PHOENIX -- Diana Taurasi scored 26 points and made two free throws with 8 seconds left to ice the Phoenix Mercurys 70-66 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday night.The Mercury (12-14) had their largest lead at 64-55 on Brittney Griners basket with 6:33 left and Los Angeles went scoreless after Kristi Tolivers 3-pointer cut it to 68-66 with 1:24 left. It was Tolivers 400th career 3-pointer.Taurasi was 4 of 10 from 3-point range to help Phoenix improve to 4-1 in its last five games.Candace Parker had 25 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for Los Angeles (21-5), and Nneka Ogwumike added 15 points and nine rebounds for Los Angeles. The Sparks have lost four of five after opening 20-1. They dropped a half-game behind Minnesota for the WNBA lead. Jose Cruz Jr. Astros Jersey . It just didnt show when he hit the ice. Berra made 42 saves and Kris Russell scored at 1:32 of overtime, lifting the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night. J. R. Richard Jersey . The 20-year-old Pelicans big man glanced up and smiled widely at the well-wishers -- a fitting end to a day he wont soon forget. Davis responded to his selection earlier in the day as a Western Conference All-Star with 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-91 on Friday night. http://www.baseballastrosproshop.com/andy-pettitte-astros-jersey/ . Michell Burger, a woman who lives on an estate next to Pistorius gated community, said she and her husband were awoken by the screams in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14 last year, when Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp by shooting four times through a door in his bathroom. Gerrit Cole Jersey . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. Jake Marisnick Jersey . General manager Jarmo Kekalainen told Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch on Friday that he wants to see Gaboriks contributions go beyond the scoresheet before considering a long-term deal for the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent. This story appears in ESPN The Magazines September 19 NFL Preview II Issue. Subscribe today!IN 1994, WHEN Colin Kaepernick was 7 years old, Congress gave the federal government the power to oversee local police departments. According to The Washington Post, when the Justice Department has exercised this power -- in cities such as LA, Detroit, New Orleans, Baltimore, Ferguson and 20 others that were assigned independent monitors -- it found patterns of excessive-force violations in 64 percent of cases. Now Milwaukee, in such turmoil it once requested government assistance, is the latest under DOJ investigation.The fragile relationship between police and African-Americans is in deep crisis, anecdotally and statistically, and when Kaepernick expressed his awakening by refusing to stand for the national anthem, he and any peers considering similarly expressing themselves learned how society will respond to their citizenship and dissent: by using a playbook of distortion and misdirection as old and predictable as the Packer sweep.For the past two years, after Michael Browns killing in Ferguson gave rise to a volatile America divided by police and protest, the sports machine -- rooted in the structure of black player/white media/white ticket buyer/white owner -- was largely silent. Some prominent black players expressed support for the protesters; virtually no white male players did. With the exception of the Baltimore Orioles, teams have ignored the grief of their large black fan bases and abandoned their historical neutrality on social issues in favor of hero worship of police at the ballpark, supported by a white mainstream that is rarely the target of police aggression.Kaepernick protested, and the reaction was predictable. White athletes and the predominantly white media, once largely silent, finally spoke but said very little about the substance of his dissent. They opted for intimidation by pile-on. Athletes and pundits were canvassed, leaving the likes of Drew Brees and Boomer Esiason -- who have no record of scholarship, interest or knowledge regarding police brutality -- to distort Kaepernicks position into a lazy, pseudo-erudite conversation about patriotism. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson said something while saying nothing. I understand and respect the cause ... but I love the flag, he said, only adding to a false argument designed to reinforce the foundation of thhe establishment.ddddddddddddThe response to Kaepernick was an up-close view of the machine and the powerful components that combine to make it work. He exposed the mainstream impulse to discuss social issues only within boundaries that empower it. On its face, the concept of what the flag stands for is uncomplicated, and pouring Kaepernicks statement through the funnel of patriotism allows the majority to remain on the offensive. It allows a smothering of thought to masquerade as courage, for people to maintain their delusions and lack of knowledge while appearing to be provocative. Too many of Kaepernicks critics know nothing -- and have shown they dont care to know -- about the black community, its relationship with police or the staggering statistics that have driven thousands to the streets.The response also exposes just how thoroughly unprepared the mainstream is to comprehend America through the lens of the black Americans they cheer and work alongside. Real, difficult concepts -- like America not living up to the ideals of its flag (as the Dixie Chicks protested in 2003, to similar backlash), or how police could shoot a 12-year-old child in Cleveland and go unpunished, or how federal oversight of local police was granted in response to officers beating Rodney King when Kaepernick was 3 years old -- are met with hostility and simplistic narratives about patriotism and freedom of speech.This outrage was never intended to consider Kaepernicks politics, but it did serve an important purpose for the machine by allowing his questions of race, class and policing to remain ignored. It allowed the illusion of discussion to isolate the dissenter while reinforcing the authority of an establishment whose calls for healing do not translate into police reform. It allowed players to pander without thinking and created enough backlash and fear -- anonymous quotes from executives have threatened to essentially blackball Kaepernick from the NFL -- to give other dissenters financial pause before protesting.Meanwhile, Laquan McDonald remains without justice, as do Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile and Tamir Rice. The opportunity to understand Kaepernicks worldview is all but gone, replaced by a useless referendum on who loves the flag. ' ' '
