How You Crazy Clay Aiken Fans & A Brief Talk With Mother Inspired Me

Since Tuesday night, 4,658 Clay Aiken fans have visited this golf blog. That’s pretty darn amazing if you ask me.

In fact, I was so impressed with how passionate every one is with Clay and his National Inclusion Project that I shared the craziness from the last few days with my Mother today.

I sent her links to the blog posts I wrote and I specifically asked her to read all of the comments you people left.

(Brief side note: I’m not sure whether I should call you all: Clay Mates, Clay Nation or Clay Heads (like Dead Heads)… I’m smart enough to know “you people” isn’t right. :)  And I’m also sure that about 37 of you will let me know the proper term).

Now back to my story…

She summed it up by saying, “Wow. I can’t believe the response you’ve had. Your becoming such a humanitarian like your Grandfather was.”

For a bit of background on my Grandfather you can read this really cool post I wrote last month in honor of his birthday.

And that got me thinking…

Is there any thing I could do to keep up the family tradition by giving back to people in need, more specifically – to children.

Considering I have a family, I coach sports for my sons, I try my best to help my wife around the house, and I work in between all of this – I knew that I really don’t have much free time to spare.

Then - BAM!

It hit me like a sliced golf ball.

I’ve got this golf blog. I just posted a little ditty about Clay Aiken and his National Inclusion Product… and some pretty cool things are starting to happen…

Why don’t I post more stories like Clay’s in the future?

And that’s exactly what I’ve decided to do. Going forward, I am going to scour the internet for celebrity (and non-celebrity) charity golf tournaments and post stories about them.

Let me be clear, although I prefer to promote child-oriented charitable events – I have absolutely no problem posting stories on charities for other worthy causes.

My goal: To raise a few dollars for the charity and to raise awareness of whatever the cause may be.

So if you happen to know of any charity golf tournaments in the near future – please let me know. I’d be happy to post a brief write-up and provide a link. No strings attached.

Thanks,
Larry the Golfer

P.S. Again, thanks to all the Clay Aiken fans for the kind words on your forums and blogs. To the person who asked if I knew about “Goodsearch”… I do now, and I’ll try to add it to this blog at some point soon.

P.P.S. To all of you who bought a hat to support Ken Green: Thank you very much. He and I really appreciate it. I’m sure he’ll post a message soon saying so himself.

P.P.P.S. Since I know about 29 of you will ask if I listened to any of the 458 songs you suggested. The answer is yes. But did I like his music? In short, I did. He has a solid voice.

But I need to be honest with you, I think it’s his stage presence that impressed me the most. I really enjoy the way he riffs with the crowd. In particular, there was one video I watched where he kept going on about the lady in the 4th row, and the one in the 5th row. It was pretty funny. I’m sure you Clay-riffic people know the video I’m talking about. Am I right?

P.P.P.P.S. And now I know what NJU means!

A Special Message To Clay Aiken Fans

I've got to tell ya, all of you Clay Aiken fans shocked me.

You see, last night, after putting my kids to bed I decided to write a brief article about Clay Aiken and the National Inclusion Project golf tournament.

Why?

Because this is a golf blog, the tournament is held down the road from my house, I've played the Mirasol golf course several times and this charity seems like a really good cause.

To me, it was no big deal, I was just making an observation about a celebrity - who until today I only knew as the guy who came in second place to Ruben Studdard (not sure where he is now).

But you people, you Clay Aiken fans - you blew me away.

Here's why...

This morning when I got up and checked this little golf blogs logs - I was astonished at what I saw.

What did I see? Glad you asked... I saw a staggering amount of visitors from websites I never knew existed. For instance:

• theclayboard.yuku.com
• theclackhouse.com
• clayaikentheidealidol.com
• chexxxysplace.com
• clayversity.net
• forums.clayonline.com

So, I visited these sites and wanted to see what the heck was going on. And you know what I found. I found heartfelt comments like these:

"Nice work, Larry. We need more people like you, who actually look at facts and judge someone by their actions."

"What a very nice mention for The Project by a non-fan."

"THAT was a nice surprise!!!"

"It is nice to see someone get what we have know all along! Great blog!!"

"Just fun reading this blog.....wonder if Clay has ever attempted to golf after seeing all having fun!? Great that this golfer "gets it"!"

"I liked that a lot. I posted it to fb so my family could read it."

"Thanks for posting this. These are the people we need to reach-the fans know what Clay is doing-this is wonderful and reaches out to a whole new audience."

To be honest, I had no idea Clay had so many fans and that so many people really believe in him, and his cause - the National Inclusion Project.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that all of your comments and the over 2,000 visitors (and counting) who came to this golf blog simply because I mentioned Clay Aiken - really struck a chord with me.

So, here's what I decided to do...

First, over on the right side of my blog you'll see I've added a National Inclusion Project banner ad. That way my readers will become aware of this cause, check it out and hopefully make a donation.

Next, I'm going to download a couple of Clay's songs from iTunes to check his music out. I'm willing to listen with an open ear. Please add comments to this post with suggestions.

And finally, if someone could email me (my email address is on the top right of your screen) next year, one month before the Inclusion tournament - I'm going to post a brief write-up on the tournament and encourage my readers to attend... Plus, I'll contact my fellow golf bloggers and ask them to do the same.

Again, thank you all for your kind words.
Larry

P.S. On one of the forums someone wrote "A Nice Blog From A NJU About Clay Who Was At GFI." My questions is: What does 'NJU' stand for?

Clay Aiken's National Inclusion Project Golf Tournament

I'll tell ya this - I never, ever thought I'd be writing about Clay Aiken here on my golf blog.

But yesterday, at Mirasol Golf Club (which is about 3 miles from my house) was the third annual golf event to benefit the National Inclusion Project.

Golf pro Wayne Player (whose son played on my sons flag football team this year, and I'll brag for a second - they went undefeated) has been helping Clay Aiken with his golf game for 3 years and at the pre-tourney clinics... as Aiken mentioned - he has no game.

Here it is in his own words, “I still don’t know anything... We do the clinic and I still don’t know what (Player) is talking about. I just stand there and make a few jokes.”

So why am I writing about Aiken here?

Because I really believe in his cause. It's called The National Inclusion Project and he has created a curriculum that can be used by already-existing camps to make their facilities accessible and fun for would-be campers with disabilities.

In short, the Project puts it like this: What would you do if it were your child who couldn't participate?

Frankly, I don't know what I would do. But I do know this: Although I've never been much of a fan of Clay Aiken, I now respect him as a person and admire the work he's doing for children.

For the 3rd year, N.I.P. has donated $15,000 to a Florida camp – this year the money went to the Florida Lion’s Camp in Lake Wales.

It's nice to see a celebrity put his name and valuable time to good use. Nice work Clay Aiken.