brenda, hosted an event for 50 developmentally disabled people involved with the Special Olympics. The participants ranged in age from about 12 to maybe 30. It's something the Warners have done often through their "First Things First" foundation. Kurt shows everybody how to pass and punt and kick from a tee. Then they have lunch and he signs pictures for them.
I was there to document the event for a show called "Giants on Deck," which is a weekly series for kids that runs here in the northeast. It's a magazine show that features members of the New York Giants.
Kurt and Brenda began the day with a prayer and this was the only time I felt a little bit uneasy. "First things First" is all Jesus-based. It's all about "letting God into your life" and God "having a plan for everybody." As with most organized religion it feels vaguely "Manchurian Candidate."
The surprise was that, once the religious portion of the morning was completed, Warner was completely into working with these kids who had shown up. Some were clearly worse-off than others, but everybody got a chance to do everything. We caught it all, ending up with almost 2 hours of tape shot.
We interviewed Kurt during lunch and he was gracious as hell. He invoked Jesus yet again, but having seen him work with the kids and genuinely enjoy himself, the religious talk didn't bother me as much. The Onion once referred to his wife as a "wire-haired man-goblin" and damned if she wasn't. They have 5(!) kids and she's pregnant with the sixth. She was kind of freaky.
I was there to document the event for a show called "Giants on Deck," which is a weekly series for kids that runs here in the northeast. It's a magazine show that features members of the New York Giants.
Kurt and Brenda began the day with a prayer and this was the only time I felt a little bit uneasy. "First things First" is all Jesus-based. It's all about "letting God into your life" and God "having a plan for everybody." As with most organized religion it feels vaguely "Manchurian Candidate."
The surprise was that, once the religious portion of the morning was completed, Warner was completely into working with these kids who had shown up. Some were clearly worse-off than others, but everybody got a chance to do everything. We caught it all, ending up with almost 2 hours of tape shot.
We interviewed Kurt during lunch and he was gracious as hell. He invoked Jesus yet again, but having seen him work with the kids and genuinely enjoy himself, the religious talk didn't bother me as much. The Onion once referred to his wife as a "wire-haired man-goblin" and damned if she wasn't. They have 5(!) kids and she's pregnant with the sixth. She was kind of freaky.
posted by Claro at 7:34 PM
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