(“The TEN” is not a top ten but ten items worth being included in “The TEN”)
1. The Philadelphia 76ers offered All-Star guard Ben Simmons a five-year, $170 million max extension.
2. The U.S. Women’s soccer team beat England 2-1 to advance to the World Cup Final.
3. Colin Kaepernick reached out to Nike saying that he and others felt that the Betsy Ross flag is an offensive symbol because of its connection to an era of slavery. Nike then struck down a plan to release a shoe featuring the original version of the U.S. flag.
4. “Former Rosemead HC Matt Koffler has his son at Edison putting on a show at Battle at the Beach on Saturday. Cole Koffler 6’3’ 180lbs WR. Kids a stud. He caught two TDs against a pretty good Poly team and was a standout in the whole tournament.” – MVS Commenter “Mead CS”.
5. The high school football season kicks off Thursday night, August 22.
6. The Turkey Tussle (Pasadena-Muir) which had been moved to Friday August 23 has been moved back to Thursday October 31 due to a scheduling conflict at the Rose Bowl.
7. The Lakers signed free-agent forward Jared Dudley to a one-year, $2.6 million deal.
8. The Golden State Warriors are set to sign free-agent center Willie Cauley-Stein to a one-year contract.
9. Covina’s and Northview’s fireworks stands are literally across the street from each other in Industry.
10. The Kawhi Leonard decision is still pending.
@ Question Mark: You’ve got the spirit! In a similar vein, I’d like to point out that in 1966, the Texas Western (now University of Texas-El Paso) men’s basketball team was the first to win an NCAA championship with an all-African American starting lineup.
Now, that was a blow for equality.
I have nothing but love for my white and brown and asian brothers. But since this is a sports blog give me a team full of black athletes any day.
I just did a little more research, and, yes, Polk (who was from Tennessee) also owned slaves. So, that means at least six of our presidents were slaveowners.
Slavery was abolished in 1865 with the Union’s victory in the Civil War and the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. However, racism is still very much alive in our country.
Colin Kaepernick’s objection to Nike’s use of the original 13-star American flag is partly based on the fact that it has been appropriated by some contemporary white supremacist groups.
In addition, slavery was a well-established social and economic institution in six of the 13 rebellious British colonies.
For me, the 13 stars shown in a circular array on a U.S. flag don’t quite have the same racist connotations as the Nazi swastika or the Confederate “Stars and Bars” battle flag. Those are both well-known symbols of racial hatred.
But, maybe it’s too easy for me to say that from my perspective as a white male. I would never claim Kaepernick and his supporters are unpatriotic for complaining about the way millions of people have been treated in the United States.
John Adams and Benjamin Franklin assisted with the writing of the Declaration of Independence, although Jefferson was the principal author. Thankfully, Adams and Franklin were not slaveowners.
U.S. presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Jackson all owned slaves. I believe that James K. Polk did as well.
Our nation has a complicated history, with some pretty dismal chapters.
I believe we have generally changed for the better over the course of nearly two and-a-half centuries. But, recent events have proven that we still have a long way to go.
Happy Independence Day.
It is a fact that the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, owned slaves. Will Kaepernick proceed to denounce the 4th of July, because of its connection to the villain of Monticello?