Bills' Micah Hyde Used Charity Softball Game to Help Victims of Buffalo Shootings
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To say Saturday's mass shooting in Buffalo hit close to home for the Bills would be an understatement. Many players were in town, either to take part in the rookie camp that concluded Saturday afternoon, or to be on time for safety Micah Hyde's annual charity softball game on Sunday at the Buffalo Bisons' Sahlen Field.
In the wake of the shootings, Hyde told interviewers on Sunday that he briefly considered canceling or postponing the event.
But then the idea came to donate part of the proceeds, which originally were to go entirely to Hyde's IMagINe for Youth Foundation, to the victims' families. So the show went on as planned.
Needless to say, it was a bittersweet experience for Hyde and the rest of the participants.
"You know, when there's hate in the world, you kind of erase it with love," Hyde said, "and coming out here today and showing the community love and love to the youth, love to the community, love to the foundation, I guess that's the way to combat it.
"You know, we had a bunch of conversations yesterday, into this morning. And yes, I will be honest, we didn't feel right even having this game. But then, having conversations with some people it was important to get the community out, put some smiles on their face, get the players in front of them. And we're doing it for for good cause."
In the end, Hyde and the organizers felt they did what they had to do.
" [With] all the hate in this world, if we stopped and canceled everything because of hate, we wouldn't move forward," Hyde said. "There's a lot of it, and all you can do is spread love and love one another."
Investigators say Sunday's shooting of 13 people in a Black neighborhood by an 18-year-old white man, which killed 10, was racially motivated. Payton Gendron even streamed the attack live on Twitch, they said.
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Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
