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Candace Parker, Maya Moore and their legacy in women’s basketball

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This weekend was like a touching closing of a monumental chapter in women’s basketball.

Maya Moore-Irons was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday. On Sunday, Candace Parker announced she was leaving the WNBA. Parker, who signed a one-year contract with the Las Vegas Aces in February, is leaving the sport a yr after Moore announced she would officially retire from basketball in 2023 after a four-year hiatus from the WNBA.

When you ask modern players, whether college or WNBA, who they emulated and idolized as kids, they almost all the time answer: Parker or Moore. Both are probably your current favorite player’s favorite (if it wasn’t still Parker as of Sunday).

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With the departure of Moore and Parker, the WNBA is without two of its most influential and impactful superstars. It’s a reality that is hard for a lot of women’s basketball fans to swallow, especially since excitement for a game that Parker and Moore helped create has never been higher.

With Parker’s departure comes a pervasive void, very like Moore’s, of not with the ability to properly rejoice the tip of two transformative talents. And while we’ll never see Moore or Parker dazzle on the basketball court again, their mark on the sport and the present generation able to catapult women’s basketball into the following chapter are all over the place.

Chicago Sky forward Candace Parker celebrates together with her teammates after winning Game 4 of the 2021 WNBA Finals against the Phoenix Mercury on October 17, 2021, at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

Kena Krutsinger/NBAE via Getty Images

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On the sphere, Parker was unlike any player we had ever seen.

After a legendary profession at Tennessee, where she won two national championships and was named national player of the yr twice, Parker began her WNBA profession in 2008 as the primary player to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the identical season. Parker’s momentous rookie season heralded a legendary profession that included three championships, two MVP awards, seven All-Star nominations, Finals MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. After becoming the primary woman to dunk in an NCAA tournament game, Parker was also the primary to dunk multiple times in a WNBA season.

In Parker style, she ended her 16-year profession just because it began – in a historic moment. Her third championship, won with the Aces last season, made her the primary player in league history to win championships with three different franchises.

Parker, who also won two Olympic gold medals and countless championships overseas, is the one player in WNBA history to rank in the highest 10 in points, rebounds, assists and blocks. Her versatility and dominance at 6’1″ helped usher in a brand new era in women’s basketball and not using a game-changing position.

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At age 29, Moore has already won 4 WNBA championships with the Minnesota Lynx, was Finals MVP, league MVP and was a six-time All-Star. This was preceded by a dominant collegiate profession in which she won two national titles and was named national player of the yr twice.

Moore, who also won two Olympic gold medals, two FIBA ​​World Championship gold medals and two EuroLeague titles, was a unprecedented talent on the court. Her playing was graceful and dominant, creative and fierce. Her jump shot was clean and her ability to get a bucket was unmatched. Moore was the primary women’s basketball player to sign a contract with Jordan Brand. When the brand launched a billboard campaign in 2018 in which Moore recreated Jordan’s 1989 “Wings” poster, it appeared like a fitting stamp for the face of women’s basketball. The following season, Moore announced that she wouldn’t play in the 2019 season. Even though Moore’s profession had been decorated as much as that time, it still felt prefer it was just getting began.

The play of each Parker and Moore has energized women’s basketball fans and attracted latest fans. However, their influence begins only on the pitch.

Minnesota Lynx defender Maya Moore (right) brings the ball up the court while Connecticut Sun defender Alyssa Thomas (left) defends during a game at Mohegan Sun Arena on August 17, 2018 in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images

Parker’s influence is wide-ranging. Parker, who had her daughter Lailaa after her rookie season, has all the time advocated for moms who’re skilled athletes, demonstrating the power to thrive in each.

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In 2010, Parker became the ninth WNBA player to have her own signature shoes. Since then, she has grow to be the one Black woman to wear the signature shoe in the WNBA.

As an analyst and commentator at TNT, where she has been working since 2018, she became the primary woman to function a game analyst in the course of the NBA All-Star Game in 2023. In 2021, she was the primary woman on the duvet of NBA 2K, and she also co-owns the NWSL team Angel City FC together with her daughter.

Moore’s off-court influence centers on her social activism. In 2016, she took part in an illustration organized by the captains of the Minnesota Lynx team, who wore T-shirts with the words “Change starts with us” in the course of the pre-game press conference after the police shooting of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Justice and Accountability” and “Black Lives Matter” on the back together with the names Sterling and Castile.

“If we take this time to see that this is a human issue and speak up together, we can significantly reduce fear and create change,” Moore said in 2016.

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In 2019, two years after winning her fourth WNBA championship, Moore left the WNBA to advocate for the discharge of Jonathan Irons, who was sentenced to 50 years in the Missouri State Penitentiary after being convicted of burglary and assault on the age of 16. His conviction was overturned in July 2020. Moore’s sacrifice to assist ultimately free Irons, made at a time when she was widely considered the face of women’s basketball, made her a pioneer in athlete activism and drew significant attention to the failings of the U.S. criminal justice system criminal system and the necessity for reforms.


Parker and Moore left a mark on the game that may likely not be fully realized for years. It’s a shame they will not give you the option to be a part of the momentous wave the game is currently experiencing. However, much of their legacy is reflected directly in the sport’s latest generation of stars, lots of whom have been inspired by Moore and Parker.

Ace forward A’ja Wilson, the reigning WNBA Finals MVP, and Indiana Fever center Aliyah Boston, the league’s 2023 Rookie of the Year, called Parker their GOAT. Caitlin Clark, who’s entering her highly anticipated debut season in the WNBA after retiring from her college profession because the all-time leading scorer in NCAA basketball history, reiterates that Moore was her childhood basketball hero.

This is the life cycle of the sports avant-garde. While we may never give you the option to observe them ceaselessly or resolve when their on-court careers will end, we will still enjoy watching their legacy live.

Sean Hurd is a author for Andscape, primarily covering women’s basketball. The pinnacle of his athletic development got here on the age of 10, when he was voted camper of the week at Josh Childress’ basketball camp.

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EASTSIDE GOLF SIGNS JOSEPH BRAMLETT as the first member of PGA Tour

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EastSide Golf is even.

Earl Cooper and Olajuwon Ajanaku founded a black brand of golf clothing, which goals to make golf more integrative. They have recently announced two fundamental movements to support this mission: they launched last month EASTIDE GOLF FOUNDATIONAnd today the brand has announced the signing of its first skilled Golfer under a contract of support: a member of PGA Tour Joseph Bramph.

Braglett said that in 2020 he was fascinated by joining Golf EastSide.

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“Since then, I watched the brand growing,” he said. “They sent me a few shirts and other things, and I had many friends wore EastSide Golf (clothing). I watched their mission, what they were, the height they had, and I was very excited about the possibility of finally becoming part of it and push the brand forward.”

During all skilled competitions, a member of PGA Tour will wear brand clothing with a characteristic logo on the left breast, a black golfanist rocking golf club with a golden chain on the neck. Normal Fashion Elections Bramletta lie in a stereotypical sports outfit, nevertheless it is happy that it may possibly break out of this manner with EastSide turtleneck.

Golfist Joseph Bramlett at Snap -Placket Polo and Tech Pants Eastern Golf.

EastSide Golf

“They just bring different energy,” he said. “You see Jordan’s cooperation and growing up, I played golf from an early age, but basketball has always been my second sport. I am a big fan of Michael Jordan.” He called the Link with Golf EastSide “a very good fit”.

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Bramp’s father initiated his love for this sport. His father, who, said, was “addicted to Golf, before I was born”, often exchange a golf club in the lounge. Braglett simply copied his actions.

“Every time his turn came to take care of me, he practiced (his) a short game and let me crawl on the grass,” he said. “I read the game very early and I don’t know exactly what it was, but it captivated me from the very beginning.”

The profession of Stanford graduates includes winning the national championships in the first 12 months. His win secured the PGA Tour card immediately after studying in 2010. His other achievements include winning the Korn Ferry Tour in 2021 and the recent third place at Puerto Rico Open, where he scored 21 years.

“I watched their mission, what they were about, the height they had, and I was very excited about the possibility of finally becoming part of it,” said Bramlett about joining Golf Eastside.

EastSide Golf

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Bramlett is one of two black golfers commonly competing on PGA Tour.

“I was a black golfer all my life, so from the first day it was just part of my experience in the game,” he said. “That’s what I’m proud of, I know that this is something that distinguishes me a bit (and) I think it is also something that gives me a great platform.”

Departing from Saratog in California, he signed a contract with EastSide Golf not only to the present, but additionally for the future. Bramlett has one other decade for top -level competition. Despite this, when he finished, he would love to present up a game that he gave a lot to people like him, Cooper and Anjanak, despite the history of Golf to be inaccessible to black people.

“All positive and inclusion that they pressed, social times, and the ways in which they bring people to the game, making them feel more welcome, pushing the game forward,” he said. “I want to be someone who is involved.”

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EastSide Golf signed Bramletta shortly after the announcement of EastSide Golf Foundation. The foundation was created to extend influence in three key areas: access, education and perfection. The Foundation will ensure resources to make Golf more available, share knowledge about sport and financial support for social organizations, golf teams and individuals through high -quality programs that favor long -term success.

Golfist PGA Tour Joseph Bramph (on the left), wearing Core Pique Polo EastSide Golf, together with co -founder and inventive director EastSide Golf and inventive director Olajuwon Ajanaku (on the right), who’s wearing a brand sweater and embroidered.

EastSide Golf

“I am a PGA professional and I think that as PGA professionals, we bear the duties to bring people to the game,” said Cooper. “There is a bigger mission and until everyone feels welcome and everyone feels comfortable in the golf course, we still have a job.”

Cooper said that having a foundation allows Golf EastSide to receive larger funds to increase their mission. One of the features of this mission, which can probably profit, is EastSide Golf Invitational, a charity event starting the third 12 months, and now the official event of the Foundation Funds.

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Now, the official event of the foundation funds, Invitational has generated over 100,000 USD for Morehouse College over the past two years. Since 2019, EastSide Golf has brought almost USD 300,000 in the school golf program for the support of scholarships, team operations and others. In addition to financial support, EastSide Golf also provides uniforms, transport, contacts and other experiences, such as the team host in Masters.

Their financial contribution is in step with the meaning of the school, which connects Cooper and Anjanak. They met in College via the Golf team and won the twenty fourth minority Golf PGA championship in 2010.

Although Cooper didn’t create PGA Tour, he wants to go away the heritage of motivating the next generation. “Although I’m not on the route, I can still influence,” he said.

For Bragletta, he just wants children to know that they’ll achieve all the pieces they gave their minds to.

“I was lucky to grow up, I had Tiger Woods,” he said. “I hope that I can set such an example for future generations.”

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Garfield Hylton is knowledgeable journalist, spirit and a digital storyteller. When he doesn’t write essays, he’s working on the gym on a jump in order that young boys don’t escape from the field.

This article was originally published on : andscape.com
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Ryan Clark breaks down in an emotional interview with Greg Brooks Jr.: “This child did not deserve it”

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Ryana Clark “The Pivot” podcast It boasts “key conversations”. However, the host of the podcast was not prepared for the emotional variety of his last interview with a former footballer of the State University in Louisiana Greg Brooks Jr. After almost an hour conversation with Greg Brooks and his father, Greg Brooks, Clark, Clark Put in tears a moment after Brooks was thrown out of the interview.

“Sometimes I miss it. I look at the screen and I think it should be me, but I’m just glad that I’m here.”

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“You are amazing. You are an inspiration, I mean that you are a superhero and I expected that from a very young age, when I met you, to achieve great things,” said Clark Brooks Jr. “I never expected you to achieve what you have man. I love you.”

For Clark, Ałunu LSU and the super Bowl master, this conversation was particularly annoying because he was there to witness Brooks Jr.’s journey. from early days of recovery.

“It’s hard to see, old,” Clark continued. “My tears are like a part of pride, but also just anger, because you are right, this child does not … does not deserve this man, and to be honest, GB (Greg Brooks Sr.), the most difficult part is for me that he has no anger. He is so happy of everything he has, he is so happy because of how far is.”

While the previous LSU football captain is grateful for recovery, his father, Brooks Sr., explained that Brooks Jr. He still experiences the extent of pain.

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“Don’t you think that this child suffered, old? Don’t you think that he had the successes of all his friends? Not hear from the trainer for over 17 months? Seventeen Fu ** months … it’s painful, old” – revealed Brooks Sr.

In a lawsuit against the University and Mother of God of the Lake Regional Medical Center at Baton Rouge, the Brooks family claims that LSU staff and medical staff performed neglect in the Brooks Jr. And that the varsity did not inform the athlete’s family about his injury.

“I just want young athletes in the identical place, if something hurts, tell them.

(Tagstranslate) LSU Football (T) Ryan Clark (T) Sport

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Coach San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich leaves the legacy of expressing injustice

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Gregg Popovich, the most important coach of San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich, won the highest and maybe the largest coach in NBA history outside the side line. It also disappeared, but actually not forgotten, Popovich used his platform to talk against racial, social and political injustice.

“He was probably one of the first trainers of the modern generation, who really spoke about politics and social injustice,” said coach Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr, a former guard of Spurs near Popuvich. “One of my favorite trainers is (former basketball coach of men from the University of North Karolina) Dean Smith. Dean Smith in the 1960s. He helped break the racial barriers in the south, refusing to take his team in some places for staying or eating. Coaches who really distinguish me. “

Spurs announced the retirement of Popovich from coaching on May 2 after 33 years as the most important trainer. Naismith Hall of Famer is the NBA leader in the field of coaching victories with 1422 wins in the regular season. The three -time NBA coach led Spurs to 5 championships. The 76-year-old also took third place in winning the playoffs.

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Popovich trained the Spurs dynasty, which included the NBA championships in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014, Hall of Famers David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Future Hall of Famer Kawhi Leonard. With the NBA All-Star Center Victor Wembanyama, in its composition, Popovich trained only five matches this season, after which he suffered a stroke in a team facility on November 2, 2024. He never returned out of bord.

Popovich will remain in Spurs as the president of basketball operations and was replaced by Mitch Johnson, who was a short lived team of the team this season.

“It’s a sad day. It’s also an encouraging day,” said Kerr on May 2. “This is a natural transition for him organizationally to go to the next role. He also gives him space and time that he must regain after health problems.

“So I got a lot of mixed emotions … mainly my love for pop. My empathy for what has gone through with the Spurs organization. All of the above. This is a very emotional day for everyone involved. Thank you, pop.”

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Coach Houston Rockets, Ime Udoka, former guard of Spurs and assistant coach near Popowicz, said on May 2: “This is a sweet -bitter day, of course, for all of us. But I am glad that he is in the good place. And I am glad that he is good with his family. A special day. A special person. One of the best for it. I am happy that I have a chance to work with him and call him.”

Coach Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr (on the left) and coach San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich (on the right) meet after the match at the Chase Center on November 1, 2019.

Cary edmondson-us today sport

Popovich also had an impact on the world, undeniably using his platform to speak about injustice. What made his openness much more unique was that he was a white man who spoke about marginalized individuals who didn’t seem like him.

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Former San Antonio Spurs Forward Lamarcus Aldridge once described Popovich as “color blindness” to Andcape. Popovich was also known that he normally had an inventory with international talent.

“When you meet him, color doesn’t matter to him,” Aldridge said about Popovich. “It can refer. People can say that he and Stephen Jackson are really close. Stephen Jackson is the opposite of being from Europe. It doesn’t matter who you are. He connects with all people … He is so open to everything.”

Popovich once expressed respect for the playmaker San Francisco 49ers Colin Kapernicka and his national protest. These were the words of a person who attended the American Air Force Academy and obtained a bachelor’s degree in the field of Soviet studies. He served five years of the required lively service in the Air Force and once considered a profession in the CIA.

“A quite good group of people immediately thought that they did not respect the army,” said Popovich once. “It had nothing to do with his protest. In fact, he was able to do what he did because of what the army was doing for us. Most people think about it, but there will always be an element that wants to jump on fashion and this is unfortunate in our country.”

Popovich once took Spurs to the private screening of the film “Chi-raq” with the famous film director Spike Lee. Popovich had a former John Carlos track star, who joined Tommie Smith to get a controversial salut of black power on the podium medal during the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, confer with his team. Popovich gave his players the book “Between the world and me” by Tahisi Coates, who was written as a letter to the writer’s teenage son about reality, emotions and symbolism of being an African American in the United States. Popovich also took his team for the show “The Birth of the Nation”, the film Parker invested about Nat Turner, who managed the historic riot of slaves in 1831 and see the famous art of “Hamilton” in New York.

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“It is obvious that the domestic plane of slavery still penetrates our social system in this country,” said Popovich once. “People want to ignore it, they don’t want to talk about it because it is uncomfortable.”

Popovich also described the race in America as “elephant in peace.” He believed that the White Americans didn’t understand the pain and stress related to being an African American. Popovich remembered listening to the black assistants of trainers about how that they had to confer with children about the best way to cope with the police in the event that they were confronted. He said it was something that as a white man never had in common together with his two children.

“It’s easier for white people because we haven’t experienced this experience. For many white people it is difficult to understand the everyday feeling with which many black people are dealing with,” Popovich once said. “I did not talk to my children about how to behave in front of a policeman when you stop. I did not have to do it. All my black friends did it. There is something that is wrong in it and we all know it.”

From left to right: coach San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich and former players of Spurs David Robinson and Tim Duncan during Tony Parker’s pension ceremony on November 11, 2019.

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Popovich also also talked about what he thinks were injustices in the American government, particularly against President Donald Trump. During October 27, 2024, a press conferencePopovich described Trump as “pathetic” and accused him of supporting the culture of racism and division in America. Popovich also added that he believes that Trump has confirmed racism, which normalized and legitimized discrimination on this process.

Popovich recurrently talked about the control of weapons. In 2023, Popovich gave an unnecessary, nine -minute lobbying lobbying for the laws of weapon control in America and criticizing “cowardly legislators who are selfish” before the match in Dallas. Popovich criticized republican legislators in Texas and Tennessee, and in addition expressed contempt for the expedition of representatives in 2023 Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Chamber of Representatives in Tennessee. Two black democrats were demonstrating weapons control on the floor of the chamber after a shooting in Nashville. Popovich called the provisions on the resistance of weapon control, an try and “clog all these things (in) the myth of the second amendment.”

“I was wondering because we have a governor and governor governor and prosecutor general, who made it easier to have more weapons,” Popovich said, referring to politicians from Texas. “It was a response to the murder of our children. I just thought it was a bit strange decision. But it’s just me.”

So how did Popovich develop into so conscious, caring and vocal?

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The son of a Croatian father and Serbian mother organized naturally about other cultures, growing up in a racially diverse eastern Chicago in Indiana, 18 miles from the Chicago center. According to the universal census of the United States of 2010, Eastern Chicago had 42.9% black, 35.5% white and 19.1% of other races. Popovich attributed his military origin for making him aware of the world. He also learned about the world when he played basketball for the American Basketball Team of the Armed Forces in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

“When you meet him and learn about his upbringing and his origin, raised in (suburbs) Gary, Indian, in a multicultural district …”-said Udoka. “He all the time talked about the neighbors he had – an Italian family, a Jewish family, a black family. Everything around him was immigrants and his.

“This is the core of who it is. It is appropriate, regardless of whether you are black, white or different.”

Kerr also spoke about social injustice, racism, violence with weapons and political problems during the training of warriors. He recognized Popovich for uplifting him to make use of his platform to talk.

“I was 100% inspired by pop for the courage to speak and take the hits you do,” said Kerr. “I met POP after I signed a contract with Spurs in 1999 during the blockade. You can see the sacrifice for his country. A proud air force graduate. From the first national anthem (played in the game Spurs) I saw how he stood on an unusual American flut.

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“This is a belief together with, say, the Shenanigans of this country politically – in actual fact all BS began at the moment, at the turn of the century … between social media and Buffoners politically, on this era, wherein everyone screams against one another.

Marc J. Spears is a senior NBA author for Andcape. Once he was capable of immerse himself at you, but he was unable for years, and his knees still hurt.

This article was originally published on : andscape.com
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