“We need to pause and reflect on the events that are causing such pain and hardship to our local community and country,” the Brewers said in a statement. “The entire organization is committed to putting the spotlight on racial injustice, inequality, and the necessity for change.”
The Seattle Mariners, a team reportedly with the most black players in the majors, decided not to play San Diego on Wednesday, saying the team stands “with our players as they speak out with their words and actions against social injustice.”
The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants also postponed their game.
The WNBA postponed its three-game schedule Wednesday night. Major League Soccer called off five games.
Tired and demanding change
It all started with the Bucks. The top team in the Eastern Conference was scheduled to play Orlando in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series. The Bucks lead 3-1. Orlando took the court to warm up, but the Bucks didn’t. Soon it became apparent the Milwaukee players weren’t going to come out. The basketballs were put away. The referees left the court.
Guard George Hill told Marc Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated, the Bucks weren’t playing in light of the shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday. Blake survived, but his family says he was paralyzed after being repeatedly shot in the back while trying to climb into the driver’s side of a vehicle.
“We’re tired of the killings and the injustice,” Hill said.
The NBA’s most prominent player, LeBron James, was scheduled to play Wednesday with his Los Angeles Lakers hoping to clinch their first-round series against Portland.
James, with 47 million Twitter followers, spoke for many athletes when he tweeted an expletive, and then this: “WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT.”
The day after Blake was shot by police, the Bucks’ Hill echoed another growing sentiment felt by some players—frustration about living in the NBA’s pandemic-protected environment, referred to as the bubble, near Orlando, Fla.