There was a story this week about the abrupt change in the Indianapolis Colts coaching staff, where Tony Dunghy has left the reins to Jim Caldwell and now offensive coordinator Tom Moore and o-line coach Howard Mudd have resigned. My mind jumped directly from Moore to the Philadelphia Eagles’ greybeard defensive coordinator, Jim Johnson, as equally adept at stopping offenses as Moore is at creating them. Somewhere, someone was talking smack about how someone would have an advantage when the Eagles played the Colts.

Jim Johnson has taken a leave of absence, because of cancer. So a story about the moving on of great coaches and the impact that will have on their teams, turns into one about cancer and its impact on our world.

Most are concerned about when Johnson is due back and who’s going to run that defense, especially now that Brian Dawkins has left town? There’s not much thought about Jim Johnson and the constant needles he’s being poked with or the unpleasant nature of what he’s up against. Our natural reaction is to keep it at arms length and ignore it. Jon Lester came back and so can Jim Johnson.

Amy Mickelson, mother of three, made public yesterday that she is about to enter her own battle against breast cancer. She is one of thousands who are detected daily, but she is the wife of the world’s second best golfer and well, we just want to know how much time he’ll miss? Wayman Tisdale and Chuck Daly fell from the disease within the last month. We learned that Tisdale was also a great jazz bass player, and that Daly was the only thing not bad about the “Bad Boy Pistons.” There wasn’t much of a stress on the facts that Tisdale had lost a leg fighting his disease and the always vibrant Daly, who had trouble remaining seated as a coach, was finally anchored in a bed.

Jose Maria Olazabal was named to golf’s World Hall-of-Fame this week, but it’s his connection with fellow Spaniard Seve Ballesteros that distinguishes him more than his two Masters wins. Ballesteros is recovering from operations on cancerous brain tumors and the public eagerly awaits his next appearance.

Brooks Robinson doesn’t play any more, so his diagnosis of cancer fit in there with Don Imus and Michael Jackson this month, somewhere between ‘maybe its news’ and ‘let’s be a little more sympathetic to these guys now.’

The most disturbing announcement was of Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich’s diagnosis with Ewings Sarcoma. There’s nothing more hurtful than someone cut down in his youth. Herzloff was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and one in a long line of Eagle defenders destined to make an impact on Sundays.

And that’s only the news of the past ten days or so. We make ourselves feel better by visiting kids in hospitals, inviting the press in to document how good we are and by wearing pink on certain days. But those gestures don’t even scratch the surface. It’s time to find a way to be involved and help.

So as we wind ourselves up for the Kobe vs. LeBron matchup, or whether the Red Wings can continue to prevail on the ice, or whether A-Rod is a phony or the Yankee winning streak is for real and Big Papi still can hit, let’s give some thought to those fighting the real battles and instead of running away and avoiding them, try reaching out and letting it touch you.