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Hoops coaches press Congress on health
By: Jeff Dufour
Examiner Columnist
09/22/09 3:51 PM EDT
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| John Thompson III |
Normally you see college basketball coaches on the sidelines, but yesterday several members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches took center stage urging congress to pass comprehensive health care reform.
Coaches vs. Cancer members Mike Brey of Notre Dame, Ed DeChellis of Penn State, Tubby Smith of the University of Minnesota and John Thompson III of Georgetown University spoke as if getting their teams ready for a big game, mixing sobering thoughts of how cancer has affected them with words of encouragement.
Brey was the first to jump in with basketball analogies. Talking about how Congress should be moving forward with health reform he said, “Now is not the time to play zone defense. Now is the time to play full court and even foul a little bit.”
Thompson, who knows a little something about playing against Brey, jested that Brey’s team “knows about fouling a little bit,” before making a final plea to Congress. “We need to make sure that all people have access to health care,” Thompson said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also spoke, along with Sens. Al Franken, D-Minn., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. and Bob Casey, D-Pa., at the rally, which was was co-sponsored by the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network.
-reporting by Julia Fruchtl
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