Jay Connor – Page 96 – The Root

Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude

Brandon Ingram Wins 2019-20 NBA Most Improved Player Award Over Bam Adebayo and NBA Twitter Has Questions

Heading into the 2019-20 NBA season, there were plenty of questions about New Orleans Pelicans star Brandon Ingram. Could he stay healthy? Could all that tantalizing potential finally translate into consistent play? Was he worth a max contract? The 22-year-old responded with a career year in which he averaged 24.3 points, 6.3 boards, 4.3 assists…

By

Jay Connor

Published

September 1, 2020
Donald Trump Blasts Black Lives Matter as 'Discriminatory,' 'Bad for Black People' Because of Course, He Did

Kids are a lot of work. They get into everything, have limitless curiosity and oftentimes have to be saved from themselves. If it were up to a child, they’d eat ice cream for breakfast, Skittles for lunch and skip dinner entirely to watch reruns of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. They’re well-intended though, so their cuteness might…

By

Jay Connor

Published

September 1, 2020
NBA, NBPA Announce Social Justice Initiatives; NBA Playoffs to Resume on Saturday

It’s official: the NBA playoffs will resume on Saturday. Per ESPN, the league will also work with its players on a number of initiatives centered on social justice, police reform and other important issues impacting our communities. “These commitments follow months of close collaboration around designing a safe and healthy environment to restart the NBA…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 28, 2020
Twitter Sets Former NFL Star Brian Urlacher Straight After He Comes for Jacob Blake

Social media is a graveyard for common sense. It’s also a cesspool of bigotry, fallacies and white supremacist rhetoric that endangers the lives of those we hold dear. In a past life, NFL Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher—which is Wakandan for “this man is about to get dragged”—was a force of nature; a six-foot, six-inch…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 28, 2020
Mets, Marlins Walk Off the Field After Honoring Jackie Robinson With 42-Second Moment of Silence

On Thursday night, when the Miami Marlins and New York Mets expressed their intention to play, despite plenty of other MLB teams opting to strike in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake, it raised eyebrows. Then shortly after taking the field, this happened: If you would’ve told me at least four of five…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 28, 2020
After Bringing the Sports World to a Standstill, NBA Players Agree to Resume Playoffs

After refusing to play, and forcing the entire world to focus its attention on Sunday’s police shooting of Jacob Blake instead, NBA players have reversed course and now agree to resume the NBA playoffs. On Wednesday, The Root reported that something unprecedented occurred: fed up with the mistreatment of Black people in America, the Milwaukee…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 27, 2020
Jermaine Dupri, Bakari Sellers Strive to Engage Black Male Voters With Shop Talk

It’s a simple equation that becomes more and more urgent by the day: Black women notoriously hold it down in elections, but if Joe Biden is going to emerge triumphant in November, he’s gonna need Black men to show up and show out at the polls—the same way we did for Barak Obama in 2008…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 27, 2020
Because Police Refuse to Stop Shooting Unarmed Black People, We Now Live In a World Without Professional Sports

I had no intention of watching the game. As a lifelong fan of the Orlando Magic—I still have nightmares of my Dad chasing me around the house with a broom after we got swept in the 1995 NBA Finals—I wanted no parts of the inevitable coup de grâce that would be Wednesday’s Game 5 against…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 27, 2020
I Ain't One to Gossip, but Word on the Street Is That the Celtics and Raptors Might Boycott Their Game on Thursday

Since the NBA resumed play in July, we’ve seen protests, demonstrations and players have been extremely vocal about a multitude of issues that impact our communities. But one thing we haven’t seen is players outright refuse to play games in the name of social justice. And with tensions boiling after 29-year-old Jacob Blake was ruthlessly…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 26, 2020
Detroit Lions Cancel Practice to Protest the Police Shooting of Jacob Blake: 'Football Isn’t Important Today'

“Practice?! We talking bout Practice!” In 2002, Allen Iverson’s infamous rant reverberated throughout every corner of the sports stratosphere. “Not the game, but we’re talking about practice, man. I mean, how silly is that?” At the time, Iverson came off as a malcontent for undermining the necessity of being properly prepared for the game at…

By

Jay Connor

Published

August 26, 2020

Menace to supremacy. Senior Edior at The Root. Consultant and friendly neighborhood NDA signee elsewhere else. Impatiently waiting for y’all to stop putting sugar in grits.