Tony Reali — the host of ESPN’s Around The Horn — once again used the platform of his show to deliver a powerful message to viewers.
This week, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposed to eliminate government funding for the Special Olympics. With a firestorm of criticism around her, she claimed that the “private organization … is able to raise more than $100 million every year” and that “the federal government cannot fund every worthy program, particularly ones that enjoy robust support from private donations.”
At the conclusion of Wednesday’s edition of Around The Horn, that day’s winner Woody Paige ceded his time to Reali, who had this to say:
“The Special Olympics: It’s the best in all of us. And I speak for all of us here. The power of sports lies in its ability to instill and inspire positive change, that’s exactly what the Special Olympics does. Athletes given the opportunity to discover new abilities, the joy, confidence and enhancement that comes from that goes both ways for all people. But the word is inclusion. Now I speak for myself here: I think the world would be a better place if everybody were included. Because this is a test for all of us now.
“This isn’t about public, this isn’t about private. This isn’t about budget plans, this isn’t about voting. We all vote every day of our lives, we all have a plan every day of our lives. We’re all public. I ask us to consider to look inward now. We’re asked to include all people every day. Do we? We’re in position to encourage other people every day. Do we? Think of all the ways we’re asked to unify and when we do and we fail daily, this isn’t about sides or plans. Encourage everyone, include everyone.”
This followed up a thread Reali wrote on Twitter earlier in the week:
