INDIANAPOLIS -- When I was younger, like a lot of folks, I spoke out on anything I had a strong opinion about -- even when it would have been best to just keep my mouth shut.As I got older, I became more diplomatic. More thoughtful. More calculating. There are times when the best thing to say really is nothing. Not everything is worth arguing over.Also because you realize no matter what you say, the vast majority of your fellow humans arent listening and dont care anyway. I dont mean to sound defeatist. Its just that I think with age comes a kind of resignation that, to a degree, were all shouting into the wind.But you know what? Even if thats all Im doing -- shouting into the endless, howling hurricane that is the Internet -- I support the WNBA players who kneeled during the national anthem at Wednesdays Indiana-Phoenix game. And?all the leagues players who are speaking out and peacefully protesting the mistreatment of black citizens in this country. Like other athletes who are doing this, they hope to spark not just dialogue, but substantive changes that are necessary.WNBA players are among the best-educated and most worldly professional athletes I have encountered. Most of them have spent a lot of time playing overseas, and they care very deeply about many issues. The Black Lives Matter movement and the overall topic of racial injustice is not some kind of fad, or a chance to show off as some ridiculously accuse.Ive covered the WNBA since its inception in 1997, and womens basketball since I was a college freshman in 1984. Ive spent most of my adult life writing about female athletes, and a large percentage of those women have been black.There have been times when Ive questioned if I was always the right person to do some stories Ive done. Not because I didnt care enough or wasnt invested enough. But because I wondered if my life experience was such that I might not have been the person that black women related to well enough to fully share their lives.I grew up in a very small town in Missouri, and went to a high school of about 800 total students, probably 98 percent of them white. Heck, it might have been 99 percent. I went to Mizzou in the 1980s, where it was not uncommon to have entire classrooms of white students every day. I dont recall working with any black journalists at the student newspaper.The black students I knew mostly were athletes. I admired them, and I really liked talking with them. But I wasnt sure how well I was truly getting to know them. I wondered, Do they trust me? Do they think Im fair to them? Do they think I understand them?All these years later, I sometimes still ask myself those questions. But Im so grateful and thankful that Ive been able to tell their stories of winning and losing, of peaks and valleys, of great joy and, unfortunately, some deep sorrows.Heres the bottom line: There would not be a WNBA -- and I wouldnt have this career -- if it were not for the toil, the strength, the ability and the courage of black women. So what they care about, I care about. What they worry about is a concern to me. When they speak, I listen. Its my job, but its also at the very core of why I wanted to do the job in the first place.Yes, were all human beings, and to an extent share the same experiences. But race continues to be a factor in how many people are treated, how they live and how they feel they are perceived.I dont pretend I can know exactly what its like to walk in anothers footsteps, but I can empathize. Such as when a player like Phoenixs Kelsey Bone, who kneeled Wednesday, said that she worries about her father, her brothers, her uncles, her cousins, her friends.What happens if I get a phone call? she said. If one of them is next?Many WNBA players have had these concerns all their lives, and they have reached a point where they cant stay silent. Or as Phoenixs Mistie Bass, who also kneeled Wednesday, put it, My heart was just too heavy to stand today. I did this to say, Enough is enough. I think people are starting to see athletes coming together of all races.Even if the WNBAs platform isnt nearly as big as, say, an NFL platform, the fact that you see a team do like Indiana did -- kneel all at once -- thats powerful.Bass was not critical of those of her teammates who did not kneel. She spoke passionately about her support for law enforcement, and that this is not an attack on police, or the military, or the flag, or patriotism.I understand what shes saying, and it totally makes sense to me. But on topics like this, emotions run incredibly high, to say the least. There will be those who condemn the WNBA players for their actions, or mock them by saying nobody cares about the league, or both.Im not going to change those minds, or even dent them. Thats not the point.But just as you figure out when its best to stay quiet, you also figure out when it really matters to say something. I support what the WNBA players are doing, and I respect their choices -- those who decided to kneel, and those who didnt -- because I respect them as caring, intelligent people who are trying to make the world a better place for everyone. Air Max 270 Pink Womens . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. 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Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player.TORONTO -- Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Mark Fraser said he was feeling great Thursday morning, although his face told a different story. The burly blue-liners forehead was swollen, his right eye bloodshot, a gnarly trail of stitches curling from the top of his nose to above his eyebrow. He met with reporters at a season-ending availability a week after undergoing facial surgery after taking a puck in the face during Torontos first-round playoff loss to Boston. Fraser suffered a frontal skull fracture on the shot from Milan Lucic but considers himself lucky it wasnt more serious. "Thankfully as far as my injury goes, it could have been a lot worse," he said in the teams locker-room at Air Canada Centre. "Im thankful I have recovered the way I have already." Fraser did not suffer a concussion and has not had any vision problems or any other serious issues. The 26-year-old Ottawa native said he expects to make a full recovery. The six-foot-four, 220-pounder plans to meet regularly with doctors over the next few weeks and does not yet have a firm timeline in place for his off-season routine. The incident occurred in Game 4 on May 8 at Air Canada Centre. Fraser immediately fell to the ice after he was hit near the Toronto net. "I was in an incredible amount of pain but I knew that my vision was OK, I knew that it didnt hit my eye," he said. "So that was an instant relief while I was on the ice too." A trainer came rushing out to assist him. A few seeconds later, Fraser was back up and skated off the ice for treatment.dddddddddddd "I saw that there was a lot of blood and a pretty big cut," he said. "So I dont think youre going to help yourself staying on the ice in that situation. Broken legs and dislocated shoulders -- perhaps you might need help getting off. "But this was sort of an emergency laceration. Staying on the ice was not going to help me fix the problem at all." Fraser, who had eight assists and 85 penalty minutes in 45 games this season, knew at least 10 stitches were needed but didnt have an exact number. He cant blow his nose for a month and said the headaches are manageable. "Theyre not actually too severe," Fraser said. "The injury is severe but my pain right now isnt." Fraser does not wear a visor but plans to use one when he gets back to skating and practising in the summer. He couldnt travel with the Maple Leafs as they fought back from a 3-1 series deficit to force a seventh game in Boston. Toronto blew a three-goal lead and eventually lost in overtime. "I felt very low knowing probably what they were going through, the way the series ended," Fraser said. "Not being able to be there with them and share that emotion and that feeling. It was one of the most devastating, hardest ways to lose and to watch your team lose. "The toughest thing for me was just not being able to physically be there, to be a part of it with the guys." ' ' '