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In the past month alone, we’ve seen a couple athletes put their giant salaries to use in some fairly questionable ways.
Stefon Diggs kicked things off a few weeks ago when he debuted a blinged out chain of the Starbucks logo for reasons I’ll never truly understand.
NFL's Stefon Diggs Buys Venti Starbucks Diamond Chain, We're Open All Day! https://t.co/fE4G7YOXuC
— TMZ (@TMZ) September 12, 2018
However, I’m not sure if that was absurd as the $100k Chris McCullough spent to get a diamond-covered can of iced tea.
NBA's Chris McCullough Drops $100k on Icy Iced Tea Chain: With a nickname like Brisk, you gotta look the part … and that's exactly what Chris McCullough did … droppin' a ton of cash for his new chain — a Lipton Brisk Iced Tea can!! TMZ Sports has… https://t.co/iWTo73tnpe pic.twitter.com/BYIRxeGDBj
— Bangladesh News 24 (@bdnews24) September 13, 2018
If ESPN ever makes a sequel to Broke I wouldn’t be shocked if at least one of these guys makes an appearance.
I don’t want to necessarily tell players how they should spend their money but when you make millions of dollars a year I feel like you’re obligated to give back to society in some shape or form.
If you’re looking for a real role model, you don’t have to search much further than Chris Long.
Last year, the Eagle announced he was donating his entire base salary to a charitable cause and proved he’s one of the best dudes in the NFL in the process.
Chris Long donating next 10 game checks to educational initiatives. Donated first six to Charlottesville programs. That’s the whole season. pic.twitter.com/4U4tF4DrzQ
— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) October 18, 2017
Long followed up the gesture by climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money to deliver clean water to schools in Tanzania.
Now, Long is doing great work yet again after announcing he’ll be giving back in a big way by using the money he’ll make in the first four games of this year’s season in order to launch a children’s literacy charity.
Chris Long is pledging a quarter of his 2018 salary to launch the "First Quarter for Literacy" drive to help increase early literacy among young children. https://t.co/Eniv77JNTs pic.twitter.com/2Spq9Enx6s
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 28, 2018
According to ESPN, Long is set to make $1.2 million this season which—if you can’t do simple math— amounts to a pledge of $400,000.
Here’s what that money will be going toward:
Chris and Megan Long will distribute more than 25,000 books for children in underserved neighborhoods to build at-home libraries, as well as fund the creation of three Chris Long Book Nooks that serve as neighborhood-based reading areas for families.
If you want to join the cause you can visit the website Long has set up.