n to being negotiable. The players have a message, and they want to use their platform as professional athletes to voice it. They want to help build bridges between law enforcem

FLORHAM PARK, N. Cheap FC Bayern Munich Jerseys .J. -- Whats the deal with the beard?Larry David, the creator of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, is a big New York Jets fan. Hes not too fond of quarterback Ryan Fitzpatricks facial hair, though.I dont know why Fitzpatrick cant shave, honestly, David said Tuesday to guest host Charissa Thompson on The Dan Patrick Show. Why does he need that beard? That beard really bothers me. I dont know what this quarterback looks like. Who am I rooting for? Imagine Mickey Mantle with a full beard like that. It would have changed my entire childhood.Fitzpatrick usually sports a bushy, mountain man-like beard during the season, but its a bit toned down right now midway through training camp. He did show up Tuesday with his mustache shaved, and the quarterback didnt sack Davids idea.Well, Ive heard that hes a big Jet fan, a smiling Fitzpatrick said after practice. But Im probably a bigger `Seinfeld fan, so I dont take that lightly. I will take it into consideration, Larry. And I respect you very much.David also might be coming for Chan Gaileys job -- or anyone else who runs an NFL offense.Im not joking. Im positive I could be an offensive coordinator, he said. All I have to do is, I think if I just studied, if I just hung around and just learned a little bit ... give me one season shadowing an offensive coordinator, one season, and I know I could do it.What can be so hard about it? You make up plays. Why is that so hard? Im creative in certain respects, and I think I can do that.Yadda, yadda, yadda.Fitzpatrick was asked what he thinks of the chances of David being a successful NFL offensive coordinator.Pretty, pretty good, Fitzpatrick said, mimicking a popular line from Curb Your Enthusiasm.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/AP-NFL Cheap France Jerseys . -- For the first time in two months, an opponent was standing up to Alabama. Authentic Soccer Gear Store . The Browns coaching search remains incomplete. http://www.cheapsoccerjerseysoutlet.com/...ited-fc-jerseys . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. Sometimes it takes making a mistake first to make the right decision. Its probably happened at least once to everybody. This past week, it happened to the WNBA.Fining players for wearing non-compliant warm-up shirts in regard to their support of the Black Lives Matter movement initially might have seemed to be a mere procedural matter to the WNBA and president Lisa Borders.Of course, it was far from that. It upset the leagues players and a lot of the fans, and it sent a message that something they felt so passionately about was not a priority for the league.Saturdays reversal was a good decision. And players such as Phoenixs Mistie Bass, who spoke so eloquently about the fines and the message they sent, were pleased to see the league change course.It shows that our voices matter, and so do we as players, Bass said via text message Saturday. Its never too late to do the right thing. Now we all have an opportunity to come together and discuss how we can move forward.It isnt an easy thing to say publicly, Weve reconsidered. There is a stodgy narrative that suggests that changing your mind about a decision leads to an undermining of your authority.In truth, though, its often just the opposite. Not budging from a bad decision actually erodes authority, and thats initially what was happening in regard to the players and Borders, who took over as WNBA president earlier this year.Now the players have reason to believe that Borders really is a reasonable and responsive leader who might have incorrectly gauged their passion on this subject, or perhaps just didnt realize they would strongly push back.Borders was in Atlanta city government for several years, has worked in the upper levels of business administration, and definitely knows her way around corporate America. But the job of WNBA president presents some challenges that are different from previous leadership positions shes held.All four WNBA presidents have had to try to establish their own authority while at the same time answering to NBA authority. Theyve had to juxtapose the relentless optimism part of the job with the realism required for the business world.These are things that Borders is still figuring out, and thats understandable. But this past week can be filed away as a valuable lesson in several ways: from the need to get out in front of a potentially difficult topic (which the league didnt do in this situation) to having more faith in old-fashioned communication.I dont think its being naive or idealizing WNBA players to say that they are very educated, reasonable and respectful. Cheap England Jerseys. While I understand the slippery-slope aspect about rules that prohibit modifying uniforms, I dont believe that should be a big future worry of the WNBA.Thats because its highly unlikely that players are going to try to push a bunch of agendas via their uniforms. In short, I have a lot of faith in their common sense.But the fact that they have worn WNBA-sanctioned alterations -- in the form of warm-up T-shirts -- that convey messages of support for various concerns, that leaves the avenue of on-court activism as a viable option when its supported by the entire league.Which gets us down to the heart of the issue, doesnt it? The players thought this was an obvious issue in which the WNBA should channel its commitment to community involvement, awareness and activism. The players approached it with a sense of unity and utmost urgency.It seems the league viewed it as potentially controversial and thus worrisome. Thats where better communication and dialogue were needed. Sending out a memo in corporate speak in regard to an issue that many WNBA players see as a matter of life and death for their own families and loved ones was a classic case of turning something negotiable into something almost hostile.Now it can return to being negotiable. The players have a message, and they want to use their platform as professional athletes to voice it. They want to help build bridges between law enforcement and all communities.The fact that the WNBA players have been so vocal and so emotionally committed on this subject tells you that this is an area where they truly believe that they can help make positive changes. They wanted to feel that their league was really 100 percent behind them. And while I certainly havent polled the entirety of WNBA fandom, the majority of fans seem to support the players in this.Some observers might suspect that the WNBA rescinded the fines not out of a desire to effectively collaborate with the players on this initiative but because fining them was causing too much negative publicity. Id choose not to be that cynical, but maybe it is a mixture of both.Regardless, the WNBA has a kind of do-over on this topic that can get the league and its players on the same page, which is where everyone can do the most good. cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '