NY Daily News – February 12, 2015
by Denis Hamill
There will be no losers in this one. And no deflating arguments about politics, racial quotas, ticket fixing, protests or indictments either.
This one is about the celebration of the courageous work the overwhelming majority of the members of the NYPD and FDNY do every single day in this city, saving the lives of common New Yorkers in tens of thousands of calls that never make the news.
This one is about the Heroes Game, a hoops contest between the cops and firefighters at Barclays Center on Sunday to raise money for the New York Police and New York Fire Foundations.
These nonprofit foundations raise private money to fund research and provide safety equipment to improve the effectiveness of law enforcement and firefighting. They also promote education and training to forge a better partnership between first responders and the public.
“This is gonna be a very competitive game,” says 6-foot-5 Tyler Schulz, a 10-year FDNY veteran assigned to Ladder 34 in Washington Heights. “I played basketball for Ithaca College, but when I wear FDNY on my chest on a basketball court, it’s all the psyching up I’m gonna need to compete and win.”
If you buy a ticket to the NBA D-League All-Star Game at 2 p.m. Sunday at Barclays, you’ll be helping yourself because you’ll also get to see this 12:30 p.m. exhibition Heroes Game where NBA legends like John Wallace, Felipe Lopez, Muggsy Bogues, Jason Collins and A.C. Green and WNBA stars Kalana Greene and Ruth Riley will coach or play alongside FDNY and NYPD teams.
Ex-NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason will help coach the FDNY squad and his WFAN-AM colleague Craig Carton will co-helm the NYPD. Part of your ticket money will go to the first-responder foundations.
“When budgetary times are tough like they are in the city right now, the foundation money is really crucial,” says Schulz, 32. “If we need new equipment or special training that the city can’t afford, the foundation bridges that gap. That’s why raising money for the foundation also helps the public.”
“After what happened to Officers Ramos and Liu, every time we put on a police uniform we know it could be the last time,” says Sgt. Joseph Alohan, 32, of Brooklyn’s 70th Precinct, a 6-footer who will be playing hard for the NYPD team. “That’s why it’s so important to have a foundation behind you, knowing that they will help take care of your family if something ever happens to you.”
Alohan grew up on the same streets he now patrols and played hoops for three years for Christ the King High School and one year for the now sadly defunct Bishop Ford High School.
“Our team plays all the time in the Commissioner’s League,” he says. “But we also go and play in cops-and-kids games against inner-city kids who get to meet and compete against cops that they get to know as people for the first time. So basketball is a great community policing tool for me. When we get a chance to play against the FDNY, it makes for some really tough, competitive games.”
“I’ve only played against the cops two or three times,” says Schulz. “We never lost, even though the cops draw from three times as many people.” Them sound like fightin’ words.
“If the fireman you spoke to says he never lost to the cops, he must not have played in the last two Heroes Games,” Alohan says, chuckling. “NYPD won ’em both.” This is a game where there will be one winner but no losers.
Because after the final buzzer sounds, all the New York first-responders involved will go back to work still being heroes.
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