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THE UNDEFEATED
Sports Five things to know about James Madison’s star pitcher Odicci Alexander. Alexander, now 2-0 in the Women’s College World Series, was a three-sport star in high school FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT JAMES MADISON’S STAR PITCHERAUTHOR: JERRYBEMBRY
Women's College World Series Five things to know about James Madison’s star pitcher Odicci Alexander. Alexander, now 2-0 in theWomen’s College
HOW THREE SURVIVORS OF THE TULSA RACE MASSACRE CONTINUE TO At 106 years old, Lessie Benningfield Randle is pleading for anyone to listen. To listen to the pain and heartbreak of what happened 100 years ago in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. To HBCU OLYMPIANS FROM THE PAST HBCU Olympians from the past. These trailblazers ran ahead to clear the way for others. Running the anchor leg, American Wilma Rudolphcrosses the
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BILLIE HOLIDAY DESERVES BETTER Billie Holiday sings “Fine and Mellow” on Jan. 1, 1943. Holiday died of heart failure in 1959. “I don’t care what they say about Aretha,” he said. “She can be hiding out in her house HALF OF BLACK ADULTS SAY THEY WON’T TAKE A CORONAVIRUS A national poll of Black opinion. Read more stories in this series.. Half of Black adults are not planning to take a coronavirus vaccine once one becomes available, even if scientists declare it HOW HBCUS ARE USING MORE THAN $250 MILLION IN DONATIONS Scott, a philanthropist, author and former wife of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, donated nearly $1.7 billion to 116 organizations, including six HBCUs, in July. Howard received $40 million, and HOW CORONAVIRUS COMPARES TO MRSA The truth is that neither the coronavirus nor MRSA is the last of the sports outbreaks. The microbes that affect us are much like the athletes whom we admire: adaptable, clever, able to succeed inTHE UNDEFEATED
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Women's College World Series Five things to know about James Madison’s star pitcher Odicci Alexander. Alexander, now 2-0 in theWomen’s College
HOW THREE SURVIVORS OF THE TULSA RACE MASSACRE CONTINUE TO At 106 years old, Lessie Benningfield Randle is pleading for anyone to listen. To listen to the pain and heartbreak of what happened 100 years ago in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. To HBCU OLYMPIANS FROM THE PAST HBCU Olympians from the past. These trailblazers ran ahead to clear the way for others. Running the anchor leg, American Wilma Rudolphcrosses the
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SE'QUOIA ALLMOND
Texas Southern, Norfolk State get their chance to show they belong in NCAA tourney. By Jerry Bembry. From founder to friend: How Paul Brock connected generations through the National Association MEET ANTONIO DIKELE DISTEFANO, THE NEW ITALIAN SUPERHERO Its screenwriter and creator, Antonio Dikele Distefano, is the 28-year-old wunderkind of Angolan parents, who grew up in the NorthernItalian city of
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Women's College World Series Five things to know about James Madison’s star pitcher Odicci Alexander. Alexander, now 2-0 in theWomen’s College
HOW THREE SURVIVORS OF THE TULSA RACE MASSACRE CONTINUE TO At 106 years old, Lessie Benningfield Randle is pleading for anyone to listen. To listen to the pain and heartbreak of what happened 100 years ago in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. To HBCU OLYMPIANS FROM THE PAST HBCU Olympians from the past. These trailblazers ran ahead to clear the way for others. Running the anchor leg, American Wilma Rudolphcrosses the
HOW ONE PASTOR IS COMFORTING HIS MEMBERS DURING THE COVID 1. How one pastor is comforting his members during the COVID-19 pandemic. By Seth Osei. 2. Howard University renames College of Fine Arts after Chadwick Boseman. By WHY WERE HBCU PLAYERS SHUT OUT OF 2021 NFL DRAFT? The arrival of COVID-19 wiped out the chances for HBCU prospects to showcase their talents. A year later, with the pandemic having shutdown
SE'QUOIA ALLMOND
Texas Southern, Norfolk State get their chance to show they belong in NCAA tourney. By Jerry Bembry. From founder to friend: How Paul Brock connected generations through the National Association MEET ANTONIO DIKELE DISTEFANO, THE NEW ITALIAN SUPERHERO Its screenwriter and creator, Antonio Dikele Distefano, is the 28-year-old wunderkind of Angolan parents, who grew up in the NorthernItalian city of
HOW JAY Z AND AN ‘ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’ ACTOR BROUGHT Television How Jay Z and an ‘Orange Is The New Black’ actor brought Kalief Browder’s story to the screen. A new documentary series reveals the rot and ruin running through NYC’s Rikers ASIA NEWSON HAS A BUSINESS THAT’S LITERALLY LIT Asia Newson has a business that’s literally lit. This 13-year-old entrepreneur from Detroit is the co-founder and CEO of Super Business Girl. Asia Newson was just 5 years old when she watched THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON I TOOK FROM CLARENCE WILLIAMS Clarence Williams III was an actor’s actor whose career spanned seven decades across multiple genres and stages. On June 4, he died atthe age of
THIS NBA SEASON FORMAT GUARANTEES MORE MUST-SEE GAMES 2021 NBA Playoffs This NBA season format guarantees more must-see games, drama and fun for fans. New strategies are needed because the season is too long and competitiveness is ‘IT’S HER TIME RIGHT NOW’: CLARESSA SHIELDS HAS LOFTY Claressa Shields often gets emotional when a conversation leads to her greatest inspiration: her late grandmother, Joanne Adams. It was Adams’ support that HOW MARCUS MORRIS GOT A LIFT FROM BROTHER MARKIEFF IN 2021 NBA Playoffs How Marcus Morris got a lift from brother Markieff in Clippers’ Game 7 win. The Clippers forward had an epic shooting night with support from his twin HOW THE NBA CONQUERED COVID-19 The fact that COVID-19 is a small part of the current NBA conversation is a testament to the success of the NBA bubble. Nearing the end of the season, there have been no outbreaks of COVID-19 WHY WERE HBCU PLAYERS SHUT OUT OF 2021 NFL DRAFT? The arrival of COVID-19 wiped out the chances for HBCU prospects to showcase their talents. A year later, with the pandemic having shutdown
BILLIE HOLIDAY DESERVES BETTER Billie Holiday sings “Fine and Mellow” on Jan. 1, 1943. Holiday died of heart failure in 1959. “I don’t care what they say about Aretha,” he said. “She can be hiding out in her house HALF OF BLACK ADULTS SAY THEY WON’T TAKE A CORONAVIRUS A national poll of Black opinion. Read more stories in this series.. Half of Black adults are not planning to take a coronavirus vaccine once one becomes available, even if scientists declare it HOW HBCUS ARE USING MORE THAN $250 MILLION IN DONATIONS Scott, a philanthropist, author and former wife of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, donated nearly $1.7 billion to 116 organizations, including six HBCUs, in July. Howard received $40 million, and HOW CORONAVIRUS COMPARES TO MRSA The truth is that neither the coronavirus nor MRSA is the last of the sports outbreaks. The microbes that affect us are much like the athletes whom we admire: adaptable, clever, able to succeed inTHE UNDEFEATED
Visit The Undefeated to get news and commentary that explores the intersections of race, sports, culture and more. FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT JAMES MADISON’S STAR PITCHER Women's College World Series Five things to know about James Madison’s star pitcher Odicci Alexander. Alexander, now 2-0 in theWomen’s College
HOW THREE SURVIVORS OF THE TULSA RACE MASSACRE CONTINUE TO At 106 years old, Lessie Benningfield Randle is pleading for anyone to listen. To listen to the pain and heartbreak of what happened 100 years ago in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. To TENNIS WORLD NEEDS TO CHECK ITSELF AFTER NAOMI OSAKA PULLS In 1989, I was a third grader at Washington International School at the Olive Street campus across town in Georgetown. To that point in life there were two things I knew about the world outside of HOW ONE PASTOR IS COMFORTING HIS MEMBERS DURING THE COVID 1. How one pastor is comforting his members during the COVID-19 pandemic. By Seth Osei. 2. Howard University renames College of Fine Arts after Chadwick Boseman. By ‘ANOTHER ACT’: JODIE TURNER-SMITH ON HER ROLE IN MICHAEL BCLICK TOVIEW
‘Another Act’: Jodie Turner-Smith on her role in Michael B. Jordan’s film ‘Without Remorse’ She also discusses her expandingfilm career
GETTING TO THE TRUTH ABOUT GEORGE FLOYD’S CAUSE OF DEATH The moment of truth has arrived in the Derek Chauvin murder trial: testimony about what caused the death of George Floyd. But like several other aspects of the case, truth can be distorted by the NUMBER OF BLACK FRONT-OFFICE EXECUTIVES IN THE NBA IS ON More black executives are getting an opportunity in the NBA, a league where most of the players look like them. The most recent example: The Sacramento Kings hired Brandon D. HOW FAKE NEWS LED DYLANN ROOF TO MURDER NINE PEOPLE How fake news led Dylann Roof to murder nine people. Misinformation, lies and propaganda on the internet have taken hate speech to a whole new level. Police tape surrounds the parking lot behind TATTOO ARTIST STEVE WIEBE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A LOT OF INK Tattoo artist Steve Wiebe is responsible for a lot of ink on the court. The Canadian tattoo artist has a list of star-studded clientele, including KD, DeAndre Jordan and Future. A bbotsford has aTHE UNDEFEATED
Visit The Undefeated to get news and commentary that explores the intersections of race, sports, culture and more. FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT JAMES MADISON’S STAR PITCHER Women's College World Series Five things to know about James Madison’s star pitcher Odicci Alexander. Alexander, now 2-0 in theWomen’s College
HOW THREE SURVIVORS OF THE TULSA RACE MASSACRE CONTINUE TO At 106 years old, Lessie Benningfield Randle is pleading for anyone to listen. To listen to the pain and heartbreak of what happened 100 years ago in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. To TENNIS WORLD NEEDS TO CHECK ITSELF AFTER NAOMI OSAKA PULLS In 1989, I was a third grader at Washington International School at the Olive Street campus across town in Georgetown. To that point in life there were two things I knew about the world outside of HOW ONE PASTOR IS COMFORTING HIS MEMBERS DURING THE COVID 1. How one pastor is comforting his members during the COVID-19 pandemic. By Seth Osei. 2. Howard University renames College of Fine Arts after Chadwick Boseman. By ‘ANOTHER ACT’: JODIE TURNER-SMITH ON HER ROLE IN MICHAEL BCLICK TOVIEW
‘Another Act’: Jodie Turner-Smith on her role in Michael B. Jordan’s film ‘Without Remorse’ She also discusses her expandingfilm career
GETTING TO THE TRUTH ABOUT GEORGE FLOYD’S CAUSE OF DEATH The moment of truth has arrived in the Derek Chauvin murder trial: testimony about what caused the death of George Floyd. But like several other aspects of the case, truth can be distorted by the NUMBER OF BLACK FRONT-OFFICE EXECUTIVES IN THE NBA IS ON More black executives are getting an opportunity in the NBA, a league where most of the players look like them. The most recent example: The Sacramento Kings hired Brandon D. HOW FAKE NEWS LED DYLANN ROOF TO MURDER NINE PEOPLE How fake news led Dylann Roof to murder nine people. Misinformation, lies and propaganda on the internet have taken hate speech to a whole new level. Police tape surrounds the parking lot behind TATTOO ARTIST STEVE WIEBE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A LOT OF INK Tattoo artist Steve Wiebe is responsible for a lot of ink on the court. The Canadian tattoo artist has a list of star-studded clientele, including KD, DeAndre Jordan and Future. A bbotsford has a THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON I TOOK FROM CLARENCE WILLIAMS 1 day ago · Clarence Williams III was an actor’s actor whose career spanned seven decades across multiple genres and stages. On June 4, he died at the age of THIS NBA SEASON FORMAT GUARANTEES MORE MUST-SEE GAMES 16 hours ago · 2021 NBA Playoffs This NBA season format guarantees more must-see games, drama and fun for fans. New strategies are needed because the season is too long and competitiveness is lacking till theend
‘IT’S HER TIME RIGHT NOW’: CLARESSA SHIELDS HAS LOFTY 1 day ago · Claressa Shields often gets emotional when a conversation leads to her greatest inspiration: her late grandmother, Joanne Adams. It was Adams’ support that drove Shields to becomeboxing’s
LEBRON JAMES TO DEBUT THE NIKE LEBRON 19 IN ‘SPACE JAM: A 1 day ago · LeBron James LeBron James to debut the Nike LeBron 19 in ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ ‘This is the first time we’ve ever really debuted a shoe in a movie’ ‘ANOTHER ACT’: LA LA ANTHONY TALKS ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF 19 hours ago · ‘Another Act’: La La Anthony talks about the evolution of her acting career and her role on ‘The Chi’ Also, she’s teaming up with 50 Cent on a new project HOW MARCUS MORRIS GOT A LIFT FROM BROTHER MARKIEFF IN 2021 NBA Playoffs How Marcus Morris got a lift from brother Markieff in Clippers’ Game 7 win. The Clippers forward had an epic shooting night with support from his twin THE UGLINESS OF NBA FANS ATTACKING PLAYERS Etan Thomas is a senior writer for basketballnews.com and is the host of a podcast called The Rematch. He also writes for The Guardian and has previously written for The Washington Post THE BUCKS NOW HAVE SOME ‘DOGS,’ WILL IT BE ENOUGH TO GET There’s a scene in the 2000 football film The Replacements where the protagonist’s team is down 17-0 at the start of the second half and needs a spark to get back in the game. On the first FLOYD MAYWEATHER VS. LOGAN PAUL: THE GREAT WHITE HYPE WINS Floyd Mayweather (left) speaks while Logan Paul (right) listens during a news conference on May 6 in Miami Gardens, Florida. Mayweather andPaul are
BASEBALL HOTBED ENJOYS A THROWBACK DAY ON THE DIAMOND SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sunset is looming at Sutter Health Park, but Greg Vaughn is still spitting seeds, which he’s been doing all afternoon. Standing just behind the on-deck circle, his job asThe Undefeated
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COCO GAUFF’S WIN, SERENA WILLIAMS’ LOSS SPARK MIXED EMOTIONS ATAUSTRALIAN OPEN
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Commentary
COCO GAUFF’S WIN, SERENA WILLIAMS’ LOSS SPARK MIXED EMOTIONS ATAUSTRALIAN OPEN
How long will Gauff be allowed to be a teenager before the ruleschange for her?
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COCO GAUFF’S WIN, SERENA WILLIAMS’ LOSS SPARK MIXED EMOTIONS ATAUSTRALIAN OPEN
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KOBE BRYANT WAS PREPARING TO DOMINATE HOLLYWOOD AS HE DID NBABy Kelley L. Carter
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Serena Williams (left) looks to her team during her third-round match against Qiang Wang and Coco Gauff (right) in action during her women’s singles third-round match against Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open. Getty Images By Shalise Manza Young January 24, 2020*
On this day, in the same arena, the queen and one of the princesses she inspired played. The queen lost. The princess won. And some of us have the mixed emotions of wanting to wrap our arms around the queen and throw our arms up in exaltation for the princess. During Friday’s early session at the Australian Open, the queen, Serena Williams, suffered a surprising loss to 27th seed Qiang Wang, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5. In the night session, the princess, unseeded Coco Gauff, upset defending Open champion Naomi Osaka, 6-3, 6-4. Gauff is a supernova. As she noted after her win on Friday, just two years ago at only 13 years old, she lost in the first round of the Australian Open juniors draw and now she’s in the round of 16 of thechampionship.
Even though she’s a professional athlete, Gauff is every bit her 15 years: during her on-court postmatch interview on Friday, bright pink nails matching her bright pink New Balance sneakers, she said, “Honestly, like, what is my life? Like, oh, my gosh!” as she discussed her win over Osaka. Her Instagram feed shows her posing at Walt Disney World on Christmas with her family and giddy at a Madison Square Garden meeting with Willow and Jaden Smith (she’s a huge fanof Jaden’s).
And that brings up some mixed feelings. We know what the Williams sisters endured, we know the way they’ve been knocked and criticized for any misstep, missteps all young women make, missteps that for most young women are brushed aside as not knowing better, but for our young women are too often amplified. Will that happen to Gauff too? Will she be allowed to be a teenager, her wide-eyed, amazing self, for the next few years? Will we let her revel in the awesomeness of her life, of getting to tour the world and having teachers who let her hand in high school assignments late because she’s trying to win a Grand Slam tennis crown? Or will she endure the whispers and sometimes shouts that the Williamses did — that they were too loud, too powerful, too muscular, too outspoken, too emotional, all of which were euphemisms for being too black? Will our social media world look for reasons to try to tear her down? For two decades, Venus and Serena Williams shattered tennis’ norms, racking up Grand Slam titles and Olympic gold medals and showing brown-skinned girls that the sport was not the exclusive enclave of girls whose skin tone was closer to that of tennis whites. And in more recent years, Serena Williams has become not just a champion on the court, she’s become a champion of women, especially black women. She began using her voice before she became a mother, but the 2017 birth of daughter Olympia seems to have had a tremendous impact on her and Williams has channeled her on-court fierceness to advocate on behalf of those who have supported her for so long. That includes Osaka. Their match in the 2018 US Open final when Osaka beat her idol will always be remembered for how it ended: with Williams sparring with chair umpire Carlos Ramos, and Osaka in tears and apologizing to Williams. Williams embraced the budding young star and made every effort to make sure Osaka got the praise she deserved for her win. Little more than a week ago, Osaka tweeted a photo of herself and Williams at a charity match and captioned it, “me and mymom lol.”
It’s always hard to see our beloved champions play out the final years of their career, the wins fewer, the mistakes more frequent. After her loss to Wang, Williams said she made “far too many errors to be a pro athlete” and insisted that she believes her record-setting 24th Grand Slam will happen. But it’s just a bit more bittersweet with Williams. For those of us of a certain age, we remember her as a teenager, wearing beads on the grass courts of stuffy Wimbledon of all places, someone who seemed so familiar excelling in a place where it had long appeared we just weren’t supposed to be. We’ve held her up as she fought thinly veiled comments about her physique, defended her against the idea that Maria Sharapova, whom she’s clobbered in nearly every meeting, was some sort of legitimate rival, absorbed the ugly outright racism right along with her, as with that horrifying editorial cartoon out of Australia after the loss to Osaka in the US Open. WHAT’S 🔥 RIGHT NOW Chronicling the career and life of Kobe Bryant Read now Mourning Kobe Bryant at the Grammys in the house he helped build Readnow
Kobe Bryant was preparing to dominate Hollywood as he did NBA Read now The beautiful thing, though, is that unlike Debbie Thomas, the elegant mid-’80s black figure skating world champion whose success didn’t lead to more brown-skinned girls joining the sport, the dominance of Queen Serena and Venus has meant numerous black girls have followedthem to tennis.
Sloane Stephens, 2017 US Open champion. Madison Keys, 2017 US Open finalist. Osaka. And now, Gauff. As we embrace the queen to thank her for all that she has done through her remarkable career, let us also take care with this princess, and lift her spirit as she continues her climb.by Taboola
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KOBE BRYANT WAS PREPARING TO DOMINATE HOLLYWOOD AS HE DID NBA Even as Bryant was about to earn his first Academy Award, he said coaching his daughter in hoops took precedenceUP NEXT FROM SPORTS
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IT’S WRONG TO CRIMINALIZE BLACK PLAYERS FOR THE KANSAS-KANSAS STATEBRAWL
By Etan Thomas
By Kelley L.
Carter
@KelleyLCarter January 27, 2020*
In the spring of 2018, Kobe Bryant didn’t want to talk about who the greatest of all time was — LeBron James or Michael Jordan. He didn’t want to enter that debate post-retirement. Bryant was at the beginning of what he hoped would be his new chapter. And on March 4, 2018, he officially launched his next chapter in the most Kobe Bryant way possible. Not even two years out of the game that made him globally famous, the game that he retired from as a five-time NBA champion, an 11-time All-NBA first-team selection, a 2008 MVP, two-time Finals MVP, an 18-time All-Star and four-time All-Star MVP, he won an Academy Award for an animated short, the first thing he’d ever done in Hollywood. That’s so Kobe Bryant. Bryant was in a small fraternity of superstar athletes who were making headway in Hollywood. Before I came to ESPN, I noticed what LeBron James was doing. Like other athletes before him, he had a cameo in a film and was the best thing in 2015’s _Trainwreck_. But instead of leaning in and doing more of that, James started talking about being a Hollywood producer. Lining up his production company. And over time, building up an impressive slate of in-development projects that would honestly rival what any longtime producer in this town was working on. I thought perhaps there could be synergy there, reporting about what athletes were doing in this town. And there was. James wasn’t alone in his quest for Hollywooddomination.
Stephen Curry started doing great things in this space. Matt Barnes was teaming up with people such as Anthony Anderson to work on a documentary. And then there was Bryant. He’d announced his retirement with a poem, _Dear Basketball_. And the animation went over well. So well that the award nominations started coming in. And then came the Oscar nomination. So Kobe Bryant. And that wasn’t it. He had a slate of things he wanted to do — the animated short wasn’t a one-off. Bryant’s Granity Studios was producing television, books, podcasts and films. He wanted it all in this town and was on the cusp. The thing I learned immediately about Bryant is that working in Hollywood was never a vanity thing for him. He was reaching out to people who Oprah Winfrey (who he said was a mentor ) and Shonda Rhimes (whom he admired) and was asking for advice about how to break into this business and how to be taken seriously. “I can’t have one without the other. The only way I know how to tell stories is through understanding how to compose a game. Understanding the emotional elements of a team and the movement of the game. That kind of leads to a natural progression of storytelling.”— Kobe Bryant
Because he was more than an athlete. “I’ve always been told that as basketball players the expectation is that you play. This is all you know. This is all you do. Don’t think about handling finances. Don’t think about going into business. Don’t think that you want to be a writer — that’s cute. I got that a lot,” Bryant told me during our interview. “What do you want to do when you retire? ‘Well, I want to be a storyteller.’ ‘That’s cute.’ This is a form of validation for people to look and say, ‘OK, he really can do something other than dribble and shoot.’ ” Bryant could have had his first big Hollywood moment 22 years ago. It was Bryant whom Hollywood director Spike Lee pegged as Jesus Shuttlesworth in his 1998 film _He Got Game_. Bryant was set to play the basketball phenom, the son of Oscar-winner Denzel Washington’s incarcerated Jake Shuttlesworth. But he changed his mind before they started filming in 1997. The role ended up going to Ray Allen because Bryant said he couldn’t do it. He needed to work. On the court. Not off of it. Bryant told me that he didn’t regret it. He didn’t want to be an on-camera guy. He didn’t quite know it back then, but his strength and his muscle would be far more powerful behind the scenes. “I’m not the most patient of a person,” Bryant said in what would be my final interview with him. “When you look at actors and the downtime involved, it’s just too much for me. I was 17 at the time, and I wanted to play ball. I wanted to go to Venice Beach and play, where actually I broke my wrists. I couldn’t sit still. I wanted to work out and train all the time. There was also a lot of pressure on me coming out of high school to perform well. So, I felt like I needed all my resources dedicated to preparing myself for the season. I don’t really have time for do a film.” Did you regret not taking the role, I asked him. “No. No. No. No. Acting is just not for me. It’s not. I don’t enjoy that part of it. And so no, it’s not my cup of tea.” Bryant became a Hollywood star in his own way. “The ability to make sure things are as good as we believe they can be, before we release it. Basketball, you don’t get that chance. You practice all you want, but when the lights come up, if you play like an idiot, you look like an idiot,” he told me. “There’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t say, ‘Cut! Take two!’ In Hollywood, we can sit around as a team and nitpick plot, nitpick character. And shots, and movement of the story, and go over it and over it and over it, until we feel like it’s where we need it tobe.”
Bryant was just getting started. His dominance in Hollywood was going to look a lot like what his dominance in the NBA did. I found him to be sharp and extremely thoughtful about Hollywood, what he got out of it and what he thought he could contribute to it.MORE KOBE
* Chronicling the career and life of Kobe Bryant * Mourning Kobe Bryant at the Grammys in the house he helped build * Trae Young talks Kobe, family and more * Kobe Bryant on the Lakers, Zion and his new sports-fantasy series * Kobe Bryant: Oscar nomination is proof I can do ‘something other than dribble and shoot’ “It’s like putting together a puzzle,” he said to me of storytelling. “You sit and you find a kind of emotional truth of a character, or an emotional truth in general. And then, you build a character around that, and then you put the other pieces that surround the character that fill out the plot and the subplots. All the while carrying a greater significance to the story. That’s what I enjoythe most.”
Whatever was going to be his greatest accomplishment in Hollywood, basketball would be at the center of it. He still was in love with the game. He just didn’t want to play it anymore. But he knew there were stories to tell. “They all center around sports. How do we take sports? And, tell beautiful tales, beautiful stories that connect to human nature?” heasked.
“If you look at sports as a whole, it connects people on a global scale. Much like music does. But, what separates music from sports is that sports is something that unites people. When you go to the Olympics, and you see so many cultures participating in an event together. Or, you go to a soccer match, and one team you see a player from the United States, a player from Brazil, a player from Switzerland or wherever — you have these different people all uniting. So, the important thing for us is telling stories that connect to human nature, and do it in a way that’s magical. A lot of people said it couldn’t be done. Which is why _Dear Basketball _was so important. Can we create a very sport-centric film that can move people that ordinarily know very little about basketball? Can that be done? And we believed it could.”And he did.
“If we’re able to create stories that are true, right, create stories that come from in to out, versus out to in. If we’re chasing things that are popular or we’re doing things because we believe them to be successful, then we’re going about it the wrong way. We can stay true to ourselves and all of us write stories that come from within, then that is the definition of success, right? If it moves you as a writer, an author, and saying this is helping me deal with an issue that I’ve kind of pushed to the back, it’s helped me navigate through that,” he said. “If it helped me find an inner truth, then that is success. Because if that’s inner truth to you, it will inevitably be a truth to somebody else.” Over all the success and the accolades — that Oscar included — this is truly who Bryant — who died in a helicopter crash where his 13-year old daughter Gianna and seven others also lost their lives —was.
“If you win an Oscar this weekend, how are you going to celebrate?” I asked him. “That’s a great question. I don’t know,” he said before he laughed. “I do not know. I know on Oscar Sunday we do have games. My daughter has some basketball games and I’ll be coaching. So, I’ll be coaching in the morning, and then going to the Oscars in theevening.”
“Quite a life,” I said to him. “It’s awesome. And then after that, I don’t know.” “Where are you going to put that Oscar if you win it?” I asked. “I’ll probably sleep with it,” he said and we both laughed. “You know, when I was a kid, the first time my parents bought me an official leather NBA basketball, I slept with it for about a week. I did. So, you know, it will be Vanessa, Bianka, me, Oscar. That will be our sleeping arrangement. “And then moving forward, should we refer to you still as five-time NBA champion with a list of other NBA accomplishments? Or, Oscar winner Kobe Bryant? What’s going to take the lead role here?” “I don’t know! I mean, I can’t have one without the other. You know? The only way I know how to tell stories is through understanding how to compose a game. Understanding the emotional elements of a team and the movement of the game. That kind of leads to a natural progression of storytelling,” he said. “So, I can’t have one without the other. But the fact that you even ask me that question, it’s pretty damn cool.” Kelley L. Carter is a senior entertainment writer at The Undefeated. She can act out every episode of the U.S version of "The Office," she can and will sing the Michigan State University fight song on command and she is very much immune to Hollywood hotness. This Story Tagged: Dear BasketballHollywood
Jesus Shuttlesworth
Kobe Bryant
Los Angeles Lakers
… View All NBA
Oprah Winfrey
Shonda Rhimes
Rest In Peace
CHRONICLING THE CAREER AND LIFE OF KOBE BRYANT The basketball world won’t be the same without Kobe. Neither willmine.
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IT’S WRONG TO CRIMINALIZE BLACK PLAYERS FOR THE KANSAS-KANSAS STATEBRAWL
By Etan Thomas
By Marc J.
Spears
@MarcJSpearsESPN January 26,2020
*
People have asked me time and time again: What’s Kobe Bryant like? “Simply the best,” I always answered. I first learned about how much he cared when he showed up for a charity game for Hurricane Katrina victims in Houston on Sept. 11, 2005. I will never forget the image of him sitting next to a young black boy on the bench during the charity event. Nor will I forget how he took the time to ask me questions about my New Orleans-based parents and family, who were affected by Katrina. It meant the world to me. There were other NBA stars there that day, including LeBron James and Allen Iverson, but Bryant was the star of the stars. I first learned about Kobe’s graciousness on Oct. 24, 2008, when my former college basketball teammate Troy McCoy took his 7-year-old son, Cameron, and two of his friends to a Los Angeles Lakers preseason game as a birthday present. After hearing the kids cheering loudly for the Lakers in an otherwise quiet game, Lakers media relations director Alison Bogli gave McCoy and the kids postgame passes to meet some players. Long after the game, Bryant came out of the locker room looking around and saying, “Where’s Cameron at? Where’sCameron?”
A stunned Cameron put his hand up in the air, but was too shy to say anything. Kobe walked up to the boy and said, “Hello, my name is Kobe. What’s your name?” Bryant got Cameron to respond, then offered the kids words of wisdom and took a picture with them. Kobe Bryant (right) of the Los Angeles Lakers high-fives fans after the game against the Charlotte Hornets on Dec. 28, 2015, at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images Kobe approached many of the people he was asked to meet postgame with attention to detail and focus, much like how he played ball. “He would do a lot of due diligence on his own,” Michelle Obeso-Theus, who worked for Bryant from 2011-15, once told The Undefeated. “Regardless of how people view him, he is a genius. Very tenacious. Resilient. “He taught me dedication and sacrifice to be great. His vision to see the future was crazy. When he said he wanted to meet someone, he always wanted to know what made them great. It didn’t matter if they were a wood-carver. He wanted to understand the mentality of what it takes for them to be a wood-carver.”MORE KOBE
* Kobe Bryant: Oscar nomination is proof I can do ‘something other than dribble and shoot’ * Kobe Bryant had a soft touch for his fans and a steady eye on lifeafter the Lakers
* No. 8 and No. 24, Kobe vs. Kobe * Kobe Bryant on the Lakers, Zion and his new sports-fantasy series * Dear Black Athlete: Kobe Bryant* Mamba Out
On Sunday morning, Bryant died at age 41 in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others. He leaves behind a basketball legacy as one of the greatest NBA players of all time and one of its fiercest competitors. He was an NBA MVP, five-time champion, 18-time All-Star, 11-time first team all-NBA selection and two-time Olympic gold medalist. But he wasso much more.
Kobe wasn’t just another player I covered. After he suffered a torn Achilles tendon injury in 2013, Bryant, showing his competitive fire, said via e-mail: “Please do me a favor though and write a piece about what I was doing prior to getting hurt and the numbers I was putting up and bringing the team to the footstep of the postseason. I feel they are forgetting how good I was for ANY age. And that nothing in my career suggests that I won’t come back just as good or better next season.” Another time, when I mistakenly asked a question and referred to his four NBA championships, he quickly corrected me — it was five — and gave me that Mamba glare. Kobe was often accommodating to me when doing interviews after games and practices. He called me “Big Spears” and used to give me a hard time for asking thought-provoking questions, once saying, “Man, you always asking me those Dr. Seuss a– questions.” He knew I could take his joking. Kobe had a sharp sense of humor. Marc J. Spears (left) interviews Kobe Bryant (right) at NBA-All Star weekend in 2013 in Houston.Marc J. Spears
One time with his Nike right-hand man Nico Harrison by his side, he playfully objected to doing an interview with me after a Lakers practice unless I changed my wardrobe that day: an adidas sweatsuit and shoes. Keep in mind that Kobe was then a Nike endorser who had a bad breakup with adidas. After some good-natured ribbing, he did theinterview.
But when it came down to it, Kobe was thoughtful. In March 2016, I landed a job as the senior NBA writer for ESPN’s The Undefeated and I gave him the news via e-mail. Bryant responded by writing: “Happy for you my brotha!!! Write from the heart!!! Always here for you.” On Dec. 17, 2018, I was on hand as the Lakers retired both his No. 8 and No. 24. It was his night, but on his way out, he caught a glimpse of me and yelled, “Big Spears.” We shared an embrace and had a brief conversation before he was whisked away. And I am far from the only reporter who Kobe was gracious to, as he made time for countless other media people in sports and beyond. > View this post on Instagram>
>
>
> Thank you for everything @kobebryant. Simply the best. Rest In Peace> brother.
>
>
> A post shared by Marc J. Spears>
> (@marcjspears) on Jan 26, 2020 at 1:16pm PST I last had an in-depth conversation with Kobe in a phone interview last February. He told me about his busy schedule when I asked if he was keeping an eye on the Lakers. “Look,” he said, “between building an entire studio from scratch, hiring a publishing-production company, licensing, building an animation studio, writing the book, between that and coaching my daughter’s team every single day, I have no time. I mean I have notime. None.”
He remained driven and dedicated to his family. On March 19, 2019, Bryant released his first sports-fantasy book, _The Wizenard Series: Training Camp._
Written by Wesley King, Bryant’s youth series features characters of different races and background. He believed his daughters needed to see characters who looked like them. “There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the characters would be children of color, mixed-race, because that’s what I have at home,” Bryant said. “And that’s what I grew up with. But in the industry, itself, it is very hard to find that. Very, very hard to find that because we tend to … the general argument is that, ‘Well, they can’t appeal to the masses.’ ”Kobe did.
The basketball world won’t be the same without him. Neither will mine. Rest in peace, Kobe. Marc J. Spears is the senior NBA writer for The Undefeated. He used to be able to dunk on you, but he hasn’t been able to in years and hisknees still hurt.
This Story Tagged: An AppreciationBasketball
Fatherhood
Kobe Bryant
Los Angeles Lakers
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Fans gather at L.A. Live in Los Angeles to pay their respects to retired Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, who died in helicopter crash on Jan. 26. Sandy Hooper/USAToday
By Justin
Tinsley
@JustinTinsley January 26, 2020*
LOS ANGELES — On a day originally intended to be a commemoration of now Grammy award-winner Nipsey Hussle , we learned while in the Staples Center about the tragic helicopter crash that killed Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others. His retired No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys sit just feet away from the journalists tasked to make sense of somethingso life-altering.
Instantly, the Grammys became a backdrop in a city grappling again with grief, anger and confusion. The city of Los Angeles — one that cherishes its cultural legends in religiouslike fashion — is shattered to its core. Outside Staples Center, an impromptu memorial formed. Hundreds gathered all in hopes their collective pain could be therapy for each other. Jerseys with “BRYANT,” and both numbers on the back were common. Tears mixed with, “MVP” and “Kobe” chants. Some made wreaths and brought flowers. Others held “R.I.P. Black Mamba” signs. Large screens displaying the 18-time all-star’s face with the date signature “1978-2020” hammer home the truth no one akin to themusic industry
whose “biggest night” was anything but, is yet willing to accept. Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna Bryant attend a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks at Staples Center on December 29, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images This was the same man who once took R&B star Brandy to her senior prom. Played a part in the unraveling of an early 2000s Lakers dynasty. Helped save Team USA from complete embarrassment in the 2008 Olympic gold medal contest. And dropped 60 points with Jay-Z courtside in the final professional game of his career. The same man who, for all intents and purposes, was expected to deliver one of the most anticipated Hall of Fame speeches in sports history later this year . Kobe Bryant, as complex, controversial, beloved and maniacal as a player sports has ever seen, is dead. In L.A. Live, all I hear in my head is Donny Hathaway’s cover of“A Song For You
.” Like
Bryant, Hathaway died young, taking a world of potential along with him during an apparent suicide in 1979. “_I love you in a place/ Where there’s no space or time/ I love you for my life,”_ Hathaway sang in an eerily appropriate tone of the afternoon’s emotions. ” ‘_Cause you’re a friend of mine/ And when my life is over/ Remember when we were together.”_ News crews scrambled to speak with fans, but most were more comfortable grieving among themselves. Fellow former Laker Shaquille O’Neal’s Instagram tribute about his running mate made its rounds. Others focused on Bryant’s final tweet.
“Continue moving the game forward ,” he tweeted in a passing of the torchlike salute to James, who passed Bryant the night before for third on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. “Much respectmy brother.”
“Kobe Bryant, outside of my family, was my childhood,” said native Los Angeleno Bryan Robinson. “My parents would order wings from Art’s on Crenshaw and we’d watch Kobe and . We stuck by his side through all his adversity and losses. The city grew up with him and always had his back no matter what.” Likewise, artists attempted to juggle emotions. Nominee Lizzo began the Grammys dedicating her performance to Bryant. The Grammys host Alicia Keys asked for a moment of silence while bringing Boyz II Men onstage for an a cappella performance of “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye to Yesterday.” “It’s a huge loss … a devastating loss with the news about Kobe,” said rapper Rick Ross. “But the true champion Kobe was, I believe he would want us to continue celebrating his legacy. And that starts with tonight.” “My heart is very heavy,” said Koffee, who would later win her first Grammy for best reggae album for _Rapture_. “It’s definitely not something you want to hear on any day. I just want to send my condolences and prayers to everyone who was close to him. I just hope they feel comforted at this moment.” “It’s tragic, you feel me? Kobe was the reason I tried to play basketball and realized that I couldn’t like him,” Jetsonmade,
the producer extraordinaire behind DaBaby’s meteoric rise in 2019, said. “God don’t make mistakes. God had it lined up like that. He telling us something.” But it was Guapdad 4000 who approached the topic with a weighted sense of perspective. “Definitely make you bittersweet. It’s monumental for me to be in a situation like this. But this is a monumental loss for the culture,” he said. “So I’ve got to think outside of myself and let our people grieve for a hero. He was a superhero.”MORE KOBE
* Kobe Bryant: Oscar nomination is proof I can do ‘something other than dribble and shoot’ * Kobe Bryant had a soft touch for his fans and a steady eye on lifeafter the Lakers
* No. 8 and No. 24, Kobe vs. Kobe * Kobe Bryant on the Lakers, Zion and his new sports-fantasy series * Dear Black Athlete: Kobe Bryant* Mamba Out
It’s not as if grief has an expiration date or haunts one generation and skips the other. Growing up in the ’90s, I’d often wonder how scribes found peace to document the culture through waves of heartbreak and shock. The L.A. riots and the O.J. Simpson trial put race front and center into households across the country. Eazy-E, Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. died within three years of one another. Now as an adult, understanding that very rarely do we get to pen from places of tranquility. There’s always the next tragedy that changes the course of your life without a moment’s notice. Oftentimes I find myself in deep prayer for my generation. In particular how we deal with grief. Or how we don’t. In the last decade alone, as adults we’ve wrestled with the reality of death while trying to figure out the purpose of our own lives. Coming to grips with Hussle’s murder is an ongoing process and like Bryant’s, elicits the same two responses: “This will never sit right” and “I’ll never acceptthis.”
Imagine Meek Mill ’s mental state. The torment of protege Lil’ Snupe’s 2013 murder still haunts him. Sunday’s Grammys was already scheduled to be an emotionally taxing night with a tribute to his slain friend in Hussle. Then Kobe, another Philadelphia native, happened. Mill, and this cannot be understated, is here by the grace of God. He’s probably been closer to death than most people have. If the deaths of Bryant, his daughter Gianna and the seven others aboard that helicopter do nothing else, they further drill home the importance of mortality. We spend our 20s trying to figure out where the pieces go on life’s chessboard. And through it all we have a feeling of invincibility. That there’s always more time to grow up. Nothing makes you feel more alive, or closer to the afterlife, than death. By writing this, I place my own mortality on the screen in front of me. The agonizing serendipity just as the Grammy premiere ceremony began is a feeling I’ll never forget. What comes of this is anyone’s guess. Only one reality remains unimpeachable. The City of Angels received another. But no one was ready for him to get his wings. Justin Tinsley is a culture and sports writer for The Undefeated. He firmly believes “Cash Money Records takin’ ova for da ’99 and da 2000” is the single-most impactful statement of his generation. This Story Tagged: 2020 Grammy Awards.Gianna Bryant
Grammy Awards
Jay-Z
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Commentary
IT’S WRONG TO CRIMINALIZE BLACK PLAYERS FOR THE KANSAS-KANSAS STATEBRAWL
Listen to the language used by some commentators, it demonizes ourathletes
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By Etan Thomas
Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self and forward Silvio De Sousa (22) walk off the court after a brawl broke at the end of the game against the Kansas State Wildcats at Allen Fieldhouse. Jay Biggerstaff/USA TODAY SportsBy Etan Thomas
@etanthomas36 January 24, 2020*
On Wednesday, a day after the brawl that took the sports world by storm between rivals Kansas and Kansas State, sports broadcaster Dick Vitale called for the Jayhawks’ Silvio De Sousa in particular to be expelled from the NCAA for the rest of his playing days. “Well, just absolutely sickening, unbelievable. The 40 years I’m on TV, I haven’t seen anything like that, unless you go to the NBA and the Pistons’ brawl that took place at the Palace. I think there’s no doubt in my mind that De Sousa never, ever should put a uniform on in college basketball again,” Vitale said during ESPN’s broadcast of Miami at Duke. “He’s holding a chair. I mean, that’s criminal! He’s going to hurt somebody! I mean, I don’t want to hear any excuse that ‘They stole the ball with time running out, they should never have done such a thing.’ Give me a break.That was ugly.”
De Sousa issued an apology on his Twitter feed Wednesday. He took full responsibility, didn’t place the blame elsewhere, expressed his regret and articulated how thankful he was to always have the love and support from KU and its fans. All I can say to that is live and learn young fella, there is a blessing in every lesson. > I’m sorry for my actions last night, please read this: > pic.twitter.com/cmkEO0I5Ax>
> — Silvio De Sousa ™ (@SilvioDeSousa5) January 23, 2020>
The expected punishment has been handed out: _The Big 12 suspended four players from Kansas and Kansas State a combined 25 games Wednesday for their roles in a melee that spilled off the court and into a section of disabled seating in Allen Fieldhouse near the end of the third-ranked Jayhawks’ win over the Wildcats._MORE ON COLLEGES
* Can HBCU athletes get paid for use of their images and names? * In football, it’s harder to find a black kicker than a black QB * How can HBCUs survive and thrive in the 21st century? * Caylin Newton says he's leaving Howard for a chance to 'competefor championships'
* Mo'ne Davis goes to college at Hampton * Morgan State's Rico Kennedy is a man of many hatsDe Sousa
,
already suspended indefinitely by Jayhawks coach Bill Self, was given a 12-game suspension by the league office. Teammate David McCormack was suspended two games. Kansas State’s James Love received an eight-game suspension and Antonio Gordon got a three-game suspension. Both schools also were reprimanded by the Big 12 for violations of its sportsmanship policy. After the punishments had been handed out, Vitale took to Twitter to voice his disapproval of what he called “light penalties.” > The @Big12Conference> has passed
> down it’s ruling on the ugly fiasco that took place in Kansas. I > am shocked how light the penalties were considering how dangerous > that fracas was. In the case of Silvio DeSousa I thought the minimum > should have been the entire season.>
> — Dick Vitale (@DickieV) January 23, 2020>
Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated wrote an article titled “Silvio De Sousa Gets Off Easy With Punishment for Kansas-Kansas State Brawl,” which brings me to this over-criminalization of black men. I’m not saying that De Sousa shouldn’t have been punished, but the collegiate death penalty is a bit much. Many have made the case of what “could have happened” had De Sousa swung the stool he picked up. But let’s fully examine what actually occurred. Yes, he picked up the stool. And yes there was an unnamed photographer who calmly attempted to grab the stool, and Kansas assistant coach Jerrance Howard who also tried to intercede if De Sousa hadn’t already had a moment of clarity and dropped it on his own admission. But let’s be honest, De Sousa is 6-9, 245 pounds. If he wanted to use it, no reporter was going to stop him with one hand. The fact is, he dropped it on his own. So those making the case of what could have occurred, aren’t paying attention or concerned with the fact that he wasn’t stopped from using it, he stopped himself. The reality is, this was a fight. Nothing criminal occurred, it was a fight. It was against NCAA rules, thus the suspensions, but the words “criminal assault” that have been recklessly thrown around seem to only come from pale lips when describing black men. Again, I’m not making a case for no punishment. In fact, if I were speaking directly to De Sousa, or any other young black men like the AAU team I coach, the FBCG Dynamic Disciples, my message would be that you cannot put yourself in a position where you will be at the mercy of the courts, the police, in school, or in this case, the NCAA. Why? Because you are going to have people in mainstream America who will call for your head on a platter. They will portray you as a menace to society, a criminal, and someone who needs to be taught a lesson as your actions prove that you are ungrateful for things society has given you. They will portray you as a menace to society, a criminal, and someone who needs to be taught a lesson as your actions prove that you are ungrateful for things society has given you. I would also explain to them that it doesn’t matter what your white counterparts have done. So it’s pointless to bring up the many infractions of Grayson Allen and him never being called a thug or a menace, or the fact that the same people who are now “outraged” at the “horrific” “sickening” display in front of the children of America , also tune in and attend (with their children) hockey games every night where fights are not only commonplace but encouraged. I would explain it doesn’t matter that bench-clearing brawls thatoccur in baseball
typically never result in anyone being called a thug or pursuits of criminal charges of any kind, even when a player charges the pitcher’s mound carrying his bat like Jon Snow, ready to slice through the Night Walkers. And it won’t matter about other mound-charging incidents or when hockey players have actually used their stick as a weapon. I would also explain that what Forde wrote is what you can expect to happen whenever you have an infraction, which is to have unrelated priors brought in to justify your over-criminalization. In Forde’swords:
“He missed the first four conference games at Kansas after arriving midseason 2017-18 from IMG Academy, waiting to be cleared by the NCAA—a delay which irked Jayhawks coach Bill Self. Then he missed all 36 last year as part of a two-year NCAA suspension for his guardian accepting money from Adidas bag man T.J. Gassnola, a revelation that came out of the FBI investigation of corruption college basketball. The second half of that suspension was lifted on appeal and De Sousa returned to action this season, only to go WWE crazy against the Wildcats.” I would explain that in this society there are typically different rules for us. And as seen by the likes of Vitale, Forde, and others outraged at the perceived light sentences those different rules are not going anywhere anytime soon. Etan Thomas, writes for The Guardian and has previously written for The Washington Post, Huffington Post, CNN, ESPN, Hoopshype.com and slamonline. He frequently can be seen on MSNBC as a special correspondent for “hot topics.” He continues to be invited on syndicated radio and co-hosts a weekly local radio show on WPFW 89.3FM, The Collision, where sports and politics collide. This Story Tagged: CommentaryDick Vitale
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