Work Together

These sporty nonprofits are bringing athletes and inspiration to The Tailgate

Come learn more about sports-related nonprofits.

Merging Vets & Players/Facebook

If you've been psyching yourself up for The Tailgate on October 13, you likely already know what we'll be serving and what you might want to wear.

But a key component of our newest party is shining a spotlight on sports-related nonprofits —and you'll even get to meet some of the athletes that champion these important causes.

Read up on who's going to be there and how you can get involved in their life-changing work:

The Sandlot
The Sandlot Children's Charity provides financial assistance for kids with physical and intellectual disabilities seeking to participate in athletic opportunities and sport-specific experiences. Their goal is to not only help the kids have sporty, healthy fun, but also promote the continued development of social and leadership skills for these inspiring youth.

Two big fans of The Sandlot will be at The Tailgate: Rangers pitcher Taylor Hearn and former MLB pitcher-turned-sports broadcaster Mike Bacsik. They will be signing autographs, posing for pictures, and raffling off two tickets to a Rangers game (date and time to be mutually agreed-upon by winner and The Sandlot).

Merging Vets and Players
MVP empowers combat veterans and former professional athletes by connecting them after the uniform comes off, providing them with a new team to assist with transition, promote personal development, and show them they are never alone.

Through its peer support program, MVP revolves around weekly sessions consisting of physical fitness followed by a post-workout chat named The Huddle, where members come together and recognize earned scars. The Huddle, run by specially trained facilitators, offers support and shared experience in the hope of helping others choose strategies to heal and progress as they navigate life outside the uniform. Members share challenges, struggles, and successes in a trusted environment of support that encourages vulnerability.

MVP coaches the veterans and athletes to be proud of their service and accomplishments and use what they experienced on the battlefield, playing field, and cage to empower them through the transition. "We don't run from mental health challenges; we tackle them as a team," is one of their mottos.

Both veterans and former professional athletes will be manning the four al fresco Tailgate games: cornhole, mini golf, football toss, and ring toss. Donate $25 to MVP and test your skills against these elite athletes, and try your luck at the raffle for a putter and some MVP swag.

Camp Exposure
Camp Exposure is a faith-based, holistic youth development program centered around student athletes. The program provides strategies, tips, and tools to create a concrete foundation both on and off the field. The organization focuses on developing student-athletes through its seven pillars: identity, mental health, spiritual health, nutrition, relationship skills, professional development, and financial literacy. Its athletes learn and develop skills that help them successfully navigate through life’s challenges and transition into the career of their choice.

Photo courtesy of The Sandlot

The Sandlot helps kids with physical and intellectual disabilities participate in sports.

Founded by former Dallas Cowboys player Tyler Patmon, Camp Exposure is coming to The Tailgate on behalf of the Gene and Jerry Jones Family Foundation. You'll get the chance to meet and snap pics with Patmon and Dallas Cowboys mascot Rowdy, while also entering the raffle for a special Cowboys item and watching a clip from the nonprofit's upcoming documentary.

Through your donations and support, Camp Exposure will be able to expand its Educational Sports Camps in different sports and cities while also implementing a youth sports league and mentorship program. The end goal is to secure a physical location to become a fully functional student-athlete academy.

How to buy tickets
Fired up to make a difference in your community? Show up to The Tailgate on October 13 at The Empire Room, where delicious food and drink, fun games, and representatives from all these nonprofits will be waiting.

Get your tickets now, and use promo code DONATE to get 50 percent off your ticket price. Plus, CultureMap will donate 100 percent of your ticket purchase back to these participating charities.

sports charity promoted

Movie Review

Rose Byrne plays one stressed-out mom in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Photo courtesy of A24

Conan O'Brien and Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Movie history is littered with depictions of stressed-out mothers who have breakdowns due to the pressure put on them by their children, spouses, or society in general. Recent examples include Hereditary, Tully, and Nightbitch, with each of them finding different ways to depict their main character’s struggles. Yet another put-upon mother goes through the wringer in the oddly-named If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.

When we meet Linda (Rose Byrne), she’s already in the middle of a huge ball of stress. Her daughter (Delaney Quinn) suffers from an unnamed illness that requires around-the-clock care and frequent doctor visitors. Her husband, Charles (Christian Slater), is a boat captain whose job keeps him away from home for long periods of time. And her job as a therapist requires her to hear other people’s problems, necessitating her seeing a fellow therapist (Conan O’Brien) on a daily basis.

Nearly everyone else she encounters in the movie adds to her anxiety, including Caroline (Danielle Macdonald), a new mother who’s constantly worried about her baby; Dr. Spring (Mary Bronstein), who constantly harps on Linda to get her daughter to eat; an officious parking attendant at the hospital; and a sneering desk clerk at the motel she and her daughter are forced to stay at after a plumbing disaster at home. Consequently, she dismisses James (A$AP Rocky), another motel worker, the one person who treats her with a modicum of kindness.

Written and directed by Bronstein, the film is a harrowing experience that somehow also manages to be darkly funny at times. Linda is dealing with way too much for one person to adequately handle, something that is compounded by the fact that nobody really listens to her, not even the therapist she’s paying to do so. Scenes bounce back and forth between Linda demonstrating righteous anger at what the world is throwing at her and crushing guilt over supposedly not doing enough for her child.

Bronstein depicts Linda’s journey in a number of interesting ways, some straightforward and others not so much. Bronstein makes liberal use of close-ups on Linda’s face, heightening the feeling that the world is closing in on her. The plumbing problem at her home results in a huge hole in the ceiling, which becomes the source of some unexplained phenomena, a choice that might have been unnecessary.

What’s most striking about the film is how hardly anyone is on Linda’s side. Since the film joins the story as it’s already in progress, the audience is left to guess as to how Linda has behaved in the past to garner such negative interactions from people who should be helping her. While she’s not a perfect person, she also doesn’t appear to be such a jerk that she should be treated with disdain everywhere she goes.

Byrne, who’s gravitated toward lighter roles in recent years, is an absolute marvel in this part. The more stress Linda feels, the more she becomes disheveled, and Byrne makes you feel every ounce of the character’s pain. O’Brien, who’s rarely had to play anyone but “Conan O’Brien” before, is surprisingly good, tamping down his comic sensibility to complement Byrne well. A$AP Rocky also makes a nice impression, elevating a character that’s a little underwritten.

The role of a mom is never an easy one, and that’s in the best of circumstances. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You - a title that is never explained yet still somehow fits - earns its stripes by demonstrating how the often thankless job of motherhood can become even more distressing when the mom in question is given little to no support.

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If I Had Legs I'd Kick You is now playing in select theaters.

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