Hooped Up

During a visit to Saloon last summer, Charles Barkley asked Christian Abate how he was enjoying teaching, and was disappointed to learn that Abate had still not returned to Temple because of problems securing financial aid. Abate, 28, of South Philly, started at Temple in 1997, months after graduating from St. John Neumann High. Sir Charles told Abate he would like to help him with his tuition, and Abate wasn’t sure how to respond. Barkley didn’t give him much time, telling Abate that he had the length of Barkley’s meal to decide. Abate wisely accepted. Barkley says that helping Abate is in line with his efforts to aid in education, which has been important to him in recent years. Barkley’s given $1 million to his Alabama high school Leeds, another million to Corningstone High, in a poor area of Birmingham, and $1 million to Auburn University, where he played before being drafted by the Sixers in 1984.

Philadelphia Daily News

Several NBA players, and some of the best soccer players on the planet — will be playing a soccer game tomorrow afternoon in New York City to raise money for charity.

It’s free and open to the public. It will take place at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Nike Field in Sara D. Roosevelt Park. The game is just off Chrystie Street (between Rivington and Stanton Streets) south of Houston.

Among those expected to participate are Baron Davis, Jason Kidd, Raja Bell, Leandro Barbosa, Joakim Noah, Thierry Henry, Claudio Reyna, Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman, Jozy Altidore, Juan Pablo Angel, and Gregg Berhalter.

What Stein’s story does not mention, however, is that Marc Stein himself will be playing. He’s a die-hard soccer fan who plays regularly.

He has a tactic in mind to look good in such a high-level game: Stay close to the NBA players like Kidd and Davis who did not grow up with the sport.

Davis, however, reportedly wants to get around his inexperience with his feet by playing goalie.

ESPN

Wolves guard Randy Foye and assistant coach Ed Pinckney are in Turkey taking part in the NBA’s Basketball without Borders program, promoting education and health among Turkish youth.

Foye and Pinckney joined Turkish natives Mehmet Okur and Hedo Turkoglu, in addition to Bruce Bowen, David Lee and Mickael Pietrus to participate in NBA Cares events throughout Istanbul. NBA.com kept track of several days of events, which we’ll include below:

NBA Supports Turkish Youth/Family Development
Led by Turkish natives Mehmet Okur of the Utah Jazz and Hedo Turkoglu of the Orlando Magic, Basketball without Borders Europe will continue to use the platform of sport to promote education and health among youth with three NBA Cares events, the National Basketball Association (NBA), the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) announced today.

NBA

NBA legend Michael Jordan has donated half a million dollars for a new Boys and Girls Club Gym in Slidell, New Orleans, according to The Times-Picayune.

The announcement and ceremony took place on Thursday.