There are probably some general misconceptions about the professional athlete of today. One, that he is so rich he doesn’t care two slam-dunks about his fellow man and fellow woman. Two, that his only meaningful skill is playing his sport so well that things like education are secondary.
Evan Longoria is one poster man (and there are many) for what the pro athlete is.
He cares. He reads. He gives back.
This week, before the Tampa Bay Rays who pay him millions of dollars to swing a round stick at a round ball left town on their current road trip, the star third-baseman dropped by the Carnival Paradise. The ship was moored, as it often is, in the west Florida city and Longoria wasn’t going on a cruise…he was reading stories to kids.
In a project Carnival partners with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, Longoria was recruited to read — for one of the first times anywhere — a book called What Pet Should I Get? It’s the newest Seuss book and it’s not newly written…it’s newly discovered. The author, Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) has been gone for many years and the book was re-discovered in his La Jolla, California home and published last week.
While Longoria was reading it to kids in Tampa, Angela Hill was reading to kids on the Carnival Dream in New Orleans, where she is a broadcasting legend.
The book-reading events were fund raisers. Carnival is making a donation to the Tampa and Louisiana chapters of the SPCA for animal rescue operations.
Cruise line President Christine Duffy said in a statement:
“Carnival is the number one cruise line for families and we’re delighted to team up with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to bring the joy of reading to kids with these special presentations. The 
kids were absolutely thrilled to have been treated to a reading of the first new Dr. Seuss book in 25 years and our most sincere thanks to Evan and Angela, as well as the SPCA, for the valuable work they do each and every day,”
Carnival’s also matching Longoria’s donation of $100 to the Pet Pal Animal Shelter for every home run he hits this season. With the one he hit yesterday afternoon in Chicago, Longoria has 12 and has hit between 22 and 33 for most of his eight-year career.
The book is one of two manuscripts discovered two years ago. It has no title…yet. Undoubtedly it will. And if Dr. Seuss Enterprises is looking for somebody to give it that first reading, Carnival has a couple of candidates with experience.
In the news…
• Norwegian Holdings applies for three licenses to cruise to Cuba
• U.S. Coast Guard's 225th anniversay celebrated on a forever stamp
• Norwegian Jade program announced for Tampa Bay in 2016-17 fall/winter
Today at portsandbows.com: Carnival settles disability issue
Norwegian Jade
7 nights
November 28, 2015
Houston (return): Cozumel, Belize, Roatan
Inside: $479
Cost per day: $64
www.ncl.com