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TORONTO -- When the Toronto Raptors first gathered for training camp, Dwane Casey knew his players wanted to talk about more than basketball.Racial tension was simmering in the United States. Images of police brutality had gone viral. National anthem protests were spreading.The coach was moved by what his players said.Terrence Ross, who everyone thought was really quiet, had some very thoughtful and impactful statements and thoughts on the whole issue that you would never think, Casey said. I was really proud of the way our players had opinions and had thought them out, very respectful yet thought-provoking statements that they made.If athletes, with their legions of fans, are in a unique position to speak up, Casey is all for it.The 59-year-old coach was raised by his grandparents in Morganfield, Kentucky. The town was largely segregated until an effort at integration, when he was in fourth grade, forced him to ride a bus across town to school. He went on to become one of the first black players at the University of Kentucky.Ive lived it, I know it, I know how (the players) are feeling, what theyre going through, what theyre seeing, Casey told The Canadian Press after a recent practice. Ive told them, `Hey Ive been through segregation. Ive changed schools where Ive had to fight, and the National Guard was brought in. Ive used hand-me-down books in school. Ive seen police brutality. Ive seen the Ku Klux Klan riding through my town of Morganfield. Ive seen the segregated bathrooms.The Raptors played the first game of the NBAs preseason in Vancouver, British Columbia, and became the first team in the league to protest during the anthem. They stood with linked arms and have done so in every game since. They open the season at home Wednesday night against Detroit Pistons.Not everyone was a fan of the gesture.Some people got upset because they thought it was disrespecting the police, Casey said. But, believe me, its no disrespect to the police force. As a matter of fact, (guard) Delon Wrights mother is a police officer, and we were very cognizant of that and respectful of that.Its just to continue the conversation. I would argue those incidents needed to be talked about, and what better way for society to understand it than through sports?About three-quarters of NBA players are black. The league is considered the most progressive of North American pro sports. The league moved the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte to New Orleans over a North Carolina bathroom law that discriminated against transgender people.Commissioner Adam Silver said last week he hopes players continue to stand for the national anthem, but said there may be no organization in our society better positioned than the NBA to make an impact.NBA players have waded into the U.S. presidential race. LeBron James endorsed Hillary Clinton in an op-ed piece in the Akron Beacon Journal and Business Insider, referencing the violence, of every kind, the African-American community is experiencing in our streets and seeing on our TVs.Baron Davis wrote a column for the Players Tribune last week called Do Something, encouraging players to vote.I tell my players `Get your absentee ballots, and vote, Casey said. I remember my grandparents talking about when African-Americans couldnt vote. Or they tried to make it hard for them to vote.So that is a privilege a lot of people fought for, you went to jail for. Everyone should vote. Thats your way of showing power as an individual. We can protest, but the only way you fight stuff like that is through voting. Using your right to vote.Wholesale Fake NBA Jerseys . 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Hazard cut in from the left and scored with a swerving right-footed shot for ninth goal of the season, which proved to be enough for the victory despite Chelseas forwards again lacking a cutting edge up front.KNOXVILLE, Tenn. --?Pat Summitt was remembered as a loving mother, a loyal friend and a tireless fighter as well as a champion coach Thursday in a public ceremony honoring the person who built the Tennessee womens basketball dynasty.She was the epitome of what being great is all about, said Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings, one of the dozens of former Lady Volunteers who paid respects to Summitt at a Celebration of Life ceremony at Thompson-Boling Arena.Catchings later added that this is not a goodbye, but until we meet again.The ceremony at Thompson-Boling Arena gave the public a chance to honor Summitt, who won eight national titles and a Division I record 1,098 games in her 38-year tenure.A private funeral was held June 30, two days after Summitt died at the age of 64.The list of speakers included recently retired quarterback Peyton Manning, a former Tennessee football star who called Summitt someone who literally changed history.Manning said the only pieces of sports memorabilia he keeps in his office are two basketballs Summitt signed for his children.Manning discussed visiting Summitt late in her fight against Alzheimers disease, when she couldnt remember Mannings name. He talked about attending Summitts private funeral and hearing from former Lady Vols star Chamique Holdsclaw, who told him that even as Summitts memory faded, the coach still could point to the screen when one of Mannings games or commercials aired on television and would say, Thats my friend who comes to visit me. There goes my friend.Pat Summitt didnt just change the history of Tennessee basketball or made this arena known well beyond the borders of this state, Manning said.She changed the history of the sport she loved -- and of sports in general. She almost singlehandedly made womens sports relevant well beyond mothers, daughters, sisters and grandmothers.Thursdays event attracted Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and a star-studded list of womens basketball coaches that included Connecticuts Geno Auriemma, who served as Summitts greatest rival.They were among several thousand spectators to honor Summitt at an arena where she orchestrated some of her greatest victories. The stage for Thursdays event included each of the Lady Vols eight national championship trophies plus a stool and whistle used by Summitt, who coached Tennessee from 1974 to 2012.Fans withstood an afternoon downpour as they waited to enter the arena. The distance traveled by many of them underscored the way Summitt built Lady Vols basketball into a national brand.Patti Stephen drove more than 700 miles from Teaneck, New Jersey, to pay her final respects. She packed a luunch in her car and arrived on campus more than seven hours before the start of the ceremony to make sure she got a seat in the arena.ddddddddddddIve been a Lady Vol fan for a long time, and it felt like I just needed to be here, said Stephen, who wore a T-shirt, hat and a set of bracelets bearing the message We Back Pat.Speakers included Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts, current Tennessee coach Holly Warlick and former Lady Volunteers assistant Mickie DeMoss as well as Summitts son, Tyler Summitt.For or all of us that in some way have been influenced by Pat Summitt, she wouldnt just want us to remember her example, Tyler Summitt said. ?She would want us to go out and follow it. So lets not just celebrate her legacy. Lets carry it on.The ceremony had plenty of somber moments.A videotape that aired during the event showed Warlick and former Lady Vols guard Michelle Brooke-Marciniak in tears as they described what Summitt had meant to them. The event opened with a bagpipe rendition of Amazing Grace.Tyler told me thats his moms favorite song, Roberts said. How appropriate. Two words that describe her (so well): Amazing. Grace.But it also included some laughter. Shelley Sexton-Collier, who played on Tennessees 1987 national championship team, joked that she thought she was playing for Tennessees cross country team because Summitt made them run so often. Warlick talked about how Summitt loved to drive fast and talk her way out of speeding tickets.Warlick also had the crowd break into a rendition of Rocky Top as the arenas video screens showed a tape of Summitt singing that song while wearing a cheerleader uniform before a Tennessee mens basketball game.The list of womens basketball coaches at the ceremony featured Stanfords Tara VanDerveer, North Carolinas Sylvia Hatchell, South Carolinas Dawn Staley, Notre Dames Muffet McGraw, Baylors Kim Mulkey, Rutgers C. Vivian Stringer, former Georgia coach Andy Landers and former Texas coach Jody Conradt among others.Also in attendance were current SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, former SEC commissioners Mike Slive and Roy Kramer, Tennessee football coach Butch Jones, Duke football coach David Cutcliffe and former Tennessee football coaches Phillip Fulmer and Johnny Majors.They came to honor everything Summitt achieved off the court as well as on it.The real accomplishment of Pats life is this -- you won 1,098 games and eight national championships, and what people talk about in the end is its not about how much you win but how much you did for others, said DeMoss, now an LSU assistant. ' ' '