ERST LESEN! » Paul Drinkhall also represented team GB at the 2015

NEW YORK -- WNBA players arent the only ones who cant understand why their social activism has resulted in fines by the league.New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony has their backs, too.The Indiana Fever, New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury and their players were fined by the WNBA 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 black 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.?Anthony, among those trying to get athletes to take a more active role in social issues, agrees with January and her fellow players that the fines are misguided.I dont see no reason to fine them. If anything, you should want to support them, Anthony said Thursday. I dont know details, but dont see a reason to fine them.?A bunch of teams did it and individuals did it. Everybody has their own freedom of speech. If they decide to use the platforms to do that, I dont see any reasons for anybody to get fined. We did it. The NBA did it two years ago. The NBA was very supportive. I dont see why it would be different this time. ?WNBA president Lisa Borders said Wednesday night in a statement to The Associated Press that 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, Fever All-Star Tamika Catchings, who is retiring at the end of the season and is the president of the players union, expressed disappointment 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, referencing the Orlando nightclub shooting that resulted in 49 deaths.The league was quick to give every team shirts in the wake of the Orlando tragedy in June, and the players wore them.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 warm-up 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 the 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.In a show of solidarity, the Liberty and Fever chose to speak after the game only 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.The Washington Mystics followed the Liberty and Fevers lead after playing the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday night.We definitely wanted to show our support for those teams that did get fined for wearing just plain black Adidas shirts, Mystics guard Natasha Cloud said, according to USA Today. Were allowed to wear whatever we want to the games, to and from the games, so if theyre going to take away our right and our voice to advocate for something so important to 70 percent of the league which is African-American, well find other ways to do it, and other ways to do it is to wear our shirts to and from the game and use the media to [express ourselves].NBA players previously have taken a stand in support of victims of 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 choke hold in 2014. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement after the players wore the shirts that he supported the players for expressing their personal views but preferred they adhere to on-court attire rules.No NBA players wore the I Cant Breathe shirts after Silvers statements.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 wore their shirts only once and said they will shift their focus to addressing the issue in other ways. After wearing shirts with #BlackLivesMatter 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.Information from ESPNs Ian Begley and The Associated Press was used in this report. Adidas Schoenen Goedkoop Kopen . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff. Adidas Schoenen Winkel Belgie . Artturi Lehkonen, Joni Nikko and Ville Leskinen had the other goals for Finland (1-0) while Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots. Tim Robin Johnsgard had the lone goal for Norway (0-2). http://www.adidasschoenenoutlet.be/ . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. Adidas Outlet Belgie .B. -- The Baie-Comeau Drakkar took over sole possession of first place atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday with their sixth straight win. Adidas Schoenen Sale Heren . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night.Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall have been picked to lead Great Britains table tennis campaign at the Olympic Games this August. The English pair have been guaranteed automatic qualification for Team GB as a result of their International Table Tennis Federation ranking.It follows near misses for the duo who failed to secure places at the Games during the European Olympic qualifying event in Sweden last month. Drinkhall competed at the London Olympics Pitchford, who is ranked 51 in the world, said: I was a bit nervous for a few weeks after the qualification tournament, not knowing if we were going to be in and knowing we would be quite close to the line.After London Ive always said I wanted to qualify in my own right, its been one of my dreams, so its amazing to have done it.Both Drinkhall and Pitchford represented Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics, but this is the first time they have qualified outright.Being in the village and around all the top athletes in London made me want to have that kind of success, Pitchford added. Its going to be different not having the majority oof the crowd on our side but its going to be a great experience and hopefully well have a better chance of doing well this time.dddddddddddd Paul Drinkhall also represented team GB at the 2015 European Games in Baku. Pitchford and Drinkhall won a combined five medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and teamed up to take bronze at the World Team Championships this year.Drinkhall said: Its been at the back of our minds almost since London and during the last 12 months its really been the main aim to make sure we qualify.I speak for everyone that we dont just want to qualify and go there - we believe we can take on the worlds best. London was amazing but, table tennis-wise, it was slightly too early for both of us.Were in a much better place now and hopefully we can go there and do some damage and make Team GB proud. 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