The WNBA has fined the Liberty, Mercury and Fever and their players for "wearing black warm up shirts in the wake of recent shootings by and against police officers," according to Doug Feinberg of the AP. All three teams "were fined $5,000 and each player was fined $500." The Liberty have "worn the plain black shirts four times," while the Mercury and Fever "wore them Tuesday night." The shirts were created by adidas -- the official outfitter of the league -- but WNBA rules "state that uniforms may not be altered in any way." The league "sent out a memo earlier this week to the teams reminding them of the uniform policy." That came out after the Lynx, Liberty and Wings "all 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" (AP, 7/21). ESPN Radio 98.7 N.Y.'s Anita Marks called the fines "extremely disappointing." She noted Knicks F Carmelo Anthony "reached out to fellow athletes and said, ‘Do something, make a difference.’" Marks: "They did. And now they are getting financially punished for it? ... I think every WNBA team should come out on the court wearing black with however you want to support this change that needs to happen" (“First Take,” ESPN2, 7/21).
TIME WAS RIGHT FOR A STATEMENT: Fever F Tamika Catchings on Tuesday night said, "We definitely want to pay respect to the cops in Baton Rouge and Dallas. There’s just a lot going on in the world right now. And of course, we stand united in supporting Black Lives Matter. So, we wanted to come out and show our support and win a game.” Catchings added that while league standards on attire "can make things difficult at times, she feels it’s important for players to find respectful ways to express their beliefs for issues and situations important to them" (INDYSTAR,com, 7/20).
