Ira Newble's Letter To China Concerning Darfur

[James]

Odd to see Ira take charge on something like this, and I find it funny Damon Jones and LeBron haven't sign. Most likely because of Damon's shoe in China and LeBron's nike ties. Yet still be willing to cash checks from companys who have a large prescense in China and could actually do something to help out the situation over there. Word is Ira is working to get this around to all the other teams in the NBA. Way to go LeBron and Damon, your now officially pawns for global corperate empires.

[jjc58]

"We...as potential Olympians"

Ira's a self-proclaimed potential Olympian!

[James]

Well the people who are signing it are "potential olympians" since its the same letter being sent out to all NBA teams.

[NarlCavs]

I have to give credit to Ira for taking a stand on an issue that isn't getting enough attention.
It's shameful that LeBron and Damon didn't sign. Too bad marketing and cash are more important.

I can't make out all those signatures.

[B Mac]

I have to give credit to Ira for taking a stand on an issue that isn't getting enough attention.
It's shameful that LeBron and Damon didn't sign. Too bad marketing and cash are more important.

I can't make out all those signatures.

Me either. I got
Ira Newble
Eric Snow
Scott Pollard
????
Drew Gooden
Then after that Im pretty much at a loss.

[James]

last on in the right column is Daniel Gibson, and the top in the right cloumn looks like Z? Ans under Z it looks like Hughes.

[chiefwahoo]

My best guess on the sigs:

Newble
Snow
Pollard
Donyell?
Drew
Z
Hughes
Shannon?
Sasha
Boobie

[chiefwahoo]

FYI, just found this:

http://www.dreamfordarfur.org/index....id=27&Itemid=1

To date, the co-signers of the open letter, all from the Cleveland Cavaliers, are:

Ira Newble
Shannon Brown
Daniel Gibson
Drew Gooden
Larry Hughes
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Dwayne Jones
Donyell Marshall
Sasha Pavlovic
Scot Pollard
Eric Snow
Anderson Varejao

[kevolution]

Bad LeBron and shame on Jones.
C'mon let's keep it real, that letter isn't gonna stop a thing. If George Clooney and and hundreds of other successful people can't save Darfur then what is a letter from some basketball players gonna do?

If I or you had a $100 million contract with Nike we wouldn't sign that either.

[chiefwahoo]

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/plaind...l=2&thispage=1

Newble would not reveal names, but he said many of his teammates have either signed the letter or they are undergoing further study before making a commitment to the protest. Newble also said this is not a boycott of the Olympics and the protest is not sanctioned by the NBA.

"I don't have a specific number of signatures," Newble said. "Any signature from an NBA player will make a difference. Obviously, the more All-Stars that sign will have a greater impact. But I'm just trying to get as many signatures as I can and bring attention to the travesty going on in Darfur and hopefully change China's current policy."

The protest is directed at China because the Chinese government is the chief buyer of Sudanese oil and the Sudanese government uses proceeds from those sales to fund weapons (some manufactured by China) for the Janjaweed militia. China has used its veto power on the U.N. Security Council to stop efforts by the U.S. to introduce peacekeepers to protect the civilians.

[aaronr]

Hats off to the signatories. As for the non-signers, Damon is a little man, easily squeezed, so one can understand why he'd be worried that his meagre endorsements might suffer. Lebron's failure to sign is a bit harder to understand, because he's big enough to tell his sponsors to go f**k themselves if in fact that's the advice he's getting from them. If someone is advising him not to sign, that someone is pretty stupid and, by extension, Lebron is pretty stupid for listening to such advice.

[Maximus]

One of the ball boys signed for Drew....Ira didn't want a big "X" in green crayon on his petition.

[James]

Bad LeBron and shame on Jones.
C'mon let's keep it real, that letter isn't gonna stop a thing. If George Clooney and and hundreds of other successful people can't save Darfur then what is a letter from some basketball players gonna do?

If I or you had a $100 million contract with Nike we wouldn't sign that either.

It doesnt have to change anything, its the simple fact that you show you care about something like this, and why wouldnt i sign it if i had a deal with nike? i signed a contract, not my soul over to them, and even if Nike were to "drop" him for signing it, he could go to another sneaker brand or something. And Darfur is past being able to be saved by one country or anything, and the same idiots who say "save darfur" are the same people who say "America needs to stop policing the world"

[Jon]

Playing basketball earns LeBron millions... playing politics could cost him millions.

Don't expect him to stand up for anything. Heck, he was even wishy-washy on the new ball .vs. old ball topic until everyone started piling on.

[Dirk Gently]

Well i guess this answers the age old question of "Where is Ira Newble now?"