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The Players Coalition has gathered the signatures of more than 1,400 current and retired athletes, coaches, general managers and staff members from the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball, including on a letter to the United States Congress supporting a bill to end qualified immunity, which makes it difficult to sue police officers for brutality. Among the prominent athletes and coaches who signed the letter are Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Carson Wentz, Dak Prescott, Myles Garrett, Alex Bregman, CC Sabathia, Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich. U.S. Representatives Justin Amash, L-Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley, D-Massachusetts, introduced the bill June 4, seeking to eliminate the doctrine of qualified immunity and give Americans a better chance to hold police and other public officials accountable in court, when the citizens believe their constitutional rights are violated.
The sports world remains shut down, but Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, runner-up in the 2019 American League MVP voting, is changing agents because of … LeBron James? The answer is yes, according to four sources with knowledge of Bregman’s thinking.
The involvement of James’ media platform Uninterrupted in a new docuseries on the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal was perhaps not the only reason Bregman left Brodie Scoffield, whose company last month became the baseball arm of James’ agency, Klutch Sports. But the sources said it was an overriding factor — at the very least, the last straw.
Uninterrupted, part of James’ budding media empire, is a separate entity from Klutch. One source, however, said Bregman felt angry and betrayed Scoffield put him in a position in which a fellow Klutch client — the biggest star in the NBA — would help develop a series focusing on the darkest moment of his career.
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James created Uninterrupted as an athlete empowerment brand with his longtime friend and business partner, Maverick Carter. The company is partnering with The Cinemart to produce the Astros’ series, tentatively titled, “Sign Language,” on Quibi, a short-form content platform. Bregman, whose move first was reported on Twitter by Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, is in the process of interviewing other agencies. He might end up selecting a company that represents players who were critical of the Astros for illegally stealing signs during the 2017 and ’18 seasons — just as James was critical of the team in February.
Competitors in the #PlayApartTogether tournament will duke it out over games like "Fortnite," "Rocket League," "NBA 2K20," and "FIFA 20," among others. Viewers will be able to track participants, brackets, and standings throughout the tournament using Facebook Gaming's recently launched tournaments tool. During each tournament stream, viewers will also be able to donate money to the United Nations Foundation's COVID-19 fundraiser for the WHO via Facebook donation tools. The list of competitors includes: Andre Drummond, Dwight Howard, and JaVale McGee from the NBA; Justin Herbert, Christian McCaffrey, Joe Burrow, and Jarvis Landry of the NFL; the WWE's Ron "The Truth" Killings; Alex Bregman and Lance McCullers of the MLB; PGA golfer Bryson DeChambeau; and influencer Jen Selter.
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