INDIANAPOLIS -- When I was younger, like a lot of folks, I spoke out on anything I had a strong opinion about -- even when it would have been best to just keep my mouth shut.As I got older, I became more diplomatic. More thoughtful. More calculating. There are times when the best thing to say really is nothing. Not everything is worth arguing over.Also because you realize no matter what you say, the vast majority of your fellow humans arent listening and dont care anyway. I dont mean to sound defeatist. Its just that I think with age comes a kind of resignation that, to a degree, were all shouting into the wind.But you know what? Even if thats all Im doing -- shouting into the endless, howling hurricane that is the Internet -- I support the WNBA players who kneeled during the national anthem at Wednesdays Indiana-Phoenix game. And?all the leagues players who are speaking out and peacefully protesting the mistreatment of black citizens in this country. Like other athletes who are doing this, they hope to spark not just dialogue, but substantive changes that are necessary.WNBA players are among the best-educated and most worldly professional athletes I have encountered. Most of them have spent a lot of time playing overseas, and they care very deeply about many issues. The Black Lives Matter movement and the overall topic of racial injustice is not some kind of fad, or a chance to show off as some ridiculously accuse.Ive covered the WNBA since its inception in 1997, and womens basketball since I was a college freshman in 1984. Ive spent most of my adult life writing about female athletes, and a large percentage of those women have been black.There have been times when Ive questioned if I was always the right person to do some stories Ive done. Not because I didnt care enough or wasnt invested enough. But because I wondered if my life experience was such that I might not have been the person that black women related to well enough to fully share their lives.I grew up in a very small town in Missouri, and went to a high school of about 800 total students, probably 98 percent of them white. Heck, it might have been 99 percent. I went to Mizzou in the 1980s, where it was not uncommon to have entire classrooms of white students every day. I dont recall working with any black journalists at the student newspaper.The black students I knew mostly were athletes. I admired them, and I really liked talking with them. But I wasnt sure how well I was truly getting to know them. I wondered, Do they trust me? Do they think Im fair to them? Do they think I understand them?All these years later, I sometimes still ask myself those questions. But Im so grateful and thankful that Ive been able to tell their stories of winning and losing, of peaks and valleys, of great joy and, unfortunately, some deep sorrows.Heres the bottom line: There would not be a WNBA -- and I wouldnt have this career -- if it were not for the toil, the strength, the ability and the courage of black women. So what they care about, I care about. What they worry about is a concern to me. When they speak, I listen. Its my job, but its also at the very core of why I wanted to do the job in the first place.Yes, were all human beings, and to an extent share the same experiences. But race continues to be a factor in how many people are treated, how they live and how they feel they are perceived.I dont pretend I can know exactly what its like to walk in anothers footsteps, but I can empathize. Such as when a player like Phoenixs Kelsey Bone, who kneeled Wednesday, said that she worries about her father, her brothers, her uncles, her cousins, her friends.What happens if I get a phone call? she said. If one of them is next?Many WNBA players have had these concerns all their lives, and they have reached a point where they cant stay silent. Or as Phoenixs Mistie Bass, who also kneeled Wednesday, put it, My heart was just too heavy to stand today. I did this to say, Enough is enough. I think people are starting to see athletes coming together of all races.Even if the WNBAs platform isnt nearly as big as, say, an NFL platform, the fact that you see a team do like Indiana did -- kneel all at once -- thats powerful.Bass was not critical of those of her teammates who did not kneel. She spoke passionately about her support for law enforcement, and that this is not an attack on police, or the military, or the flag, or patriotism.I understand what shes saying, and it totally makes sense to me. But on topics like this, emotions run incredibly high, to say the least. There will be those who condemn the WNBA players for their actions, or mock them by saying nobody cares about the league, or both.Im not going to change those minds, or even dent them. Thats not the point.But just as you figure out when its best to stay quiet, you also figure out when it really matters to say something. I support what the WNBA players are doing, and I respect their choices -- those who decided to kneel, and those who didnt -- because I respect them as caring, intelligent people who are trying to make the world a better place for everyone. Vans Old Skool Scontate . I cant pinpoint a date, but I do remember a player from my youth. Brian Downing was with the Chicago White Sox at a time when I listened to every game I possibly could on the radio. That particular season the late great Harry Caray was calling the White Sox games. Air Max 270 Prezzo Basso . The team said Saturday that Lopez was hurt during its 121-120 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday. The Nets said they would issue another update next week after consultation with their doctors. http://www.scontateoutletairmax.it/air-max-97-economiche.html . Miller finished in two minutes, 6.09 seconds, one day before the first medal race on the Alpine schedule. The 36-year-old American also turned in the top time in Thursdays opening training session. Nike Air Force 1 Nere Scontate . Ferrer, trying to win his fourth title on Mexican soil, will next play South Africas Kevin Anderson, who eliminated American Sam Querrey,7-6 (2), 6-4. 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NORFOLK, Va. -- Greg Hankerson threw for 151 yards and two touchdowns to help Norfolk State beat Division II-member Elizabeth City 20-12 on Sunday night in a season opener pushed back due to weather.George Wahee caught his first career pass and scored from 12 yards out to give Norfolk State a 20-12 lead with 2:50 left in the third quarter.The Spartans held Elizabeth City scoreless in the second half to snap a 12-game nonconference losing streak.Quintreil Chung gave Norfolk State a 7-0 lead on a 3-yard TD run. After Elizabeth City scored on Daquan Neals short run late in the first quarterr, James Church caught a 7-yard TD pass from Hankerson for a 14-6 lead.ddddddddddddElizabeth City pulled to 14-12 just before halftime on Daquan Neals 29-yard TD catch from Victor Tabbs.The 57th all-time meeting between the teams was originally scheduled for Saturday but was postponed due to inclement weather from storm system Hermine. It was their first meeting since 1996, which was the Spartans last season in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. ' ' '