Healthy Competition

Competition between players, coaches, clubs and owners is not rare in professional sports and much of the time this competition stems from bad blood or a competitive nature inherent in professional athletes. And hey, I'll be the first to admit without competition sports would be boring.

But amidst the bad blood and the drive to win, you do come across the odd time where competition is all in good fun. Even more rare than that is when competition leads to helping others. A prime recent example of this healthy comeptition comes from the Canadian Football League. Earlier this week co-owners of the Toronto Argonauts, David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski, announced that they plan to donate $4 million over five years to the Hospital for Sick Children.

Cue the competitive drive of B.C. Lions owver David Braley. One day after the announcement by the Argonauts' owners, it was announced that Braley himself is donating $5 million to St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. Although Braley it is not certain or likely that Braley made this donation because his competitive counterparts had done the same, it is not a stretch to believe that it may have had some effect on his decision to donate, and donate $1 million more. There's nothing wrong with a little healthy competition.

Braley, a Hamilton-based business man, has made it second nature to help the community whether it be in Vancouver or Hmailton. Last August, Braley was a part of the McMaster University Alumni who contrinuted $5 million to help support McMaster's new athletics and recreation centre.