May 18

This week a group called the "giving-back fund" announced the most charitable individuals in the United States. Oprah Winfrey gave away 58 million dollars in 2006 to lead the way. There were a couple of bequests listed 2 and three and then Barbra Streisand at 11 million dollars. And then came the most generous of our superstar athletes. It probably is no surprise that Tiger Woods is the most generous among them. Tiger gave away
9.5 million dollars to various causes. The second most generous of the athletes was third year NBA star Carmelo Anthony who took 4.3 million out of his annual paycheck. This is truly "giving back". Too often we hear of players who are in it for "the money"...or "the glory"...or "the power".

Not enough is heard of those who often contribute without any interest in publicity. Did you know that retired tennis star Andre Agassi; the NFLs Ronde and Tiki Barber and NASCAR's Tony Stewart all passed a million dollars each on to charities. This is cash money. Not tied to foundations which sometimes can been drained by inflated operating costs. There is only one thing that is better than a cash donation and that's the giving of time.

Tiger Woods does that. Here in Montreal Saku Koivu did that in raising money for the Mcgill Health Centre. And then there is of course the undisputed world champion in that regard, Jean Beliveau. Being a star athlete doesn't have to mean being avaricious, greedy, rude and impatient-for-freeagency and the next big contract. It only seems that way in our daily life.