Kevin's Boss

It's not something you would know about him if you just followed mainstream sports media. It's not something he typically talks about to reporters - maybe he would if reporters ever asked him, but it rarely ever comes up during interviews. Why would it? Kevin Boss is a football player, and his first duty to fans and to the reporters that follow him is to be the best player that he can be.

To Kevin Boss, however, his first duty lies with that of a higher power - and no, I'm not talking about Scott Pioli.

A week after signing a 3-year, $9 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs - he was released by the Raiders earlier that same week - Boss packed a few suitcases of Chiefs gear, tennis shoes, cleats, and sandals before getting on a plane and flying down Haiti, where he was volunteering for missionary work.

He wasn't alone. "Kevin Boss, who is a good friend of mine, offered me the chance to go to Haiti, and I jumped at it" said Titans linebacker Tim Shaw.

The two players spent a week in Haiti, and Boss worked at a feeding clinic, painted the orphanage and built furniture for the children. According to the article written by Josh Looney from KCChiefs.com, Boss and Shaw combined to bring more than 100 pairs of tennis shoes with them to Haiti and introduced many of the children to American football for the first time.

"The poverty there is unreal,” Shaw said. “It adjust your perspective and kind of brings you back to what is important, because it is tough to see people living that way.” 

It's not often that you hear about NFL players doing things right during the offseason. In a world of 24/7 news outlets, true personalities and characters of players have come to light more than ever; and unfortunately, it's usually more negative than positive. It's good to see that there are players like Boss and Shaw in the league, players that don't forget what's important no matter how much money they make. 

The way that Boss does it though is what's most impressive. A regular fan would never know that Boss and Shaw did missionary work like this. Besides the occasional article like what was written by Looney and a few tweets sent by Boss once he returned from his trip, nobody might know about the acts Boss partakes in. This quiet selflessness is quite the opposite from, say, Tim Tebow, and in a way, I think that makes it even more special.

Yet, Boss is still a football player, and I can't promise that if Boss were to drop a few touchdown passes and become a liability on the field it would be hard not to forget why I liked him in the first place. But I guarantee you there are a few hundred Haitian children that will never forget the impact Boss and other volunteers had on their lives in the tough times that followed the devastating 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince.

To Boss, that's more important than any game.