导出博客文章The Arizona Diamondbacks?enter?the weekend in last place in the National League
West, a disappointing season for a team with high expectations.However, there
have been some bright spots for the D-backs this year, including Jean Segura,
Paul Goldschmidt and Jake Lamb. So who has been their MVP? Cast your vote in the
poll below (stats entering Friday).The D-backs wrap up the regular season
against the San Diego Padres at Chase Field this weekend, in what amounts to a
battle for last place in the NL West.
Cheap Jordans Ireland . LOUIS --
Lance Lynn was one of the more enthusiastic participants as the St.
Cheap Air Jordan 6 Ireland . The
Cleveland Indians, Tampa Bay Rays, and Texas Rangers all won on Sunday meaning
the Rangers will host the Rays in a play-in game on Monday.
http://www.airjordan6ireland.com/ .
Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes,
announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to
his nations team for the upcoming tournament.
Air Jordan 6 Ireland . --
Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Alrdridge were again the go-to duo for the Trail
Blazers against the Kings.
Air Jordan 6
Retro Ireland . Louis Blues teammates who would also be participating in
the Olympics, Alex Pietrangelo felt right at home, no different in some ways to
the travel experience of any old road trip – save for the length of the journey,
that is. The kneeling was noticeable quickly enough. To some, the raised fists
seem almost ominous.On the first week of the NFL season there was almost as much
going on during the national anthem as there was on the field. Players were
making statements, and they didnt seem afraid of disrupting the highly
choreographed spectacle that is an NFL game.At some point the league may have to
find a way to deal with the newfound social consciousness of some of its
employees. Theres no upside for the NFL if images of players holding clenched
fists aloft during the national anthem begin to overshadow those of men
colliding with each other on the field of play.So far that hasnt happened,
though the season is young. Still, the sight of players making silent protests
during the national anthem has to be disconcerting to a league that has always
demanded conformity and blind obedience from its workers.It barely qualified as
an NFL issue before Colin Kaepernick took a knee during an exhibition game. Now
Commissioner Roger Goodell walks a fine line, voicing support for the right of
players to speak out while in the same breath saying he wants them to respect
the flag and most everyone who has ever put on a uniform.Goodell has so far been
relatively restrained, and he has reason to tread lightly. The league he heads
has profited greatly over the years, in no small part because it wraps itself
around the flag and embraces the military and police at every opportunity.But
two-thirds of its players are black. And they -- fueled by the constant feedback
from social media -- are finding their voice about things they see wrong in the
communities they grew up in.And sports may never be the same.I think weve come
to a point in the history of sports that really for the first time in my
lifetime -- and Ive spent 50 years doing this -- youre seeing athletes getting
involved in social justice issues, said Richard Lapchick, director of The
Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central
Florida. You had the occasional heroic athlete stand up in the `60s or `70s, but
they were very few and far between and they paid the price for it.Some may pay
the price for this, too. Denvers Brandon Marshall quickly lost two endorsements
after he took a knee before last weeks opener. The outcry against Kaepernick and
others on sociall media has been ugly at times.ddddddddddddAnd in a league where
players are desperate to make rosters, it wouldnt be a surprise if taking a
stand meant a greater chance of being told to hit the road.That wasnt an issue
when LeBron James and fellow members of the Miami Heat donned hoodies in 2012
for a team picture in support of slain Miami teen-ager Trayvon Martin. Too much
star power there, and the NBA is a little more socially aware than the
NFL.Lapchick points to the hoodie protest as the start of a new generation of
athletes becoming socially active. Some WNBA members also took a stand, wearing
warmup shirts on behalf of Black Lives Matter this summer.The handling of that
by the WNBA was botched a bit, and surely the NFL learned lessons from that.
Goodell has said all the right things so far, but its still early in the
game.Its an issue that sports is going to have to make an informed decision on
how they are going to treat it, Lapchick said. This isnt something that is going
to go away, whether its in the form of the national anthem or wearing T-shirts
or other paraphernalia. From my viewpoint its here into the indefinite
future.That may worry some, but it pleases Lapchick to no end. Hes not only
crusaded for civil rights his entire life, but paid the price for it
himself.Lapchick was a 5-year-old when he looked out his bedroom window in New
York to see men hanging an image of his father. Joe Lapchick was the coach of
the New York Knicks, and his crime was to sign Nat Sweetwater Clifton, the first
black player in the NBA in 1950.Years later, as an anti-apartheid activist,
Lapchick was attacked by two men in a library at Virginia Wesleyan College, who
held him down and carved the N-word into his stomach.Hell be watching closely as
Goodell navigates his way through uncharted waters. Well all be watching to see
how a commissioner who fancies himself to be a disciplinarian deals with things
that discipline cant solve.The way the NFL handles anthem protests may turn out
to be as significant in the long run as the protests themselves.----Tim Dahlberg
is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at
tdahlberg(at)ap.org or
http://twitter.com/timdahlberg ' ' '
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