The horrific events in Newtown, Connecticut has effected all aspects of life from the way people people go about sending their kids to school, to politics and even sports.
After a 65-55 loss to Ohio State Tuesday night, Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey made some very passionate and memorable comments about Newton during a post game press conference.
The coach, who admitted he probably may not get another stage like this to speak on again, pleaded with the leaders and politicians in the country to step up and do something so what happened last Friday will never happen again.
Here’s the video via the Big Ten Network:
“The last thing I wanna say is I’m really, really lucky, ’cause I’m gonna get on an eight-hour bus ride, and I’m gonna arrive in Rock Hill, S.C., and I’m gonna walk into my house, and I’m gonna walk upstairs, and I’m gonna walk into two pink rooms, OK, with a 5-year-old and a 4-year-old laying in that pink room, with a bunch of teddy bears laying in that room.
“And I’m gonna give them the biggest hug and the biggest kiss I’ve ever given them. And there’s 20 families in Newtown, Conn., that are walking into a pink room with a bunch of teddy bears with nobody laying in those beds. And it’s tragic.
“And I don’t know what needs to be done. I’m not smart enough to know what needs to be done, OK? I know this country’s got issues. Is it a gun issue? Is it a mental illness issue? Or is it a society that has lost the fact, the understanding, that decent human values are important?
“And our leaders – I didn’t vote for President Obama. But you know what? He’s my president now. He’s my leader. I need him to step up. Mr. Boehner, the Speaker of the House, he’s a Xavier guy, he’s a Cincinnati guy, OK, he needs to step up.
“Parents, teachers, rabbis, priests, coaches, everybody needs to step up. This has to be a time for change. And I know this microphone’s powerful right now, because we’re playing the fourth-best team in the country. I’m not going to have a microphone like this the rest of the year, maybe the rest of my life.
“And I’m going to be an agent of change with the 13 young men I get to coach every day and the two little girls that I get to raise. But hopefully things start changing, because it’s really, really disappointing.
“I’m proud to grow up American. I’m proud to say I’m part of the greatest country ever. And that’s got to stay that way. And it’ll stay that way if we change. But we gotta change.”
Obviously many wonder if this was the right platform for Kelsey to speak on. Personally I love it, I love what he had to say and I love the conviction that was behind it. The more we take advantage to talk about something like this on any platform presented the more likely something will get done.
h/t: Awful Announcing, Big Ten Network
