Neues » after straining his right quadriceps on Sept. 2

The espnW Pegasus Award for Inspiration was created in honor of Special Olympics gold medalist Olivia Quigley, who was a 2015 IMPACT25 athlete, and who recently lost her battle to cancer this fall.Paulette Leaphart is this years recipient of the award. She is a breast cancer survivor, and in bravely walking topless -- her mastectomy scars revealed to the world -- to bring awareness to the conversation around cancer, Leaphart embodies Olivias bold spirit.Poet Nikky Finney was also inspired by Leapharts journey and wrote this original poem for her, which she performed at the espnW Women + Sports Summit.Modesty is a lie. -- Maya Angelou ?She is a girly girl born with a beautiful pelvisLiving in New Orleans, two feet, two breasts,Eight children, curvaceous and cute, she turnsHeads everyday, social works to pay the bills,Whispers to God. Shes in her 40s when GodWhispers back, that bewildering, 3rd generation,Stage 2, pummeling, Black woman news. Its$5000 a month to stay alive. She loses Ta-tas,Job, car, house. The long scar on her chest runsHorizontal with the horizon. She sews her eyesDown its back. A hot air balloon lifts her throughChemotherapy, beyond despair, arriving in Biloxi.Somewhere along the road to 50 she overhearsThat the pelvis is what makes us human.Her mother hands over black on black sneakersWith an ancestral silver toe and hip silver swoosh.Her grandmother loans her a pair of loudLime green, South African, Balega socks.?Hit the road daughter. The girly girl knowsShe doesnt need breasts to walk, or breastsTo be a girly girl, with both hands she raisesHer blouse over her head. The sun paintsHer chest the same shade of girl that it didForty years before when she was just 8 and justAn unknown girl on a beach, topless, with breastsStill sleeping in the bones curl just below herClavicle. When a Black woman decides toWalk topless for 1034 miles things get aligned.Ears line up over shoulders. Shoulders overHips. Hips over knees. Her spine is soonShot out of a cannon just like the 1850 InsomniacHarriet, her nipples calibrating due north andFreedom instead of sleep. When a Black womanMakes up her mind to walk topless for 1034 miles,A film crew can change their mind but a daughtersWitnessing eyes are irreversible. MadelinesEight-year-old breasts are still in the deep sleepOf girlhood when they leave, just like Retro girlyGirl back on the beach. She sets sail from BiloxiOn April 30. Her ghost nipples spin as dualCompass. Five miles an hour, eight hours a day,For sixty days. Topless in the sun and the drivingRain. The Republics electronic Book of Faces hearsThe news and goes neon. 10,000,000 eyes dial in.The first of twelve police cars stop her. She smilesAnd holds a class in indecent exposure along the sideOf the road. There are no Toni Morrison benchesTo hold them so they stand. Resolution: Its notIllegal for her shirt to be off if her nipples are only Ghosts, following overhead but not really there.On the police car radio NPR is interviewingJohn Napier, paleontologist. The topic is walking.As the policemen finish up their Selfie with theTopless woman, who can still turn a head, theyDo not hear the paleontologist say, HumanWalking is unique. The body, step by step, teetersOn the edge of catastrophe. The mother-daughterTeam is back on the road. The girly girl has 100Ligaments in each of her feet. Her transverse archIs the major weight-bearing bridge in her body.Her Achilles is her most critical tendon, running fromHer calf muscle to the back of her heel, helping herPush off with her toes and propel her body towardSenators and marble halls and the back of MadelinesStroller. With each step she takes a new beauty shopIs under new Construction. This one will not beDesigned & Assembled by the Chairman of the BoardOf Ta-tas. She moves one foot in front of the other.Highway 29, Highway 1, The Jeff Davis highway,The Warren Abernathy road, the Blue Star highway,The monument to the signer of the Declaration ofIndependence in Georgia, the Indian mounds ofNorth Carolina. The topless girly girl keeps an eyeOut for the June Jordan Expressway. The Audre LordeHighway. The Gilda Radner overpass. The 7th of 12Police cars pulls up alongside Madelines stroller. InEach new jurisdiction the men and women in blueWant to have a word with her, want to survey theTopography of her chest, want answers shes patientlyAlready given seven times before, want to make sureThere is no indecent exposure taking place on theJeff Davis Highway north. Another class on the sameTopic is held. Over and again the girly girl explainsThat wanting to live is legal in every state.For 60 days the sneering breathtaking rocky roadExhaust of 18 wheelers coats her mouth. ThroughDust tar and fumes she passes Used Car Lots,Daydreaming of driving the rest of the way in aCanary yellow Mustang, convertible. There areStrip Malls, Mexican restaurants, neon motel signsAdvertising 20 dollar-a-Night Rooms, and 19Holy ghost praise houses leaning in with tambourine.The handmaidens of 40, 290 women take turnsRubbing her legs down every night. Mother andMadeline munch on 5 pounds of peaches, 4 poundsOf plums, they talk about school and family and howDifferent the rain feels when you cannot run from it.The mother-daughter train stops to read historicalMarkers from Biloxi to Washington DC. The womanWho has been known to turn a head wants MadelineTo know how the world was made and how it canBe made differently. She does not drink enough water.Its April, Its May, Its June. The pavement meltsBeneath their feet. The asphalt doesnt care that sheDoesnt have breasts, doesnt care that Madeline is8, the blisters, callus feet, the inside of her palms growStones, are bloody. She keeps pushing Madelines tinySleeping breasts on up the road. Its a tar beach voyage.And Madeline will not be next. The ghosts of 40,290Dead women whisper that they have voted to take theirTops off too. Solidarity forever. Mother and daughterEat Little Debbie pies and suck on firecracker popsiclesUntil their lips are red, white, and blue. StrangersFollowing them on the Republics electronic Book of FacesPull up alongside for Selfies. They deposit small tubsOf watermelon, a box of KFC, a foil bag of Chick-fil-A,Another woman drops off a homemade plate made fromHer own dinner pots. The gravel on the road hitchhikesA ride inside their shoes. The pommeling rain turns theJeff Davis highway into a sliding mud pit of summerQuicksand. The girly girls breastplate, complete withHorizon scar, has been staring back at the sun and theRain for 45 uncommon days. What does the world seeWhen a Black woman accustomed to being a womanAnd turning heads takes off her top and walks 1034Miles across America up a highway named for thePresident of the Confederacy? A woman teeteringOn the edge of catastrophe? A girly girl with herMissing ghost nipples now turned tuning forks turnedToward freedom? She is a woman they cannot arrestFor not having what they believe she should haveIn order to be called a woman? The burning summerRain sizzles on the hot asphalt. The sun bakes theirTwo backs into a portrait of two thirsty MarigoldsClimbing. A truck door swings open by mistake hittingThe girly girl as it passes. Pitch and roll girly girl. GetUp. A woman who has refused her own catastropheIs walking across America with her daughter. PoliceCar no. 12 arrives. Madeline is asleep. Why dontThey talk to each other on their blue-way radios?Cant someone dispatch the update? A Black womanWalking topless across America is not illegal. The girlyGirls pelvis evolved 1.9 million years ago.This noble Soldered saddle of bones is what makes us stand upright.Helps us change direction, spin, swivel, adjust, reach,Reconfigure, when we find we need to march on andNot crumble. The long column of our human bodyRequires the marvel of the pelvis to conduct whenAll else fails. The missing Ta-tas are not what matter.The pelvis matters. The dead women of the ChorusOf Breast Cancer matter. God finding the girly girlOn the beach and whispering Go Topless in her earMatters. Her mind is 1034 miles away on the marbleSteps of Congress waiting for the rest of her to arrive.Dear Senator ______, you dont know me but my pelvis is 1.9 million years old and 60, 290 women with pelvises just like mine received a new breast cancer diagnosis in 2015 and 40, 290 died of the disease. I would like a minute of your time. I did not fly here. My testimony was not subpoenaed. I am not the kind of woman to bare all but I have walked topless to show what I will not hide.When her breasts were cut away she decidedTo travel light. She packed nothing of excess.Only essentials. Firecracker popsicles. Peaches.Intact Pelvis. Sweet Oil of Madeline. Three changesOf clothing. A cell phone. A Stroller. And herDaily Dear God. Her prayers fueled by the powerOf electrolytes and the salt and pepper kindnessStrangers. In the blazing summer sun the sweetGeorgia peaches go down easy in the warmthOf mother and daughter mouths. You can stillBe alive without your breasts. Im still beautiful.The girly girl proclaims. Certainly, no less a woman.The woman who can still turn a head is showingThe world what a womans body looks like whenWar has been declared. The look of more thanCatastrophe. How the curve of the human spineWill absorb the sad shock of news it did not wantTo hear. The magic of Bipedal locomotion + strongKnees when we stand it up then hold out our armsAnd say Walk. The breast-less body in full sail,Moving the wheels of the determined mind. Theorchestra of the pelvis singing from the HymnalOf Courage, page 24. What it means to be womanAnd opening a new beauty shop without permit,License, or permission. The birthday sunrise of theGirly girl arrives. Its June 30th. She pushes MadelinesStroller past Quantico, the Pentagon, the 14th StreetBridge. The steps of the Capitol see her. MadelineStands up. Senator, thank you for seeing me.Popsicle? Peach? What say you about a cure?Nikky Finney has written four books of poetry, including Head Off & Split, for which she won the 2011 National Book Award. She wrote this original piece for the 2016 espnW Women + Sports Summit. http://www.authenticshoptitans.com/derrick-henry-jersey/ . Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday that allowed the veteran right-hander to retire as a member of team with which he broke into the majors and spent the bulk of his distinguished 16-year career. http://www.authenticshoptitans.com/kevin-dodd-jersey/ . Aaron Harrison scored a 22 points for Kentucky (6-1), which has won four in a row following a Nov. 12 loss to current No. 1 Michigan State. Julius Randle overcame a scoreless first half and added his sixth double-double in as many games with 14 points and 10 rebounds. http://www.authenticshoptitans.com/avery-williamson-jersey/ . To the surprise of many, it isnt the Wolverines but their in-state rivals the Michigan State Spartans. http://www.authenticshoptitans.com/adoree-jackson-jersey/ . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. http://www.authenticshoptitans.com/leshaun-sims-jersey/ . "Hes going to have hip surgery on Jan. 7, and hell be expected to rehabilitate for four to six months beyond that," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said Friday in an interview. CLEVELAND -- Boom! Bang! Pow! Nine pitches, three homers, one devastating inning.Back in Octobers spotlight, the Cleveland Indians rocked Rick Porcello for three long balls in the third inning in their AL Division Series opener. Francisco Lindors homer capped the rampage off the 22-game winner, and the Indians held on to beat the Boston Red Sox 5-4 Thursday night.Lindor, Jason Kipnis and Robert Perez went deep in the third off Porcello, who lasted 4? innings in his shortest outing this year.After skipping down the third-base line and touching home plate, Lindor pointed toward the starry sky.If this is what Octobers like, I want to do this every year, Lindor said. I didnt even know where I was. I was just jumping and screaming.Before a sea of red-towel waving, screaming fans, the Indians got a jump in the best-of-5 series against David Ortiz and the AL East champions.Andrew Miller, acquired by Cleveland in a July trade for an October night like this, pitched two scoreless innings for the win . Summoned by manager Terry Francona earlier than usual, the lefty struck out Ortiz with two on to end the fifth and threw a season-high 40 pitches.Bryan Shaw gave up a leadoff homer to Bostons Brock Holt in the eighth that made it 5-4 before Cody Allen struck out Xander Bogaerts with the potential tying run at third to end the inning. Boston put a runner on with two outs in the ninth but Allen fanned Dustin Pedroia on a full-count checked-swing , his 40th pitch, for the save. Pedroia was livid, and Farrell went onto the field to question plate umpire Brian Knight.Pedroia had a few words for first-base umpire Phil Cuzzi and then fired his helmet in disgust on his way into the dugout.Later, Bostons fiery second baseman regretted his actions.I went, but I just was frustrated with the situation, he said. Ill apologize to Phil tomorrow for giving him a piece of my mind.Ortiz went 1 for 4 with a double in the first game of his final postseason.Rookie Andrew Benintendi and Sandy Leon also homered for the Red Sox, who will start David Price in Game 2 in the shadows Friday afternoon against Cleveland ace Corey Kluber.Cleveland unloaded on Porcello in the third, connecting for the three homers that shook Progressive Field.Perez started the salvo with just his second homer in 82 at-bats at home this season. One out later, Kipnis drove a pitch over the wall in right-center, giving Cleveland a 3-2 lead and sending the raucous crowd of 37,763 into delirium. Kipnis had just finished getting a celebratory ride throough the dugout when Lindors shot to right barely cleared a leaping attempt by Mookie Betts.ddddddddddddAfter the first one it was exciting, Kipnis said. After mine it was even kind of getting nuts in there. And the third one our dugout was kind of losing it. We played with a lot of energy. We played with a lot of emotion. Thats the way our team goes. Weve got up and down the lineup, 25 guys who are baseball players who love to compete and we ride the waves.And that was a pretty high one.Leons homer pulled the Red Sox to 4-3 in the fifth. Francona, who won two World Series with the Red Sox before coming to Cleveland, pulled starter Trevor Bauer for Miller, who hadnt come in earlier than the sixth all season.Miller gave up a double and walk before getting Ortiz to swing at a low third strike .Francona extended both Miller and Allen knowing the importance of winning the opener.Well take inventory of what we got, he said. Youre certainly not going to see the same exact way tomorrow. But we wanted to win the game tonight and we did. Tomorrow might have to be a little bit different design.SPEEDY PEREZCleveland tacked on another run in the fifth, helped by Perezs alert baserunning. The slow-footed catcher tagged and took second on a fly to left and scored on Kipnis single to make it 5-3.I saw the ball kept carrying, Perez. I think he kind of hesitated to throw it back or probably didnt know I was going to tag up, Perez said of Benintendi. I normally dont do that. I was taking advantage of the situation. I did it on my own. It worked out for us. We scored a run.ICE KLUBEThe winning pitcher in the 2016 All-Star Game, Kluber will make his postseason debut in Game 2. He was on the roster when Cleveland was a wild-card team in 2013, but didnt pitch.Im sure there will be some nerves, Kluber said. But at the same time, I get nervous if its a live practice in spring training. It just means you care.The 2014 AL Cy Young winner will start on 10 days rest after straining his right quadriceps on Sept. 26 at Detroit. Kluber admits he wont know if the injury is healed until he steps on the mound, but he has thrown two bullpen sessions without issues.TRAINERS ROOMIndians: RHP Danny Salazar (strained forearm) was sent to the teams training complex in Goodyear, Arizona, to build up his arm strength. Salazar has been out since Sept. 9. He, too, could be available in the next round. Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '