Adrian Peterson Day Will Be Different This Year

Two weeks from tomorrow, in his home town of Palestine, Texas, the eighth annual Adrian Peterson Day will take place. While it's usually more of a celebration, complete with a parade, this year things will look a little different.

How much different? Well, AD's cousin Carol Pegues, who is in charge of organizing the event, took some time to explain it to Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and the celebration this year is going to be much more focused on health and other issues.

"We're going to have free screening for high-blood pressure, an eye clinic, a dental clinic,'' Pegues said in a phone interview. "We're going to have information on where people can go if they're homeless. It's going to be more serious. It's going to be a health fair. The parade will return next year.'

Really, it's not surprising to see something like this from a guy of Peterson's caliber. However, it's still nice to see that, on a day that could be used to simply tell the NFL's best running back that he's awesome, he's using his star power to try to bring awareness to a pretty serious issue (homelessness) and trying to help some folks get a little more healthy if they can't readily afford things like dental care and eye exams.

Just one more reason to be happy and proud that the man is on our side, folks.