There are show-and-tells, and there's

[radhak]

this : Bring Strahan to School.

Dunno why, but i was grinning by the time I was done reading it. Nice story. And Strahan comes off like a real star.

[germdoc]

How about a "Take a Supermodel to School Day"? I'd pick Heidi Klum.

Or, how about "Take a Rock Star to School Day"--hmmm--how about Keith Richards--that'd raise a few eyebrows!

Nice story!

[Hoover]

Thanks for the link. A great story about a great man and teenager. All too often all we hear or read is about some professional athlete in trouble with the law, etc. It is refreshing to read a positive article.

[DUD]

I am proud for Michael.

[crokett]

Sounds like a good story. I couldn't read it - I refuse to register.

[radhak]

Sounds like a good story. I couldn't read it - I refuse to register.

Interesting - does it ask you to?

I did not have to - and it still shows me the article. I started visiting nytimes only after they opened their site to the public.

edit : i do see the links at the top right to 'log in' and 'register', confirming that i am able to read the article without registering / logging in. Maybe you could check with a different browser?

[crokett]

Still wants me to register. Probably because I have cookies disabled. I also refuse to enable cookies except for a select few sites.

[Whaler]

That was a great one to read with so many stories of bad athletes out there.

[pierhogunn]

I really think the media should implement a fairness doctrine for professional athletes

for each rotten story they produce, each headline the read, each scurrilous thing they report about one of these humans, they should report one positive, uplifting and heartwarming story about the god guys that grace our favorite teams

Remember the Charlotte Hornets, that team had one or 2 problem children, and the rest of the squad were really great guys

[jziegler]

I didn't read the whole thing, but I wish more pro atheletes did things like this. There are just too many out there that are bad role models for kids. With so many atheletes having drug problems, problems with the law, or spending all their money so they have nothing when they retire, it's so refreshing to hear about an athelete doing something good for a kid.

And in response to Dan, you're probably right, there's probably more of this than we hear. But, bad news is good business for the media, so I doubt things will change all that much.

Jim

[Crash2510]

Here you go guys

SCOTCH PLAINS, N.J., Nov. 13 — Michael Strahan was on his way for breakfast, and members of the Villegas family paced around the kitchen wearing new Giants garb. They took turns peering out the window.

michael Strahan and Michael Villegas outside the gym before the start of a school assembly.
Thirteen-year-old Michael Villegas, wearing a No. 92 jersey, was the calmest even though he had won a sweepstakes and was about to become Strahan’s newest friend.

“I looked it up on the Web site, and he’s 6-5 and 255 pounds,” said Tina Villegas, Michael’s mother. “What do you make an N.F.L. football player for breakfast?”

It is not a common dilemma. Nor is it one the Villegas family ever thought it would face.

But Strahan was about to turn a few hours of his morning into a lifetime of memories for one family and Michael’s schoolmates. And it would be nice to think he liked the food.

Michael Villegas, an eighth grader at Saint Agnes School in nearby Clark, entered the “Take a Player to School” drawing, sponsored by the N.F.L. and J. C. Penney. Children 6 to 13 could register, and 100,000 did. A few weeks ago, 34 names were drawn — one for each N.F.L. team, plus two wild cards.

Tina’s phone rang one night, and a voice said something about a sweepstakes. The family had recently moved in, and Tina was unpacking in the kitchen. She was in no mood for a solicitor.

The voice persisted. Tina asked if she was being “punked.” Her son Michael perked up.

So the past couple of weeks have revolved around two things: settling into a new house and preparing for Strahan.

At 7 a.m., the front door to the Villegas home was wide open, as if the excitement inside could no longer be contained. Tina and Rob Villegas, their three children — Michael, Robert (17) and Alessondra (16) — and Tina’s sister, Margaret, waited eagerly.

There was a Giants blue tablecloth on the dining room table, pennants in the windows, a Giants flag on the wall, and red and blue streamers in the chandelier.

There were bagels, cinnamon rolls, muffins and fruit salad on the table. Margaret spotted a muffin that had fallen on its side, and it was set upright.

There was egg soufflé and baked-apple cinnamon French toast in the oven.

The limousine arrived. Someone shrieked. A moment later, Strahan was inside the house. Young Michael beamed. Tina fanned herself and whispered that she was going to cry.

“I hope you’re a Giants fan,” Strahan said to young Michael. “If not, I appreciate you faking it with all the Giants paraphernalia.”

Funny he said that. Before Strahan arrived, family members had made a confession: They were Dolphins fans, mostly.

Rob Villegas grew up on Long Island, Tina on Staten Island, but they spent about 20 years living in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. They moved to New Jersey last year, and recently moved into a large home with a circular driveway. Michael’s bedroom has framed pictures of him with Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor.

But Michael was about to have a new favorite player.

Strahan was in his element. He filled his plate and led the conversation. He sprinkled in self-deprecating stories about himself when prodded, but mostly made everyone else feel like a bigger star. He sat next to Michael, who was too busy smiling to take bites of the bagel he held. Michael spent the morning in a quiet state of shock.

They talked football, school, cars, even girls. Tina mentioned that “Mikey” liked a blond girl at school named Noelle, and her son retorted with an exasperated, “Mom!”

Strahan took the bait. “I’m going to hook you up,” he teased.

It was a five-minute drive from the house to the school, which was heard from inside the limousine before it was seen. Students and members of the faculty crammed the front sidewalk and cheered madly. Strahan and his newly adopted family walked through the crowd, like stars through the paparazzi at a movie premiere.

In Ms. Wallace’s classroom, Strahan sat next to Michael, who sat next to Noelle. Strahan spotted her quickly, then smiled across the room to Michael’s parents. He called Noelle by name. “You’re probably wondering how I know your name,” he said, without revealing anything more.

The class studied vocabulary, and the students studied Strahan. The other Saint Agnes students were assembled in the gym, where an arch of red and blue balloons decorated the stage.

On the way to the assembly, Strahan demonstrated how he could bend one damaged finger grotesquely to the side. Girls squealed.

The student body clapped to Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” and Michael Villegas was introduced to an appreciative cheer.

“I’m proud to introduce a friend of mine, from the New York Giants, Michael Strahan,” he said coolly, as if this happened once a day, not once in a lifetime.

Strahan emerged to a thundering ovation, and squeezed Michael in a bear hug.

Strahan spoke about exercise — “Step away from the TV,” he said — and answered questions from the smitten students. Then many of the students caught passes thrown by Strahan. He demanded a touchdown celebration from each. One boy did “sizzling bacon,” lying on the floor and vibrating. A girl demurred, but was encouraged by some of her classmates to sing instead. She was too embarrassed, so Strahan sang a country song, and the girl laughed.

Michael Villegas was more than willing to share his prized show-and-tell guest. When the class gathered around Strahan for photographs, Villegas was squeezed out. He took a knee in the front.

“I see them excited, it makes me excited,” Michael said a few minutes later. “It’s really cool.”

As Strahan left, he gave Michael his e-mail address. Classmates gave him high-fives.

“The kids were so delighted for Michael,” said Sister Claire Ouimet, the principal. “Not Michael Strahan, but Michael Villegas, as if he had achieved something for them.”

In the driveway of their home, beneath the “Welcome Michael Strahan” banner over the garage, Rob and Tina Villegas tried to explain the day.

“What greater thing than to see your children happy?” Tina said. “He’ll remember it forever. He’ll tell his kids about it. I’ll make him a scrapbook, and he’ll have it all his life.”

Inside, the food and the decorations remained in place.

“Do you want some breakfast?” she said.

[Crash2510]

In the Classroom

[DaveS]

Sounds like a good story. I couldn't read it - I refuse to register.

Here you go... registrations for every website you are likely to find...

http://www.bugmenot.com/

I use it all the time.