Like so many of you here, I'm a life long, die hard Ram's fan, so that makes this story that much better.  It's a great story even if you are not a Rams fan.

I don't know if many members of TST know a lot about Mike Karney other than he is an extremely talented fullback.  I'll give a bit more background on the bruising fullback.  Mike grew up in a subarb of Seattle, WA.  For the past 2 years he has put on a youth football camp in his hometown.  It is for kids aging 8-16. 

My wife has an aunt who is best friends with Mike Karney's mother in law.  One day while speaking with Mike's mother in law, my wife's aunt mentioned that she has some great nephews residing in Corvallis, OR that are huge football fans, and participate in youth football.  So without hesitation Mike was contacted by his mother in law and we found out shortly thereafter that our Nephew's could attend his football camp free of charge!  While our Nephews are not under privilidged, they do not get a lot of great opportunities, especially one like this.  Our Nephew's parents were too busy to drive the kids from Corvallis to Kent, WA.  So my wife and her mom took the kids to Seattle(I was stuck at home working, damn it!!).  It was an amazing camp, my wife and mother in law were very impressed with how the camp was ran, and the dedication Mike has to kids.   Mike was all about the kids according to the report I got.  There were plenty of other current and former NFL players that attended the camp to help Mike out, including former Ram Ernie Conwell.  All the players gave out autographs individually to all the attending kids.  I was very impressed, but that was just the beginning.

My wife and I were married a year a go on June 29th.  Without my knowledge until the day of our anniversary, my wife was also able to meet Mike and she had nothing but the best things to say about him.  Mike let her(and only her, only kids, players and coaches were allowed on the field) on the field so he could meet her.  He took a picture with my wife and autographed another one so she could give it to me for our anniversary gift!  My wife said he is extremely nice, and down to earth.  My wife is somebody who likes sports, but is totally repulsed by a professional athlete just because of the kind of money they make and how they can be perceived as whiners.  She couldn't have said nicer things about Mike and I can't say how impressed I am with him for being so nice to my wife and doing what he did for our anniversary.  My wife was also able to hang with Mike's wife and mother in law after camp, and she said they couldn't have been nicer as well. 

Mike also has started a foundation for helping underprivlidged youth in his hometown.  I didn't write this fan post to solicate donations, but if the fine folks of TST don't mind I would like to post a link to his website where you can donate.  I won't post the link until I get the ok to do so.  I wrote this fanpost to tell a great story about a great guy.  My wife and I plan on donating and we are by no means a wealthy couple.  We were both so impressed by Mike and his dedication to kids, we want to be able to help in someway.  So I hope you enjoyed this story, I'll see if I can upload some pictures later on as well.  Thanks for reading.