In one of life’s ironies, a man whose nickname is Sugar Ray is fighting against diabetes. Not in his own body. His son’s.
Walter Ray Allen, former UConn Husky, current Boston Celtic, and 9 time all star who needs just 339 points to reach 20,000 for his career, is taking that fight ‘to the tweets’.
Ray, whose jump shot has been called the sweetest in the game, has to make sure his son has sugar-free sweets.
Ray Allen’s shot has brought joy and wealth. Walker Allen’s shots guarantee joy and health… for life for the 31 month old.
It all started after Ray and his family arrived in Los Angeles for game 5 of the 2008 NBA Finals. Ray’s son was taken to the hospital before the Game 5, the year the Celtics won title #17.
“He threw up and we thought he was just jet lagged,” said Allen, of his (17)-month-old son Walker, “because it was a long flight and you know, maybe he had the flu.”
But doctors in Los Angeles, where the Celtics were playing the Lakers, determined it was something much more serious than the flu.
“When she said, he has diabetes, my heart sunk,” said Allen.
That diagnosis came the same morning as Allen and his teammates were to play game number five of the NBA Championship series.
Ray played the game and rushed to the hospital right after to check on his recovering son. The quick diagnosis helped get things under control. He is fine now.
Bostonchannel.com again…
“From the moment he wakes up in the morning until he goes to bed at night, we have to monitor every single thing that goes into his mouth,” said Shannon. “We have to test him 10 times a day. And then we adjust him with actual insulin injections. On an average day, he could go between three to five insulin injections, to being pricked 10 times a day.”
Ray Allen – special player. Special person.
Every basketball player is committed to his sport. But not every player is as interested in the world beyond that world. The world is no bigger than a round orange ball for many.
Ray Allen was already a player who had a life beyond the game that made him so wealthy. Of all the Celtics, he seems to be the most well read. There are always books in his locker. In one pre-season event a year ago, Eddie House did his imitation of a ‘professorial’ Ray Allen asking questions.
It was Ray that organized a team trip to the Holocaust Museum on one trip to Washington D.C. Ray? He’s been to the museum five times. Five….times. I wouldn’t go to an amusement park that much, let alone such a gravely serious museum.
On this training camp trip to Rhode Island, Ray attended the burial spot for slaves and free Africans in Newport. Ray is inquisitive and a learner. I don’t know how he deals with people privately, but it doesn’t seem as if his star status, wealth, and privileged position in life have gone to his head.
Of the Big Three, he grants the most time to all reporters before and after games. He will patiently answer all questions and tries to give a thoughtful response each time. Many star players don’t have that kind of consideration or patience for answering 5 versions of the same question every night.
Considered one of the most committed and disciplined players in the game, Ray is known for a bit of obsessiveness in maintaining his habits and routines. But he clearly will have an interesting life beyond the game. He wants to use the unique visibility that fame has brought him to fight diabetes, the condition that now has such a big place in his family’s life.
Certain players just seem like they are about more than the game. Just by talking to them and hearing what they say, you can tell they will be active in the world after their playing days end. There are the Dave Bings, Bill Bradleys, Jack Kemps, Jim Bunnings and Magic Johnsons of the world.
Ray Allen is one of them. I could see him taking up politics, or putting on a business suit and running a corporation, or ‘amping up’ the effectiveness of his own foundation. Hey, maybe he can take ‘basketball diplomacy’ to new level.
The Twitter Phenomena, Ray, Diabetes, and Ray’s Rules
Ray has really taken to twitter, the new technology and networking ‘next big thing’ for a few reasons. But he wasn’t enamored of it initially. I asked him about it at the Celtics training camp at Salve Regina recently.
You have kind of embraced twitter. And you’ve used that to make contact with your fans. What was some of the thinking on that for you?
“At first, I didn’t really care for it, because I didn’t understand it. A lot of it is…. self promotion, if you will.
I have a foundation that happens to have a cause. My son has diabetes.
What I found out like, I was talking with a couple of people that work with me, and they asked me about twitter. (They asked) ‘Have I been on it or have I thought about it? If not, I don’t understand it. It is probably good for you because you can put the word out when you’re doing events. Get people to donate. You could raise awareness.’
So, it’s been pretty interesting because, for the most part…I just got a twitter account maybe in July.
You know, people are so responsive…anything that you say… obviously (I’m) going to talk about my job and what I do, but I’m more on the level of trying to inspire. And tomorrow’s (this past Saturday) the walk-a–thon for diabetes in Boston and my son and my camp is participating so yesterday I tried to direct as many people as I can to go to the website and donate money on behalf of my son and our team.
The irony of his nickname comes into play when he tweets for the fight against diabetes. His twitter account is sugarray20 (twitter.com/sugarray20). Maybe he should get a sugar-free-ray account.
Here is his tweet about the Walk for Walker…
we call it our walk for walker..i would love it if you all went to www.jdrf.org. and donated to our walk for walker..diabetes is an epidemic
back to interview…
And so many people responded and retweeted and you know so many other people that have diabetes were a part of it so it is a powerful, powerful vehicle to move the word.
If I have a word… you know my world is not right here about basketball… you guys see me every day from newspapers to watching practice to games to highlights like…what do you need to know about me on the basketball court? There’s not much that you don’t know, but we have other (interests) besides athletics, (which) is what we do. So I think that is what the medium is for and you’ve got to use it responsibly.
You are like your own media, your own PR.
Yeah, I’m going to give my media here what they need in regards to our team and what we think and…when I go home I don’t want to be interviewed. You know, you get on twitter and people want to interview you about…how was practice today? Or…How is the team looking?…I don’t want to…I don’t answer those questions.
But you do respond to some people.
Yes, I do. I do respond if they ask questions about… if they’re good questions like… How many shots a day do you shoot to get you ready for the season? You know, things like that where I know I can help people improve themselves.
If people want to know questions like…How is KG doing? I’m not going to answer that. Some people are naturally inquisitive and you can tell that they want to know more. They’re not just throwing questions out there because they have my ear, because they are on twitter and they know I’m there.
One occasional drawback to twitter is imposters and poseurs. Right now there is someone out there with an account called ray_allen20. From the real Ray Allen’s twitter account…
i want everyone out there to know that ray_allen20 is an impostor..hes copying everything i say..people please blow his spot up
It’s one of a problems you encounter with public accounts. The same thing happened with Glen Davis earlier in the summer. Be alert and be sure you are talking to who you think you are. But I digress…
Ray has embraced excellence in his profession, commitment to a cause because of his son’s experience, and the world itself.
Tweet him up with a sincere question. He just might tweet you back.
