Globale News » Bruces homer sent Cincinnati to a 4-2 win

SAN FRANCISCO - A high school basketball tournament on the Northern California coast has become the latest flashpoint in the ongoing protests over police killings of unarmed black men after a school was disinvited because of concerns its players would wear T-shirts printed with the words I Cant Breathe during warmups.The athletic director at Fort Bragg High School informed his counterpart at Mendocino High School this week that neither the boys nor girls team would be allowed to participate in the three-day tournament hosted by Fort Bragg High starting Monday, Mendocino Unified School District Superintendent Jason Morse said.The boys were reinstated after all but one player agreed not to wear the shirts inspired by the last words of Eric Garner, the New York man who died after an officer put him in a chokehold, while on the Fort Bragg campus during the Vern Piver Holiday Classic tournament, Morse said. Too few girl players accepted the condition for the team to field a tournament squad, he said.Mendocino varsity teams first wore the I Cant Breathe T-shirts before a game with Fort Bragg on Dec. 16, according to the girls coach, Caedyn Feehan. The girls also wore them before games at two other tournaments and didnt receive any blowback, Feehan said.I didnt even know what it meant. I thought it was a joke about how I had conditioned them so hard, Feehan said. None of the administrators knew what it was or that any of them were doing it in advance. This was entirely for their cause that they had strong feelings about.Professional basketball players such as LeBron James, Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving wore I Cant Breathe shirts during warmups this month without repercussions from the NBA. After Kobe Bryant and other Los Angeles Lakers players wore them before a game and on the bench on Dec. 9, coach Byron Scott said he viewed it as a matter of freedom of choice and freedom of speech.Thats how Marc Woods, whose 16-year-old son Connor plans to sit out the tournament, sees it. Connor wore the T-shirt at the Dec. 16 game in the name of team solidarity, but the shirt has now taken a constitutional angle, the father said.Marc Woods said he brought the issue to the American Civil Liberties Union, and hopes to hear back after the holidays. He referred to a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Tinker v. Des Moines, which found high school students wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War were protected by the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.This is completely a First Amendment issue, Marc Woods said. Thats why Im offended.Bruce Triplett, the athletic director at Fort Bragg High, did not return a call and email seeking comment. Principal Rebecca Walker issued a written statement Friday saying school administrators respected the Mendocino teams for paying attention to what is going on in the world around them and that the T-shirts were being prohibited as a security precaution.To protect the safety and well-being of all tournament participants it is necessary to ensure that all political statements and or protests are kept away from this tournament, wrote Walker, who said she was speaking on behalf of the athletic director and the Fort Bragg school superintendent. We are a small school district that simply does not have the resources to ensure the safety and well-being of our staff, students and guests at the tournament should someone get upset and choose to act out.Marc Woods, whose father was a California Highway Patrol officer, said he is outraged by what he sees as using intimidation to silence players and fans. Fort Bragg administrators have warned spectators who plan to protest the T-shirt ban that they will be asked to leave, he said.It doesnt take a lot to suppress the exchange of ideas when you put fear into it, Marc Woods said.Both schools are located in Mendocino County, known for redwood forests, rugged coastline and marijuana-growing, located 120 miles north of San Francisco. The student bodies at the two schools are 1 per cent black and 50 per cent white and 41 per cent Hispanic at Fort Bragg, 75 per cent white and 9 per cent Hispanic at Mendocino._____Associated Press Fresno Correspondent Scott Smith contributed to this report. Anthony Miller Jersey . -- Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera has a broken bone below his right eye after being struck by a bad-hop grounder, sidelining the star slugger for at least a week with opening day on deck. Isaiah Irving Jersey . Hes even holding a bat on one of his 2014 baseball cards. So far, hes playing like his picture. http://www.cheapbearsjerseyschina.com/el...n-jersey/.Corey Brewer had 19 points eight rebounds, five assists and five steals for the Timberwolves, who snapped a six-game losing streak and won for just the third time since Ricky Rubio went out with an injured ankle on Nov. Abdullah Anderson Jersey .S. routed Sweden 7-0 Sunday to win its fourth straight title and seventh overall under-18 world championship. Olson earned his third shutout of the tournament and the Americans allowed only four goals in six games to set an International Ice Hockey Federation under-18 record. Ryan Nall Jersey . Her return engagement begins tonight as TSN presents Day 1 coverage of the 2015 event from Melbourne. Watch Eugenie Bouchards opening round match at the Australian Open live tonight on TSN5 at 3am et/Midnight pt.CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Jay Bruce homered again for a first-game win. Billy Hamilton finished off Cincinnatis biggest comeback of the season for a doubleheader sweep. Finally, the Reds sense they are making headway. Bruces homer sent Cincinnati to a 4-2 win in the opener on Tuesday, and Hamiltons ninth-inning single gave the Reds a 6-5 victory and a sweep of the last-place Chicago Cubs. With three wins in two days over Chicago, the Reds moved within 3 1/2 games of first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central, their smallest deficit since April 9. "It just unifies all of us," manager Bryan Price said. "We just feel really good right now." So good that some of them wanted to keep going at the end of a very long day. "Lets play three!" Hamilton said. "Im ready to go right now." The Reds fell behind 5-0 in the third inning of the nightcap. Their biggest comeback of the season had been two runs. They took advantage of a struggling team, sending Chicago to its fifth straight loss. Bruce doubled home the tying run in the eighth. Hamilton then had a broken-bat RBI single in the ninth off Hector Rondon (1-3) for the Reds first doubleheader sweep since 2009 against Pittsburgh. Hamilton has driven in six runs during the series, relishing the clutch situations. "I love em," Hamilton said. "I want to be the guy in a situation like that." The Cubs have been swept in all three of their doubleheaders this season. They havent won a game since trading starters Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to Oakland for a package of prospects. In the opener, Bruce returned to right field and hit another two-run homer, connecting off Travis Wood (7-7) during a three-run first inning. Johnny Cueto (9-6) extended his stretch of success against the Cubs. He is 5-0 in his last seven starts against Chicago with a 1.19 ERA. Chris Coghlan homered in both games and helped the Cubs get in position for a split, but Chicagos bullpen couldnt hold on. Cooghlan hit the first of three homers off left-hander David Holmberg, who lasted only 2 2-3 innings in his Reds debut.dddddddddddd Coghlan is 7 for 12 in the series with two homers and two doubles. Left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada made his major league debut and gave up an unearned run in five innings, leaving with a 5-1 lead. Hamiltons RBI triple cut it to 5-4 in the seventh, and Bruce -- playing first base in the nightcap -- had another pivotal extra-base hit against Pedro Strop. Rondon gave up a pair of singles to open the ninth, and Hamilton singled to the opposite field for the win. The Reds put first baseman Joey Votto back on the disabled list before Game 1, hoping a strained muscle above his left knee will heal enough to let him play this season. Theyre using different players -- including Bruce -- at the position for now. "The only thing you can see thats positive out of this is its creating opportunities for other guys to play and theyre taking advantage of it," Price said. Bruce played right field in the first game and connected in the first inning off Wood. That made three straight games in which the left-handed hitter had a two-run homer off a lefty. Bruce has 50 homers off lefties during the last five seasons, the most by any player in the majors. Cueto gave up six hits in 6 1-3 innings, including back-to-back homers in the sixth by Coghlan and Ryan Sweeney. Manny Parra pitched out of a one-out, bases-loaded threat in the seventh. Aroldis Chapman gave up a hit and a walk in the ninth while getting his 18th save in 20 chances. NOTES: The opening game made up an April 28 postponement. ... The start of the second game was delayed 35 minutes because of a forecast of rain. ... Junior Lake snapped an 0 for