Jim Boeheim won the 900th game of his career when Syracuse beat Detroit on Monday night, further cementing his place as one of the greatest coaches in the history of college basketball. Boeheim is only the third men’s coach in Division-I history to win 900 or more games, so he knew the achievement would warrant a lot of attention from national media outlets. That’s why he decided to use the opportunity to talk about gun control.
“This will probably offend some people,” Boeheim said, unprovoked. “If we in this country as Americans cannot get the people that represent us to do something about firearms, we are a sad, sad society. I’m a hunter. I’ve hunted. I’m not talking about rifles. That’s fine. If one person in this world; the NRA president, anybody, can tell me why we need assault weapons with 30 shots in the thing. This is our fault. This is my fault and your fault. All of your faults if we don’t get out and do something about this.”
Boeheim went on to bash those who believe more people — including teachers — should be issued firearms to prevent tragedies like the one that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. last week.
As L.B. mentioned on Monday when showing you Chris Johnson’s heartwarming tribute to honor the 26 Sandy Hook victims, athletes who feel strongly about what happened need to use their status as role models to advocate for change. Kudos to Boeheim for setting aside his own personal accomplishments to do that after a historic moment in his Hall of Fame career.
H/T The Dagger
