THE GLADIATORS GO ON STRIKE.

Kenosha and Wisconsin officials might have scheduled the Wednesday press conference on events in Kenosha to wrap up in time for a little bit of summer relief, in the form of a basketball playoff game.  (What can I say, it's a weird year, with the 2019-2020 title, if there is to be one, being determined about the time training camps ordinarily open.)  Then came word from Orlando that ... the Milwaukee Bucks were not warming up in advance of the tip-off.  They had other things on their minds.

Bucks players issued a joint statement, read by George Hill and Sterling Brown outside the locker room hours after the game was scheduled to be played:

“The past four months have shed a light on the ongoing racial injustices facing our African-American communities. Citizens around the country have used their voices and platforms to speak out against these wrongdoings.“… Over the last few days in our home state of Wisconsin, we’ve seen the horrendous video of Jacob Blake being shot in the back seven times by a police officer in Kenosha, and the additional shooting of protestors. Despite the overwhelming plea for change, there has been no action, so our focus today cannot be on basketball.

“When we take the court and represent Milwaukee and Wisconsin, we are expected to play at a high level, give maximum effort and hold each other accountable. We hold ourselves to that standard, and in this moment, we are demanding the same from our lawmakers and law enforcement.

Mr Brown had an unpleasant encounter with Milwaukee police a few seasons ago, and more than a few basketball players come from rough neighborhoods where the law enforcement might rub people the wrong way.  The Bucks were willing to forfeit their game with Orlando's Magic; that team declined the forfeit and sat out in solidarity.

That job action was the end of the playoff games for the day.  Whether there will be any more playoff games is still to be determined.

The Milwaukee Brewers had a home game scheduled, and they, too, decided to sit one out.  Cincinnati's Reds also declined the forfeit.  That game is being played as part of the quarantine special doubleheader of two seven-inning games, starting around five this evening.  The sympathy strike extended to the women's pro basketball bubble and to soccer leagues.

USA Today political pundit masquerading as sports reporter Nancy Armour weighs in.

Anyone who thinks this quiet rage will blow over, or won’t have a lasting impact, doesn’t recognize how significantly the world just shifted. For 400 years now, in word and deed, this country has told Black Americans that they have no power or sway. That they must “shut up and dribble,” as Black athletes are so often instructed.

By refusing to play, the Bucks said they are no longer willing to be America’s escape, celebrated when they’re entertaining us but treated like trash when they take off their uniforms. They will not be put off by the hollow promises of change each time another Black man or woman is killed or abused by police, and you can bet their courage will embolden others.

Maybe. There's a deeper problem, though, one I alluded to with that "rough neighborhoods" reference up above.  Rockford Auburn graduate Fred Van Vleet, currently with Toronto's Raptors, was thinking out loud about sitting the playoffs out a day or so before the Bucks took action.  Let me refresh your memories: in Rockford sports coverage, what goes on with the Raptors might be more important than whatever the (currently inactive) Bulls or Bucks do.

The Raptors held a team meeting Tuesday morning to discuss the Kenosha shooting and all that’s been unfolding. VanVleet was asked if the team discussed boycotting the upcoming series against the Celtics.

“A number of things are being discusssed. I’ll keep that between our team, but we’re dealing with it in real time, and I think it affects everybody differently.”

VanVleet is no stranger to violence and tragedy. His own father was shot and killed when VanVleet was only five years old, not by a police officer. And despite being in the NBA Bubble in Florida VanVleet is aware of the recent escalation of shootings in his hometown of Rockford. Shootings that police say are primarily gang members going after each other. Still those shootings lead to death, injury and family members that are hurting.

“There’s a lot of stuff for me going on back home,” said VanVleet. “People in my own community dieing [c.q.], not by the hands of police, but by being a product of their environment, so you try to take all that in and here we’re all isolated.” “My father was killed when I was young, so life is just a lot of things that go into taking all this information in.”

And then VanVleet also can’t help thinking about his two young children he’s raising who will grow up in a world that seems plagued by turmoil.

“To personalize a situation like that (the Kenosha shooting) I think about my babies having to see that or growing up my son is going to have to walk, you know, some of these same environments, and you have to teach the kids about how to interact with the police and what do to and what not to do. You become helpless a little bit, and it’s scary.”

A few people sign professional sports contracts. People who don't have Mr Van Vleet's jump shot, not so much.  And I haven't even looked at how many students in the Rockford public schools are reading and figuring at grade level.  I'm also disappointed that the Institute for the Study of Sport, Society, and Social Change have not, as of this morning, weighed in on the job actions, or engaged in any systematic way the social chaos Mr Van Vleet refers to, and whether that chaos hampers the kind of "investment in marginalized communities" the protesters, whether by their direct action, by their influence in Democratic politics, or by sitting out a few games, are hoping to get.

SECOND SECTION.  National Review's Jim Geraghty thinks along the same lines as Mr Van Vleet.

You’re going to hear a lot of angry words about spoiled millionaire athletes, but let’s take one moment to look at life through the eyes of an NBA player. At first glance, you’ve got it all: more money than most of us will ever see. Fame. In non-pandemic circumstances, crowds cheer your name. Kids look up to you. And on road trips, the hotel lobbies are full of aspiring groupies.

But all that money and fame can’t change the world. Maybe you’ve heard stories about your old neighborhood or community — where you came from before you moved into the big house or luxury condo in the desirable neighborhood. Maybe you’ve heard about police harassment, or your old friends getting pulled over for no discernable reason, or maybe an old classmate got shot by the cops under circumstances you think were unjustified. Sure, you can convince people to drink Gatorade or wear Adidas sneakers, but when it comes to what you would really like to see in the world, you’re powerless. You’re getting to live your dream, but so many people you care about are still so far from living anything resembling theirs. You “got out,” but you wish you hadn’t had to do that. You didn’t want to escape your old neighborhood; you wanted your old neighborhood to be the kind of place where everyone would want to live.

Indeed, and the strategies that will improve that old neighborhood require the same sort of hard work that developing that jump shot or Euro step took.