Ray-Ray and His Brother

I just noticed this article on espn.com. ESPN.com – NCF – Clemson’s McElrathbey brothers featured on Oprah. Before reading it, I was about to blog about this bit from espn.com’s Dave Revsine’s weekly “Between the Numbers” column:

$1,500: Temple has shown up a lot in the futility items in this column this year, so it feels good to have something nice to write about the Owls this week. Before their game against Clemson Oct. 12, Temple’s players voted unanimously to donate their per diem checks, $1,500 in all, to the Fahmarr McElrathbey Trust Fund.

Fahmarr is the younger brother of Clemson’s Ray-Ray McElrathbey. As you may have heard, Ray-Ray took temporary custody of his 11-year-old brother this summer to get him out of the house of their mother, who is struggling with drug addiction. The NCAA has allowed Ray-Ray to accept donations to a fund for his brother’s care. Classy move by Al Golden’s kids to make the donation.

I think this is something of an amazing move, and I’m disheartened that I’m finding out about this on Friday afternoon. I understand that the story of the week is what it is, but man, this is actually an important and good story. A bit about some players giving away their travel cash to support an opponent and his brother certainly warrants some mention aside from the Revsine article, isn’t it?

Especially when it’s coming from a team whose only apparent existence is to be traveling whipping boys.