On paper, the thought of potentially making a college basketball team roster should have been exciting, but for the past 24 hours I was going through it. A year earlier I had failed to do the proper paperwork and missed my opportunity to try out as a freshman. I promised myself I wouldn’t make the same mistake again. I spent that entire school year playing five days a week on campus against some quality competition from across the country. St. John’s had some hoopers. There were a lot of dudes on campus that played high school ball and some could have easily played for a low level division I team. For what it’s worth, in this small basketball community of non student-athletes, I was one of the top players.
I was a late bloomer, though. I played in high school, but had only started to find real confidence after my senior year was over. I was 6'3", athletic with a high motor, and highly competitive. What I lacked in fundamentals (which was a lot), I made up for in creativity, finesse, and will power. If there was one word to describe my game at the age of 19 it was, potential.
J. COLE
July 21, 2020
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J. Cole
the audacity
Who am I?
And that’s when I started disassociating myself completely from Ben Gordon. I was convinced that I was a clone. That this body I’m in is not my real body. It can’t be. My spirit is trapped inside this clone body that’s bugging right now.
I created a whole different name for this person. I had a different email address and phone number for him. I was emailing people telling them that I had a different name, like, “Yo — it’s really me. Don’t tell nobody!”
I was compartmentalizing all my trauma and fear and pain like I was doing when I was in the NBA, but the difference is that now there’s no game. There’s no boundaries. There’s no goal. It’s like I took it so far that my body and my soul literally split off and doubled for real.
And I know some people reading this are probably laughing. They think it’s almost funny.
It could never happen to you, right?
You’re normal, right?
You see these people on the street who need help, who are clearly suffering, and you just walk right past them. It’s like they came out the womb that way, right? They’re not like you. You’re different. You’d never end up like that.
Right?
Nah.
Nah.
Mental illness touches everybody. Every community, every person. Either you or somebody you love is going to be touched by it at some point. It’s not like I woke up one morning and I was this quiet, humble NBA dude that nobody thought twice about, and the next morning I woke up and I was bugging the fuck out in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria on some God-complex shit.
BEN GORDON
FEBRUARY 20, 2020
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Ben Gordon
WHERE IS MY MIND?
When we’d walk into a “nice” store — a furniture store, a clothing store — and a salesperson would greet me in the friendliest way, but never even acknowledge Jrue (until they realized we were together, and then they’d become awkwardly polite to him)?? Inside, I’d be furious. But I’d never confront anyone, or make a scene. We’d just take a deep breath and go on with our day.
And when we went to buy a new car and the dealer asked Jrue, straight up, “Are you sure you can afford this?” — furious doesn’t even begin to describe what we were feeling. Jrue wanted to pay for the car in cash, right then and there, to prove a point. I had a different idea: to walk out and not give them a penny of our business. Man….. we were both SO angry when that happened. And we definitely “dealt with it,” in our own personal way. But still — looking back?? We didn’t exactly speak up about it.
And I think that just sort of became the norm for us. Jrue and I have always cared deeply about racial injustice — and fought hard against it. But when we encountered racism on a personal level? Instead of confronting it, we tended to reckon with it privately.
Instead of exposing it, I’d mostly keep it to myself.
And then something happened that I couldn’t keep to myself.
LAUREN HOLIDAY
JuNE 29, 2020
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Lauren Holiday
I’ve Stayed Silent For Too Long
Me and you, every single time we stepped on that floor, we were going to war. But it wasn’t an animosity thing. There was never any beef. It was like heavyweight fighters beating the hell out of one another. And then at the bell, it’s nothing but love and respect. Greatness needs company, and we needed each other. Mike needed Prince like Prince needed Mike. Tyson needed Holyfield like Holyfield needed Tyson.
Everybody needs that person to say, Oh, you’re the sh*t, huh? Well I’m the sh*t, too.
And boy, you were the sh*t. You were the toughest man that I’ve ever seen in this game. The most cold-blooded serial killer I’ve ever seen. The fiercest competitor I’ve ever seen. I remember hearing the story that you were on the road, and you were watching the highlights of me dropping 35 on the Knicks at the Garden our rookie year, and you got so mad that you smashed up the hotel room and you started researching me like you were in the CIA. “GET ME THE FILE ON A.I.” — I bet it was like that. Studying how great white sharks hunt down seals in the Pacific Ocean and whatnot.
What I love about that story is, it’s the truth. That was just our relationship. Two dudes pushing each other to greatness. The next time you came through Philly, you were ALL up in my sh*t. There was no half-stepping you. Every first step, I had to go 100. You’re 6' 6", and it was like you wanted to guard me. You wanted the challenge. You wanted to show me that you were the baddest motherf***er to ever play the game.
And I didn’t want ANY part of Kobe Bryant on the other end!!!!!
Man, hell no!!!!!!
ALLEN IVERSON
AUGUST 24, 2020
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Allen Iverson
DEAR KOBE
All I ever needed to know about Kobe Bryant was this: that throughout our friendship, the most meaningful conversations we had — they were always about family. Put aside one of the all-time great basketball careers for a second. Put aside his famous work ethic, the Mamba mentality, that incredible will to win. I’ll let everyone else tackle that. But when I think of Kobe, I really just end up thinking about those special few personal conversations that we were lucky enough to share together, each time one of us had a new baby daughter. I end up thinking about how, here was this guy who was beyond gifted as an athlete, who was obsessed with being a champion, who was known as an absolute assassin with a ball in his hands. And in the moments I got to spend with him? He didn’t really talk about any of that. He cared much more about being a husband to Vanessa and a dad to his girls. He loved his family — he was his family. That’s what was important.
And that’s the Kobe I’ll remember.
DEREK JETER
JANUARY 27, 2020
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Derek Jeter
KOBE
Do me a favor — go on and look up all the big dynasties in professional sports over these last 25 years.
Michael and Scottie and the Bulls. Brady with the Patriots. Jeter’s Yankees. Shaq and Kobe’s Lakers. Duncan’s Spurs. Steph’s Warriors. LeBron and D-Wade and the Heat. All the big ones. Look them up.
O.K. — now here’s something that’s interesting about those dynasties:
They never won four in a row.
All of those teams, as great (and I mean great) as they were….. they never went back to back to back to back.
Now: Three in a row? That’s been done.
Five, or six, or however many, over however many years? Also been done.
But four in a row??
Nope.
See, four in a row — that would be something legendary. You figure that if a dynasty ever won four straight? You’d be watching movies about them. They’d be airing TV specials and writing books about it and whatnot. You figure, four in a row….. that’s something truly special. That’s immortality right there.
You figure.
Here’s the thing about it, though.
I won four.
We won four.
From 1997 to 2000, the Houston Comets won four consecutive WNBA championships.
Cynthia Cooper-Dyke
NOVEMBER 23, 2020
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Cynthia Cooper-Dyke
I Want My Damn Respect, Too
You see, you do not experience the World Cup as a person. You experience it as a child.
Of all the memories, the one I will never forget is when we were standing in the tunnel before the first match against Australia, waiting to walk out. This is when it hit me, what I was living. I looked over at Ousmane Dembélé and we were just smiling and shaking our heads.
I said, “Look at us. The boy from Évreux. And the boy from Bondy. We are playing at the World Cup.”
He said, “I swear, it’s unbelievable.”
We walked out onto the pitch and felt 65 million people behind us. When I heard La Marseillaise, I could have cried.
It’s interesting to me that so many of us who held the World Cup in our hands that summer grew up in the suburbs. The banlieues. The melting pots. The neighborhoods where you hear a lot of languages walking down the street. The neighborhoods where you shake 15 hands — not 14, not 10, not one.
To the kids in Bondy,
To the kids in Île-de-France,
To the kids in the banlieues,
We are France. You are France.
We are the crazy dreamers. And lucky for us, dreaming doesn’t cost very much.
In fact, it’s free.
KYLIAN Mbappé
FEBRUARY 26, 2020
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Kylian Mbappé
A Letter to the
Young Kylians
Racism in America doesn’t simply affect Black and Brown people. It seeps into American institutions, shows, music, news, sports and minds. We can’t change America’s foundation, but we can reckon with it. Or, we can continue (as we have for hundreds of years) claiming to be the land of the free, when it’s clear that the sentiment only applies to white people.
America is not the land of the free when Black people have to worry that they will be murdered in their sleep like Breonna Taylor. America is not the land of the free when Black people have to worry that a police officer will kneel on their necks for eight minutes and 46 seconds like they did to George Floyd, until the life was choked out of him. America is not the land of the free when Black children can’t play with a toy gun without fear of being murdered like Tamir Rice. America is not the land of the free when Black people have to worry about being hunted down and murdered while out on a jog like Ahmaud Arbery. America is not the land of the free when Black people have to worry about being shot in the back in front of their children like Jacob Blake. America is not the land of the free when Black people’s murderers always go free.
Without justice for all, none of us are free.
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BILL RUSSELL
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020
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Bill Russell
Racism Is Not A
Historical Footnote
I look at these players in the W.
I look at these AMAZING women.
I look at all the Black women in the league, having to make sense of this world we’re living in — and somehow going to work. I look at all the gay women in the league, having to make sense of this world we’re living in, and somehow going to work. I look at all the moms in the league, having to do REAL LIVE PARENTING in this bubble, and somehow going to work.
And by the way: not just going to work. Not just doing their job. Doing a WORLD-CLASS job. Being held to the standard of being the best in the entire-ass world at their job. And then on top of all that: finding the energy to stand for social justice during this time of crisis. Finding the energy to stand up against all of this bullsh*t, and cruelty, and sadness, and loss.
Not on an NBA salary, by the way!!! And not with the NBA’s infrastructure — not even close.
WNBA players are real people, living real lives.
And I think that’s what’s been on my mind, here, most of all. And that’s what I wanted to talk about in this article.
Like — I’m not with the league. I’m not pushing an agenda.
I’m not promoting anything.
I’m just a girl in a Wubble dating her local team’s point guard.
And I’m asking you all the same: Watch the WNBA Finals, please??
Watch these women work.
megan rapinoe
OCTOBER 5, 2020
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Megan Rapinoe
I'VE GOT SOME THINGS TO SAY
I remember in 2010, my rookie year, when Predators GM David Poile sat me down with assistant GM Paul Fenton, team psychologist Gary Solomon, and my parents and told me I had OCD..
They had noticed after picking up on a preflight routine I’d go through at airports….
Before a flight, I had things I needed to do. I had to clean up all the trash around our gate. Every single wrapper, piece of plastic, you name it. Into the trash. Then I had to be the last passenger on the plane, no matter what. Then, finally, I actually had to talk to the pilots. It didn’t have to be about anything specific, but I had to at least talk to them. After I did all that, I felt safe to fly.
It stemmed from a fear of flying I’d had ever since I was a kid — and had grown into this routine. It all revolved around control of the situation. I needed to feel like I had a hand in what was going on.
But at the time I completely discounted what David Poile and everyone else was telling me. I was a 20-year-old living his dream in the NHL. I felt fine, I felt healthy.
There’s no chance I have that, I thought.
I don’t know what would have happened if I had taken that talk more seriously. Which is one of the reasons I want to help those who are facing the same things I did, because I know what it’s like being on the other side of the table. It can be hard to accept what you’re hearing. And I didn’t. I just ignored it and told them I would be fine. I hid myself, and my issues, from everyone.
After that, I basically spent the majority of my career in what I’d call fight-or-flight mode.
COLIN WILSON
OCTOBER 29, 2020
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Colin Wilson
The Things
You Can’t See
Without the Orioles I never would have caught this before it may have been too late. There was really no indication that anything was wrong other than me just feeling a little more tired than normal. Everything that comes up when you google colon cancer? I didn’t have any of it. And so without that second blood test I probably would not have discovered the tumor until I had a total blockage of my colon. Instead, from the day I was diagnosed to when the tumor was removed was just six days — March 6 to March 12.
I have Stage III colon cancer.
I started chemotherapy on April 13.
And I am so lucky.
TREY MANCINI
APRIL 28, 2020
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Trey Mancini
I AM SO LUCKY
We can’t just stick to football. Not as a team. Not as an organization. And we shouldn’t as a country.
My proudest day as a Detroit Lion was the afternoon that we came together as a team and decided that we were going to cancel our practice in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting. We had some extremely difficult conversations. We shared stories. We debated. We cried. We were vulnerable. We were uncomfortable. We were angry. We were everything.
But we went through it all as a team.
As most everyone knows, I haven’t exactly embraced social media over the years. It’s just not me. But I feel like it’s right to take the time to say what’s on my heart as we begin this new season together as a team. And what’s on my heart is that we all need to come together as a country and admit what we know is real. Deep down inside, no matter what political party we support, or what we do for a living, we know what’s real.
Police brutality, white privilege, racism — it’s all real.
It’s time we stop pretending, or defending, or just closing our eyes to what’s right in front of us. We have to listen, and we have to keep having these hard conversations.
MATTHEW STAFFORD
SEPTEMBER 18, 2020
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Matthew Stafford
We Can’t JUST
Stick to Football
Let me tell you a story, and maybe you can relate. It started with a birthday party. (How come it feels like so much drama always happens at birthday parties?!?!)
I was in the fourth grade in Hopkins, South Carolina. A place where the Confederate flag could be seen around every corner. Hanging in restaurants, on bumpers — hell, it flew over the State House. It was just a thing you saw everywhere. When you’re a kid, you don’t really get it. The world is a friendly place, right? You take what people say at face value. Your friends are your friends. You love what you love. It’s all good!
I was always able to learn better in small classrooms. So my parents sent me to this private school called Heathwood. It was probably 10% Black at the time, so most of my friends were white. Didn’t think anything of it. We had our little crew that was inseparable. So then one of my friends’ birthdays rolls around, and it was a whole thing at school. Everyone was like, “Ohmygod, did you hear about so-and-so’s party? I’m so going!”
Then one day, so-and-so pulls me aside and she says, “You’re coming to my party right?”
And I’m like, “Yeah!”
And then she drops the bomb on me. She says, “Well, you might have to stay outside.”
And I’m like, “Outside? What are we talking about, camping? Is it at a camp or something?”
And she’s like, “No, it’s at my house. But my dad doesn’t really like Black people, so….”
It was so matter-of-fact. It wasn’t like one of those Very Special Episodes on Nickelodeon, you know what I mean? It was just … “My dad doesn’t really like Black people.”
So....
I was just staring at her like ... huh?
It didn’t seem real. That’s my friend! It ain’t nothing else! We did everything together.
It was so sad, but so important to learn that lesson at such a young age. Because it was the first time that I realized, Oh, O.K., you’re not just a girl. You’re a Black girl. And some people don’t like you because of that.
A'JA WILSON
July 20, 2020
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A'ja Wilson
DEAR BLACK GIRLS
When the WNBA started the process of organizing the bubble, I paid careful attention to what measures they were putting in place to make it safe. I know how much work went into this, and I know so many people at the league put in crazy hours to protect the players and make it as safe as possible. But the fact of the matter is, I was told that when it came down to it, it would be impossible to keep COVID-19 out of the bubble entirely. And then Florida cases started rising. And even if the bubble is the safest place in Florida.... if I had to go to a hospital, and the hospital was overwhelmed, then what?
I still wanted to play, but I was scared. I talked to my personal physician about what the league planned to do, and he felt it was still too risky.
When the league began reviewing players’ cases to see who should be granted a health exemption from the bubble (meaning the league excuses you from playing, but you don’t have to give up your salary), I didn’t even think it was a question whether I would be exempt or not. I didn’t need a panel of league doctors to tell me that my immune system was high-risk — I’ve played my entire career with an immune system that’s high-risk!!!
I LIVE with an immune system that’s high-risk.
Elena Delle Donne
July 15, 2020
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Elena Delle Donne
An Open Letter
About My Health
It’s 2020, man. That was supposed to be the future, you know what I mean? Growing up, if you said “the year 2020,” that felt like some Star Trek shit. It felt like this endless possibility. But what you realize as you get older is that if you’re a black kid in America, the future….. it just isn’t about possibility like that. You start to notice how many forces there are in place to make sure that 2020 isn’t really all that much different from 2010. Or 2000. Or 1990. Or 1920. You start to understand how the systems of power in this country, they’re not built to create possibility or opportunity for black people — they’re built to lock them out.
America’s systems of power exist to lock in the white status quo.
America’s systems of power exist so that, in 2020, George Floyd can have a knee forced on his neck by a white police officer, by someone whose job it was to serve and protect him, for almost nine minutes in broad daylight — nine minutes in broad daylight — even after he had become unresponsive. America’s systems of power exist so that an acceptable response to a cop killing George Floyd is to make excuses for the cop. America’s systems of power exist so that George Floyd, a black murder victim, can be blamed for his own damn murder.
But you know what crushes me most of all?? It’s how the systems of power in this country are built so strong, and with such prejudice, that in order for white supremacy to flourish — people don’t even have to actively be about white supremacy. They don’t have to carry the burden of being openly racist, or waste their energy on being loudly oppressive. It’s not like that at all.
All they have to do is be silent.
NATASHA CLOUD
MAY 30, 2020
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Natasha Cloud
Your Silence Is A Knee on My Neck
When Bill Peters looked me in the eye in 2009 in our Rockford IceHogs locker room, and said that same word I’d heard in Quebec — over and over in front of me and my teammates just because he didn’t like my choice of music — it was that same familiar feeling.
Surrounded by teammates. Surrounded by the boys. But completely alone.
I felt like I was on the ice in Windsor looking for my teeth.
I felt like I was in Quebec, looking into the stands.
I felt like I was sitting in the kitchen in Kyiv, watching my father cry.
The way he used that word, he completely stripped me of my humanity.
To him, I was nothing.
He made that immensely clear.
AHL coaches have an incredible amount of power. NHL coaches are so busy that I’d be willing to bet that the majority of them barely have time to watch more than five AHL games in a season. So they rely heavily on the word of their minor league coaches about who is playing well and who deserves to be called up. But sometimes, those farm-team coaches wield their power like maniacs. Every team I’ve ever been on, I’ve seen players who have no business being called up go to the next level purely based on their relationship with the coach.
Peters knew that. And it made him invincible in a sense. Jake Dowell, our team captain, confronted him after what he did to me, but there was only so much he could do. I respect Jake for even taking my side and making a stand. But he knew that to have any future in the sport — to make money and support his family — he could only push Peters so far.
And that’s how it went. That’s how it goes for so many players who operate in fear of the hockey machine. Even at the pro level. How many players speak out about any issues? Barely any. Everyone tiptoes around every little thing because they’re petrified about being an outcast. For every player who acts a little different or has any personality whatsoever, whether it’s a Henrik Lundqvist or a David Pastrnak, there are hundreds who look different and whose “quirks” are looked down on by their coaches because they aren’t white. They get told to cut the crap or get lost. So they get lost. And that’s what happened to me.
AKIM ALIU
MAY 19, 2020
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Akim Aliu
Hockey Is Not
For Everyone
Mom.... thank you for everything. I still can’t believe how quickly life goes by. How it’s already been three whole years, almost, since the day that you passed. And how even right now, as I try to finish this letter, it’s only going to be a few more months until that moment we always talked about: when some team calls my name, and announces me as their pick, and officially makes me a part of the NFL.
I’m excited and I’m ready.
I’m ready to take my place within the lineage of elite Ohio State cornerbacks, and proud Ohio State alums. I’m ready to keep challenging myself, to keep grinding for more, to keep working as hard as it takes to accomplish my goals. I’m ready to provide for Karen and for the rest of my future family — to help these next generations of Okudahs reach their full potential, like you helped me reach mine.
But most of all? Looking back, when you left.... I was just a kid. And now I’m ready to be a man.
Now I’m ready for greatness.
I’m ready to be my mother’s son.
Forever and always,
Jeff
jeff okudah
january 2, 2020
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Jeff Okudah
a letter to
my mom
Vince Young is the guy who gets on a plane to Las Vegas the day after the Rose Bowl, walks through the lobby of the MGM Grand, gets escorted to the secret elevator, to the secret floor, to the super-secret BALLERS room — I’m talking the super-secret ICONS suite, the kind of thing you only see in the movies — and he sees some dude eating a plate of food in the corner.
It’s Tiger Woods.
Another dude is sitting on the couch, just chilling.
It’s Derek Jeter.
Later on, another dude comes by.
It’s MJ....
It’s the GOAT, in the flesh....
Tiger says, “Fantastic game, Vince. Fantastic.”
Jeter says, “Phenomenal job, young man....”
Then MJ says, “We were all at the game, Vince. We were all there....”
But this is your last warning, alright?
This story is not about Vince Young.
This is about Bubba.
This is about the Baby Boy.
This is about Vincent.
You never heard this one before.
VINCE YOUNG
FEBRUARY 5, 2020
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Vince Young
What the Hell Happened
to Vince Young?
I’m not usually the kind of guy who does this sort of thing…. I don’t write a lot of articles. But if you f*** with my city, I’m going to speak on it.
So I’m going to take a second here and say my piece.
It’s funny — these kids fly down to places like South Beach for a couple days to party, and they think that’s Miami. But they’ve never seen the real Miami. They’ve never been to Liberty City. They’ve never seen the side of this city that’s living check to check. The side of this city that’s surviving meal to meal.
And let me just tell you something, man — there’s a Liberty City in every city. It’s regular people, with regular struggles. And I don’t know how I can get everyone to listen, but I say this from the bottom of my heart: The people growing up in the real Miami? They’re as vulnerable during this crisis as anybody.
And I’ll tell you one more thing — this idea about those people, that because of this coronavirus they’re going to go hungry? They were already hungry. Way before all this. They were already worrying about where their next meal was gonna come from, or where they’re gonna sleep tonight, or how they’re going to get their next dollar.
And that’s what I need to get off my chest right here. Because it’s been eating me up — to see all this coverage of our city, from all these people who don’t even know what they’re talking about, that’s just focused on a bunch of kids acting stupid.
This ain’t your f***ing beach, bruh.
This is not your spring break.
This shit is real life — and come to think of it, it’s more than even that.
This shit is life and death.
udonis haslem
march 25, 2020
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Udonis Haslem
THE REAL MIAMI
Look, I’m not trying to sell you some happy ending. All I can do is just be as honest as possible about a really dark period in my life.
So here it is.
When I was lying on the floor of the trainer’s room during my anxiety attack back in 2018, it was probably the single scariest moment of my life. I was gasping for air, and my heart was pounding out of my chest, and I really thought that death was a possibility. And I’ll never forget how our trainer, Steve Spiro, he just kept asking, “Kevin, what do you need? What do you need? What do you need?”
What do you need?
That’s the question, isn’t it?
That’s everything.
I spent 29 years trying to figure it out.
What do you need?
For me, I guess what I needed was to talk to somebody.
For me, what I needed was to know that I wasn’t alone.
If you’re struggling right now, I can’t tell you that this is going to be easy.
But I can tell you that it does get better.
And I can tell you that you are definitely not alone.
KEVIN LOVE
SEPTEMBER 17, 2020
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Kevin Love
To AnyBODY
Going Through It
In a year in which so much was taken from all of us, we cannot forget one thing that was given — hope.
Amidst both a global pandemic and a fight against racial injustice, athletes used their platforms to create change and inspire others, and even to share their own struggles.
Everyone has a voice. Every life is worth fighting for. Every story deserves to be told.
Before we close the book on 2020, we take a look back at 20 of our most compelling stories from the year.
No one could have imagined that 2020 would turn out like this.
Design: Ramon Lopez/The Players' Tribune; Photos: Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images (Illustration), Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images (Body)
Design: Becca Estrella/The Players' Tribune; Photos: Getty Images
Design: Sam Maller/The Players' Tribune; Photo: Rob Tringali for The Players' Tribune
Design: Becca Estrella/The Players' Tribune; Photos: Courtesy of J. Cole
Design: Nichole Washington for The Players' Tribune; Photo: LaQuan Sumpter
Design: Abbr. Projects for The Players' Tribune
Design: Becca Estrella/The Players' Tribune; Photo: Darren Carroll
Design: Darren Tolud for The Players' Tribune; Photo: Michael Reaves
Design: Ramon Lopez/The Players' Tribune; Photos: Washington Mystics (Illustration), Rich Von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
Design: Ramon Lopez/The Players' Tribune; Photo: Courtesy of Lauren Holiday
Design: Ramon Lopez/The Players' Tribune; Photo: Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images
Design: Becca Estrella/The Players' Tribune; Photo: Courtesy of Jeff Okudah (Illustration), Justin Casterline/Getty Images (Body)
Design: Becca Estrella/The Players' Tribune; Photo: Courtesy of Trey Mancini
Design: Becca Estrella/The Players' Tribune; Photo: Todd Rosenberg for The Players' Tribune (Illustration), Courtesy of Elena Delle Donne (Body)
Design: Ramon Lopez/The Players' Tribune; Photo: Alysha Clark for The Players' Tribune
Design: Abbr. Projects for The Players' Tribune; Photo: Detroit Lions/AP Images
Design: Abbr. Projects for The Players' Tribune; Photo: Bettman/Getty Images (Illustration), Sam Maller/The Players' Tribune (Body)
Design: Becca Estrella/The Players' Tribune; Photo: Sam Robles/The Players' Tribune (Illustration); Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images (Body)
Design: Patso Dimitrov for The Players' Tribune; Photos: Nathaniel S. Butler/ NBAE via Getty Images, Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images
Design: Ramon Lopez/The Players' Tribune; Photo: Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images
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