|
|
Post by Native One on Mar 5, 2022 21:51:04 GMT
Brittney Griner has been arrested in Russia, as she tried to leave the Country. The WNBA is working trying to get her back to the USA.
|
|
|
|
Post by jbb1985 on Mar 5, 2022 21:55:17 GMT
If she was not American, not a very tall African-American female athlete, I doubt her luggage would have been extensively searched to turn up modest amount of hash oil.
|
|
|
|
Post by russ4uconn on Mar 5, 2022 22:01:26 GMT
If she was not American, not a very tall African-American female athlete, I doubt her luggage would have been extensively searched to turn up modest amount of hash oil. She should have known better either way! Leave IT!!! |
|
|
|
Post by storygordon on Mar 5, 2022 22:05:19 GMT
She's 6' 9". I think that would be high enough. 
|
|
|
|
Post by jerryangel on Mar 6, 2022 0:02:47 GMT
Brittney Griner has been arrested in Russia, as she tried to leave the Country. The WNBA is working trying to get her back to the USA.
Putin has called gender fluidity “a crime against humanity,” and equated homosexuality with pedophilia. Griner is gay. |
|
|
|
Post by jbb1985 on Mar 6, 2022 3:18:48 GMT
If she was not American, not a very tall African-American female athlete, I doubt her luggage would have been extensively searched to turn up modest amount of hash oil. She should have known better either way! Leave IT!!! True. But in the past when the WNBA stars played for the Russian oligarchs they were treated as rock stars and special. But she should have guessed the Russian attitude has massively changed to Americans and others in the last 3 weeks. Leave it was smart move. |
|
|
|
Post by jerryangel on Mar 6, 2022 11:39:05 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by momandapplepie on Mar 6, 2022 17:15:07 GMT
I came to the board today specifically looking for thoughts on this news. This impacts women's basketball but transcends it and intertwines sports with current events. Jerry's point about BG's gayness being a huge nonstarter in neanderthal Russia is a real issue. As a gay American who was caught with drugs (not really 'drugs' but that is a different debate) in a hostile conservative dictatorship, I have to think that BG is in huge trouble.
It amazes me that it took weeks for us to hear about this. It does not amaze me that we have very little information from media-suppressing Russia on where she is and what her life has been like since her detention. I heard a defense attorney on the news this morning opine that BG's best chances probably lay with the Oligarch(s) that own the Russian team she plays for. They have the contacts, influence, and ability to grease palms that might be able to extricate her. In the meantime, all we can do is pray for her safe return.
|
|
|
|
Post by RobertoClemente02 on Mar 8, 2022 0:55:35 GMT
I came to the board today specifically looking for thoughts on this news. This impacts women's basketball but transcends it and intertwines sports with current events. Jerry's point about BG's gayness being a huge nonstarter in neanderthal Russia is a real issue. As a gay American who was caught with drugs (not really 'drugs' but that is a different debate) in a hostile conservative dictatorship, I have to think that BG is in huge trouble. It amazes me that it took weeks for us to hear about this. It does not amaze me that we have very little information from media-suppressing Russia on where she is and what her life has been like since her detention. I heard a defense attorney on the news this morning opine that BG's best chances probably lay with the Oligarch(s) that own the Russian team she plays for. They have the contacts, influence, and ability to grease palms that might be able to extricate her. In the meantime, all we can do is pray for her safe return. Firstly, there is no love lost between the WNBA and The Euro League. It's a well documented fact that our stars go abroad for the money they don't make playing in the WNBA. Taurasi is paid 1.5 million to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg. Griner has been earning seven figures with UMMC Ekaterinburg since 2014, as has Sue Bird. The list of WNBA players to play for UMMC reads like a GOAT List. I don't think being Gay is the problem here. The Russian public is more concerned with winning Euro League Championships than sexual orientation. Putin is anti LGBTQ+ because they protest and advocate for Western style rights. The right of self-determination undermines Putin's Kleptocracy and rejects his notions of Empire. The real problem here for Griner besides her poor judgment is that she gave Putin a reason to hold her and prosecute her. Once again, drug laws in Russia are used to prosecute dissent. Young people in Russia prefer drugs to copious amounts of Vodka. For Griner, she's given Putin a legal way to hold her indefinitely while he carries out his invasion of Ukraine. She a valuable pawn at the moment. The only reason we even know she was detained three weeks ago was because of Angel McCoughtrey. Griner's wife, nor her agent Lindsay Colas (who also represents Paige) made the disclosure. This leads me to believe that the back channels were not fruitful. No doubt in my mind that Colas didn't want to deal with a drug rap through disclosure. They hired Russian Counsel and all back channels available. It didn't work. She's a State Department matter now. |
|
|
|
Post by jerryangel on Mar 8, 2022 4:28:23 GMT
I came to the board today specifically looking for thoughts on this news. This impacts women's basketball but transcends it and intertwines sports with current events. Jerry's point about BG's gayness being a huge nonstarter in neanderthal Russia is a real issue. As a gay American who was caught with drugs (not really 'drugs' but that is a different debate) in a hostile conservative dictatorship, I have to think that BG is in huge trouble. It amazes me that it took weeks for us to hear about this. It does not amaze me that we have very little information from media-suppressing Russia on where she is and what her life has been like since her detention. I heard a defense attorney on the news this morning opine that BG's best chances probably lay with the Oligarch(s) that own the Russian team she plays for. They have the contacts, influence, and ability to grease palms that might be able to extricate her. In the meantime, all we can do is pray for her safe return. Firstly, there is no love lost between the WNBA and The Euro League. It's a well documented fact that our stars go abroad for the money they don't make playing in the WNBA. Taurasi is paid 1.5 million to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg. Griner has been earning seven figures with UMMC Ekaterinburg since 2014, as has Sue Bird. The list of WNBA players to play for UMMC reads like a GOAT List. I don't think being Gay is the problem here. The Russian public is more concerned with winning Euro League Championships than sexual orientation. Putin is anti LGBTQ+ because they protest and advocate for Western style rights. The right of self-determination undermines Putin's Kleptocracy and rejects his notions of Empire. The real problem here for Griner besides her poor judgment is that she gave Putin a reason to hold her and prosecute her. Once again, drug laws in Russia are used to prosecute dissent. Young people in Russia prefer drugs to copious amounts of Vodka. For Griner, she's given Putin a legal way to hold her indefinitely while he carries out his invasion of Ukraine. She a valuable pawn at the moment. The only reason we even know she was detained three weeks ago was because of Angel McCoughtrey. Griner's wife, nor her agent Lindsay Colas (who also represents Paige) made the disclosure. This leads me to believe that the back channels were not fruitful. No doubt in my mind that Colas didn't want to deal with a drug rap through disclosure. They hired Russian Counsel and all back channels available. It didn't work. She's a State Department matter now.
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/russia-ukraine-crisis-complicates-american-white-evangelicals-love-putin-n1290442 |
|
|
|
Post by jerryangel on Mar 9, 2022 2:45:45 GMT
Anxiety and uncertainty grow after basketball star Brittney Griner's arrest in Russia
www.cnn.com/2022/03/08/world/brittney-griner-russia-arrest-family-friends/index.html
"Our diplomatic relationships with Russia are nonexistent at the moment," Democratic Rep. John Garamendi of California told CNN on Monday.
"Perhaps during the various negotiations that may take place, she might be able to be one of the solutions. I don't know."
He also noted that "Russia has some very, very strict LGBT rules and laws" -- though it's not clear whether those rules and laws might impact Griner's case. Russia has passed LGBTQ-related legislation and outlawed the "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations around minors."
|
|
|
|
Post by jerryangel on Mar 9, 2022 8:44:51 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by russ4uconn on Mar 9, 2022 12:24:45 GMT
|
|
