Forums » News and Announcements

• Deleted Member

  
   

  March 11, 2018 8:12 PM PDT

  NEW YORK -- Social activism is coming at a cost for WNBA players. Nike Air Max 270 Homme .The WNBA has fined the Indiana Fever, New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury and their players for wearing black warm up shirts in the wake of recent shootings by and against police officers.All three teams were fined $5,000 and each player was fined $500 as the shirts violated the leagues uniform policy. While the shirts were the Adidas brand -- the official outfitter of the league -- WNBA rules state that uniforms may not be altered in any way.Whats most upsetting is the way it was handled, Indiana Fever player rep Briann January said. You have a league that is 90 -- if not above 90 percent African American -- and you have an issue that is directly affecting them and the people they know and you have a league that isnt willing to side with them.Its not a race issue, not an anti-police issue, not a black or white issue. Its a right or wrong issue.WNBA President Lisa Borders said Wednesday night in statement to The Associated Press the fines were not about the players speaking out on a social issue.We are proud of WNBA players engagement and passionate advocacy for non-violent solutions to difficult social issues but expect them to comply with the leagues uniform guidelines, Borders said.Nonetheless, Indiana Fever All-Star Tamika Catchings, who is retiring at the end of the season and is the president of the players union, is also disappointed in the WNBAs actions.Instead of the league taking a stance with us, where they tell us they appreciate our expressing our concerns like they did for Orlando, were fighting against each other, she said.The league was quick to give every team shirts in support of the Orlando tragedy in June, which the players wore.We were OK with that, we wanted to support that, but also they cant pick and choose what initiatives to support and what not to support just because it doesnt push their agenda, Liberty guard Tanisha Wright said. This is important to us.Typical WNBA fines for technical fouls or such are about half the $500 amount the players were fined for wearing the black shirts. WNBA rookies like New Yorks Adut Bulgak make roughly $40,000, so the fine is about 1/80th of a first-year players salary.The Liberty have worn the plain black shirts four times, including Wednesday morning against Washington. They didnt wear them on Thursday in their matinee game against the Fever opting for their normal black shirts with the Liberty logo. Tina Charles did wear her warmup shirt inside out.After seeing the African American male shot three times after helping an autistic person out this morning in Florida, I knew I couldnt be silent, Charles said after Liberty lost to the Fever. Knowing the player I am representing this organization, if anybody was going to wear it, it had to be me. I have no problem wearing this shirt inside out for the rest of the season until we are able to have the WNBA support us.The players union said that they are in the process of preparing to file a grievance over the fines for the players.In a show of solidarity, the Liberty and Fever chose only to speak after the game about social awareness, politely declining any questions about Thursdays contest.Charles is looking forward to discussing future actions at the Olympics, where shell have a chance to talk with her teammates on the womens national team and NBA players on the U.S. mens team.Being able to see how they feel and what they want to do, coming collectively together, Charles said. Seeing the other 11 WNBA teams, how we basically just did a media blackout, if they are up for doing the same thing.NBA players previously have taken a stand in support of victims from police brutality without being fined. LeBron James and Derrick Rose wore I Cant Breathe shirts in honor of a Staten Island man who died after police placed him a chokehold in 2014. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement after the players wore those shirts supporting the players for their personal views but preferring they adhered to on-court attire rules.No NBA players wore the I Cant Breathe shirts after Silvers statements.I dont see why there would be a reason for those ladies to get fined, Knicks star Carmelo Anthony said at USA Basketball training camp in Las Vegas. Everybody has freedom of speech. This is a platform right now where everyone is affected and everyone shows their frustrations in different ways. And I dont even think it was frustration on their behalf.The WNBA fined players after they ignored a league memo earlier this week to the teams reminding them of the uniform policy. The memo was sent out after Minnesota, New York and Dallas players wore shirts in remembrance of two men who were shot by police and the five Dallas police officers who were killed in an attack on July 7.The Lynx only wore their shirts once and said they will shift their focus to addressing the issue in other ways. After wearing shirts with the hashtag Black Lives Matter and Dallas5 for one game, the Liberty reached what the players said was a compromise, wearing plain black shirts bearing only the Adidas logo. For now they are back to wearing their normal warm ups.The league will go on a monthlong Olympic hiatus beginning Saturday but January said players will continue to actively engage in the social discussion.I think theres a lot of people in our league who are very passionate about it. As a player rep we are going to continue having these conversations, she said. The timing of them releasing the statement and giving us the papers was very timely on their part.---Follow Doug on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dougfeinberg Nike Vapormax Promo . -- Sergey Tolchinksy scored his second goal of the game 3:56 into overtime as the Sault Ste. Air Max 270 Acheter . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. http://www.airmax270noir.fr/nike-vapormax-promo/nike-vapormax-cs.html . -- Edmontons Val Sweeting is two wins away from a trip to Winnipeg to play in Canadas Road of the Rings in December.(Sports Network) - The Toronto Blue Jays hope to stay locked in as they host the Houston Astros for the third part of a four-game set on Saturday at Rogers Centre. Edwin Encarnacion homered twice during an eight-run seventh inning that helped power the Blue Jays over the Astros, 12-6, to take the second game of the series after they coasted to a 4-0 win in the opener to end a seven-game losing streak. "I dont think it can get any better than that," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "(Encarnacions) having another great year, he really he is. Hes been steady all year. He hit into a lot of tough luck early in the season. But I think hes been as steady as probably anyone in baseball." Encarnacion became just the second player in franchise history, joining Joe Carter, to homer twice in an inning. Encarnacion went 3-for-4 with five total RBI and a walk. Toronto totaled 15 hits in the game including the solo shots by Jose Reyes, Adam Lind and Brett Lawrie. Reyes went 3-for-3 in the in with a pair of walks, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. He is 6-for-7 at the plate thus far in the series. Josh Johnson will head to the hill for the hosts on Saturday as he looks to lead them to their first three-game winning streak since they had an 11-game streak snapped on June, 24. Johnsons last win came on June 23, as Toronto has gone winless in his five starts since. The 6-foot-7 righty gave up five earned runs on seven hits in just two innings of work in his last outing. Johnsons poor showing dropped him to 1-6 on the year with a 5.66 ERA, which is dramatically hiigher than his career ERA of 3. Air Max 93. 33. The Astros will try to turn things around with the left-handed Dallas Keuchel on the mound. Keuchel is 4-5 with a 4.42 ERA this season, but he hasnt given up more than three earned runs in three consecutive starts. The 25-year old took a no decision on Monday after surrendering just one run on five hits in six innings against Oakland. He has never faced Toronto before in his career. Astros left fielder Marc Krauss performed well at the plate in the second game of the series, going 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and four RBI. J.D. Martinez and Brett Wallace also delivered multi-hit games in the losing effort, but the team failed to acquire timely base knocks as it left nine on base. Houstons bullpen has lacked reliability in recent weeks, allowing at least one run in 10 straight games while posting an 8.01 ERA during that span. "Its not good," Astros manager Bo Porter said. "At this stage of the season, you would think that guys would get better. That has not happened. We are in a complete funk as far as the bullpen goes, and Im trying to find someone down there other than [closer Jose] Veras to come in and give us quality innings, and its just not happening right now." The Astros won five of the first six games played by the two franchises, including a three-game sweep in Houston in 2005 and two of three in Toronto in 2011. Houston has the worst record in baseball at 34-68, which includes a 16-31 mark in road games. Toronto is in last place in the AL East at 47-55 and is 27-27 at home. ' ' '