Until . . .

In the early days of AIDS, it was certainly not popular to be publicly supportive.  Sports teams certainly did not want to be associated with what was often thought of as a "gay disease."  Well I should say most sports teams.  In 1993, our beloved San Francisco Giants became the first-ever professional sports team to host an AIDS benefit game, “Until There's A Cure Day,” and they continue doing it each year. 

 

Closer Rod Beck, was the very first spokesperson for the first Until There's a Cure Day back then, and he continued to support the cause throughout the rest of his career. Tonight is the twentieth and fans at AT&T Park will not only watch the Giants take on the Washington Nationals, but they'll also receive a special collector's-edition Rod Beck bobblehead!

 

Other Giants stars have lent their faces and voices to the cause.  Tim Linsecum and Matt Cain are among those who wear the bracelet.  The entire Giants organization these days gets behind these Until events.  It's a fundraiser in part but it is also an awareness program.  The word still needs to get out, just as is done at the annual AIDS Walk - HIV/AIDS still exists and the fight must continue

 

until there's a cure.