<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The faces haunt Ira Newble, their silent anguish sometimes drowning out the joyous noise of a Staples Center crowd, their looming presence a jarring reminder that genuine do-or-die struggles in life don't occur on a basketball court. Newble, 33, is usually stuck on the Lakers' bench, but he has plenty of positives to focus on. The 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward, with eight years in the league, went from being a free agent two months ago to a roster spot on one of the teams favored to win the NBA title. Ira Newble, Mia Farrow While Lakers wait, Bynum faces surgery. Celebrities have this Lakers' go-to guy on speed dial But even such good fortune can't dull the pain of having seen young children draw pictures of their parents being murdered, or erase the horror of hearing a young woman talk about being raped night after night. And it doesn't dim the image of a young man whose eyes were gouged out. Newble saw all that and more last summer when he made a trip to a refugee camp in Chad to see victims of the conflict in neighboring Darfur. "The stories are so saddening," Newble said. "I'm from Detroit and I've seen some of the worst things there and in other parts of this country, but it doesn't begin to compare to the living conditions of the people from Darfur." The Darfur region, located in western Sudan, has been engulfed in a devastating conflict for the last five years. Government troops and militia units have been battling rebels opposed to a government they say persecutes the non-Arab population. The government-backed militia units have targeted civilians, and an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 have been killed, with some 2.5 million people displaced. Darfur wasn't even a blip on Newble's radar screen until January 2007. He was on the way to a morning shoot-around as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers when he picked up a newspaper with a story about an English professor, Eric Reeves, who was working for relief for Darfur from his hospital bed despite suffering from leukemia. "I was wondering how come I didn't know anything about Darfur," said Newble. He contacted Reeves, who gave Newble a crash course on Sudanese politics. Through his agent, Steve Kauffman, Newble met Hunter Payne, founder of Aid Still Required (and aidstillrequired.org), a charitable organization devoted to humanitarian relief. Newble learned China is a major trading partner and is a supplier of weapons to the Sudanese government. He wrote a letter of protest to the Chinese government. "How could they be a legitimate host of the Olympics," said Newble, "while underwriting genocide and war?" Even as the Cavaliers were about to begin the playoffs last year, Newble felt Darfur couldn't wait. "I realized a lot of my teammates were like I had been," said Newble. "They had no clue what was going on in Darfur. So I compiled a packet of information for each of them and, with Coach Mike Brown's permission, I addressed my teammates in the locker room one day after practice. I asked them to read the information and to then come back and discuss it with me if they had any questions." All the members of the team, except LeBron James and Damon Jones, signed the China protest letter, Newble said. "They didn't do so because of shoe deals," said Newble, "and in LeBron's case, he has to be careful what he puts his name on. That's OK. "He respected what I was doing and I respected his decision."</div> http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition...0864,full.story
I saw this story on OTL. It really disappointed me to hear about this BS that goes on. Newble was dead serious about this, and almost looked teary-eyed talking about it. It really felt like he connected with those dudes, and was extremely bothered by what is going on in Darfur. I hope the whole Olympic team does something about this, even if it means boycotting the Olympics. Also, what Nike's person said was fucking pathetic. I hope that person fucking burns in hell. Such a fucking douche bag. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>"I got a response from Lynn Merritt of Nike," said Kauffman, "that I will never forget. Referring to Ira, Merritt told me, 'What a pain in the . . . he must be to the Cavs, bringing this into the workplace. That would be like me coming into your place of employment and asking you to join the Islam Nation.' I was horrified. I couldn't believe what he had just said."</div>
