Stick to sports? Not anymore.
Much of the sports world screeched to a sudden and stunning halt on Wednesday as professional athletes made their collective voices heard following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
The NBA called off its playoff games in its Orlando, Fla., bubble after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court against the Orlando Magic in the first game of the day.
"Despite the overwhelming plea for change, there has been no action, so our focus today cannot be on basketball," the Bucks said in a statement read by players Sterling Brown and George Hill.
And the Milwaukee Brewers of the MLB joined their basketball brethren in protest. Their game against the Cincinnati Reds was postponed, a move that came as a thunderclap in the sports world _ Major League Baseball players and teams have been seen as slower to embrace social-justice movements than those of other leagues.
The rest of the 7 p.m. baseball games went off without stoppages _ including the Yankees finishing their doubleheader against the Braves in Atlanta and the Mets hosting the Miami Marlins at Citi Field. But some teams playing later games opted not to play, including the Seattle Mariners, who were scheduled to play the San Diego Padres.
Dee Gordon, a Black, 32-year-old infielder on the Seattle Mariners, tweeted, "There are serious issues in this country. For me, and for many of my teammates, the injustices, violence, death and systemic racism is deeply personal. This is impacting not only my community, but very directly my family and friends. Our team voted unanimously not to play tonight."
He added that he hoped the decision would prompt fans to reflect on issues more vital than pro sports.
Blake was shot by a police officer several times as he attempted to enter a vehicle carrying his children on Sunday. He has been left paralyzed, and his stomach-churning shooting has led to boiling outcry in the local community and across the nation.
The identity of the police officer was revealed Wednesday as Officer Rusten Sheske. The incident is just the latest in a series of brutal shootings of Black men in the U.S.
As a Tuesday night protest in Kenosha went into Wednesday morning, two people were shot to death. Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, of Antioch, Ill., was charged with intentional homicide in the killings.
Sports were sidelined by the pandemic in the spring when massive protests against police misconduct poured through streets of cities including New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. Now, the games designed to give a breather from the real world are colliding head-on with an outcry of grief over racism.
Doc Rivers, the coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, grew emotional talking about how racism in policing has affected him as he spoke to reporters on Tuesday after his team beat the Dallas Mavericks
"All you hear is Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear," Rivers, who is Black, said on the second night of the Republican National Convention. "We're the ones getting killed. We're the ones getting shot. We're the ones that we're denied to live in certain communities. We've been hung. We've been shot. And all you do is keep hearing about fear."
An emotional Rivers said: "It's amazing to me why we keep loving this country. And this country does not love us back."
When the Bucks decided to sit out their game, teams owners Marc Lasry, Wes Edens and Jamie Dinan said in a statement they supported their players.
"Although we did not know beforehand, we would have wholeheartedly agreed with them," the three owners said in the statement. "The only way to bring about change is to shine a light on the racial injustices that are happening in front of us."
