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Too often in the sports world, for that matter in the world in general, the media focuses on the negative. Sometimes, I get tired of seeing what athlete is suspended, arrested, accused, blamed, or convicted of something.

So let's change the landscape; let's celebrate a few stories recently that have cast a positive light on the sports world.

** They cheered for Bill Buckner in Boston. The other day the Boston Red Sox got their 2007 World Championship rings and they brought back several Boston sports icons to celebrate, and one of them was Bill Buckner. You remember him, don't you? He was the guy who was wrongfully but singlehandedly blamed for losing the World Series in 1986 to the New York Mets when he allowed a ground ball to go through his legs when the Sox were about to wrap up a championship in Game 6.

Red Sox fans, the media, and others never let him forget it, but on this day in Fenway Park Boston fans cheered him loudly when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch to fellow Boston icon Dwight Evans. Buckner was visibly moved by the ovation, and he admitted he had to work to forgive the media but he's now moved on...and the curse that hung over him in Boston is gone.

** Calipari Lost With Class. One can only imagine how Memphis coach John Calipari and his team felt when they lost a nine point lead with 2:12 to go in the national championship game in a contest they eventually lost to Kansas. Despite what must have been an agonizing time for them, Calipari and his players stood up and answered all the questions peppered to them from the media. In a day and age when players and/or coaches will run and hide from tough questions and not talk, they answered all of them with dignity and class.

** Brett Favre Retires. From the time Brett Favre became a Green Bay Packer, we all loved the way he became a gunslinger and led his team to Super Bowl triumphs and to other big wins. But we also saw a human side of Favre when he went through a drug dependency issue, a lifestyle change when he admitted he had partied too much, and the death of his father when he played a tremendous game despite the grief he was experiencing. Maybe we thought he would play forever, but then he recently announced his retirement.

The boy in him that allowed Favre to enjoy a man's game came out again when he tearfully said he just could not prepare the way he used to in order to play the game at a high level. It was very similar to the way John Elway went out, knowing he wanted to play but also understanding he couldn't do the things necessary to allow himself to play at the high standards he set for himself. So long Brett, you'll be missed.

** Tim Tebow Will Raise Money For Charity. Can you believe this kid? After winning the Heisman Trophy, the Sullivan Award, and many other postseason awards this season, what does he do for an encore? He starts out by announcing that he is going to have a Powder Puff football tournament involving all the sororities on campus that will raise money for charities. Tebow is someone who truly understands what life is about and to do the charitable things he has done at such a tender age is remarkable. Way to go Timmy T!

Do you feel better after reading some of these stories? Heck, I felt uplifted just writing about them.

Maybe we've been focusing on the wrong things all along; there really is a lot of good in the sports world and in the athletes that play the games.