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Marc J. Spears: The Hawks say the Pope wanted to acknowledge the stand #NBA players took in support of #BLM. Vatican reached out 1/7 asking for MLK Hawks jerseys the Pope could pray a blessing over on MLK Day. Pope also met with 5 players November praising their fight against social injustice. pic.twitter.com/N41r8Dr1MV
The Hawks say the Pope wanted to acknowledge the stand #NBA players took in support of #BLM. Vatican reached out 1/7 asking for MLK Hawks jerseys the Pope could pray a blessing over on MLK Day. Pope also met with 5 players November praising their fight against social injustice. pic.twitter.com/N41r8Dr1MV
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) January 15, 2021
Mark Berman: #Rockets G Sterling Brown was among a group of players&NBPA officials who met w/the Pope at the Vatican last month to discuss social justice issues. Sterling is hopeful that meeting will make a difference:”That’s the goal-is to make progress.That was 1 of the steps that was taken” pic.twitter.com/07L8eTaFgp
In an unprecedented meeting, a delegation of five NBA players and several officials from the National Basketball Players Association are at the Vatican on Monday morning for a private audience with Pope Francis to discuss their work on social justice issues. An intermediary for Pope Francis reached out to the players' association last week indicating the Pope wanted to learn more about how players had recently brought attention to pressing social justice issues and economic inequality -- and what they planned for the future, union officials told ESPN. The union agreed and quickly scheduled an overnight flight Sunday to make their private meeting with the pope, which began at 11:45 a.m. local time Monday morning at the Vatican. With training camp set to open on Dec. 1, players and union officials had to squeeze the trip in now.
James Pallotta, president of the soccer team AS Roma and a minority owner of the Celtics, presented a Celtics jersey to Pope Francis at the Vatican Wednesday. Pallotta was there to represent Roma in the Coppa Italia, a match pitting the team against city rival Lazio. The Pope was given Roma gear but also a Celtics jersey with the No. 1 and "The Pope" written on the back. Can banner No. 18 be far behind?
The former Los Angeles Lakers player Vlade Divac was thrilled to meet with the Swiss Guard to discuss sports and learn about their work at the Vatican. “I was very excited to be here, and they have a basketball team here with very tall people,” the 7-foot, 1-inch Divac joked in the Swiss Guard's barracks.
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If you're one of many who believe Dennis Rodman, the self-appointed ambassador to North Korea and now Vatican City, really needs to find his way back home, how do you suppose the family he abandoned feels? They haven't seen their "son" in ages, or roughly 57 tattoos ago. "The truth is," said Pat Rich, her slow Midwestern drawl dripping with sadness, "we don't hear from him anymore. And I don't know why. There hadn't been anything that happened between us. We hadn't done anything to him. I've tried to reach out and tell him we still love him, always loved him and for him to come see us. It's like we don't exist anymore. He simply forgot about us. He don't contact us no more."
Emiliano Carchia: Dennis Rodman is really in Rome, just outside Vatican City pic.twitter.com/Z6ydba3SJd
In the offseason, Okafor visited the Vatican, sampled restaurants in Italy personally recommended by his pal Mario Batali, stopped by the Great Wall of China and was amazed by the architecture in Shanghai. “He’s someone you can talk to about anything,” said Ed Tapscott, the Wizards’ director of player programs and the former president of the Charlotte Bobcats, the team that made Okafor the No. 2 overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft.
The deal to bring back to Italy and Virtus Roma, Andrea Bargnani is done. But the owner of the Italian team, Claudio Toti, did not say YES yet. The biggest problem is ethic. In a country where Vatican has big influence in any aspect of life (politics included), having as sponsor AshleyMadison.com, a website who promotes infidelity, is not easy. And Vatican City is also next to Virtus Roma facilities (the arena where the team is playing is also the main gym of the club).
Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers was sitting next to Celtics general manager Danny Ainge when he said talk of his departure from the team was blown out of proportion. "I wish he'd told me that,'' Ainge interjected. "I lost sleep.'' After The Finals, it was like Waiting for Godot as both coaches took their time before officially announcing they would return for next season. Finally last week, with the anticipation of white smoke billowing out of a Vatican chimney to announce a new pope, word came that both Rivers and the Lakers' Phil Jackson will return. Even though Ainge and others were hanging by fish wire, wondering if Rivers would return, he shrugged off the two-week stretch when there was uncertainty after The Finals concluded June 17. "It was really no different than any other year,'' Rivers said in an interview with FanHouse at the Air Tran Orlando Pro Summer League. "It was a much bigger deal made about it than it was. It's what we do every year. We (his family) go home and relax and we sit around.''
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