Genero36
Joined: 24 Apr 2005
Posts: 11188
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 Posted: 02/15/19 9:17 am ::: 7 Players And 1 Team Who Changed The Sport Forever |
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The first week of July 2016 saw both Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, two black men, killed by police. The WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx issued the clearest and most forceful condemnation of police brutality by any sports team in recent memory when, prior to a Monday night game, Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen, and Rebekkah Brunson held a press conference together.
“Racism and unjust fears of black males, and disregard of black females, is very real,” Brunson said. “When we look at the facts, it’s hard to deny there’s a real problem in our society.”
After the players delivered their statement, four off-duty officers scheduled to work that night’s game walked off the job. The players’ words, however, reverberated through the WNBA as other teams conducted silent protests in solidarity, despite being fined by the league. The WNBA’s wave of civic action was robust and revolutionary, predating even the NFL’s highly publicized protests against police brutality. |
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| Sheryl Swoopes’ trailblazing bona fides are well-documented, as she helped shepherd America’s premier women’s professional basketball league onto the national stage. After leading her Texas Tech Raiders to the NCAA championship in 1993, Swoopes continued her basketball career playing for Team USA in the 1994 world championships and the 1996 Olympics. In 1995, Nike released the “Air Swoopes,” marking the first ever women’s signature basketball shoe. And in 1996, the year the WNBA was officially formed, Swoopes signed the first ever contract with the league after being recruited to play for the Houston Comets. Swoopes averaged more than 15 points per game over her 10-year career with the Comets, and helped the team win the WNBA’s first four championships. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest WNBA players in the league’s history and has been inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the WNBA Hall of Fame since retiring in 2011. |
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/here-are-the-top-rule-breakers-in-basketball-history_us_5c3cbf84e4b01c93e00c3e59
The other 6 players mentioned were:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Charles Barkley
Oscar Robertson
Jason "White Chocolate" Williams
LeBron James
Wilt Chamberlain
Thank you for recognizing the Lynx and what they stood for. That will never be lost on me as a Black man.
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I'm all for the separation of church and hate.
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