SAN ANTONIO -- Minnesota Lynx players did not wear T-shirts supporting the Black Lives Matter movement ahead of Tuesdays game in San Antonio after four off-duty police officers walked away from security jobs at a Lynx game over the weekend because of the garb. Orlando Cepeda Jersey .The shirts worn before Saturdays game in Minneapolis against the Dallas Wings listed the names of two black men fatally shot by police in Minnesota and Louisiana. The shirts also showed the Dallas police shield above the phrase Black Lives Matter. Five officers in Dallas were fatally shot last Thursday by a sniper during a protest over the two slayings.Lynx spokeswoman Ashley Carlson says the players would not be wearing the BLM clothing in San Antonio.The Lynx organization was made aware about the concerns of the off duty Minneapolis police officers, the team said. While our players message mourned the loss of life due to last weeks shootings, we respect the right of those individual officers to express their own beliefs in their own way. ... We continue to urge a constructive discussion about the issues raised by these tragedies.In a statement Tuesday, Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau said while the officers were working security on behalf of the Lynx, she expects all officers to adhere to our core values and to honor their oath of office when wearing a Minneapolis police uniform.Walking off the job and defaulting on their contractual obligation to provide a service to the Lynx does not conform to the expectations held by the public for the uniform these officers wear, Harteau said.Minneapolis Police Federation President Bob Kroll told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune he commends the officers. He says they took their names off a list of officers to work future games.In a post on her Twitter and Facebook accounts Tuesday, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges called Krolls comments jackass remarks.Let me be clear: labor leadership inherently does not speak on behalf of management. Bob Kroll sure as hell doesnt speak for me about the Lynx or about anything else, Hodges wrote.On Sunday, the New York Liberty wore similar black T-shirts addressing the recent shootings.We do need people to stand up and understand and express that black lives are just as important as any other lives in America, and right now thats not being seen, Liberty guard Tanisha Wright said.New Yorks Swin Cash had stronger words.I think its a shame that we keep seeing people that want to make this movement as something thats violent, said Cash, who repeatedly hit the lectern with her fist and whose voice cracked while speaking. Five cops gave their lives up trying to protect a peaceful movement. And in this country, I do believe that you can assemble peacefully and protest against injustice. So until the system transforms, we cannot sit here and act like there is not a problem here in America.Many athletes have expressed frustration and anger over the recent police shootings, including NBA players Damian Lillard and Carmelo Anthony and Brittney Griner of the Phoenix Mercury.LeBron James and other basketball stars made news in 2014 when they wore T-shirts reading I cant breathe to protest the death of Eric Garner at the hands of police in New York City and five members of the St. Louis Rams made the Hands up. Dont Shoot! gesture before a game in reference to the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri. Barry Bonds Jersey . The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling "puts an end to my dreams of being a top player," the 27-year-old Troicki said in a statement. "I worked my entire life for it, and it has been taken away from me in one afternoon by a doctor I didnt know," said Troicki, whose ranking peaked at No. Derek Holland Jersey . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. http:///...p-tony-watson-jersey . Louis Cardinals. Victorino is batting sixth and playing right field after missing two games because of back tightness. Bret Bielema in a phrase? Fun but focused.A dyed-in-the-wool woo pig sooie -- or, for you youngsters, #WPS -- fan is departing a Razorback Club autograph line clutching her Arkansas football jersey that has just been signed by the head coach. She looks shell-shocked, as if she has just met Elvis.What did he say to you? she is asked. Trembling, she shakes her head to return to reality. He said my jersey was too nice and that I must have broken into the locker room and stolen it, and he was going to contact the police. Then he said he was joking and that I could keep it even if I did steal it because theyre going to play better than they did in those jerseys last year.See? Fun but focused.As his fourth Arkansas team files into its meeting room, Bielema stands where he always does, right by the door, calling out every single player by name and knowing a little something about each that will get under his shoulder pads. Whered my man get this haircut? Did you give it to him? Were the lights off? But then later, he grabs the same player when no one else is around. The kid is struggling in a science class and in the weight room, so the coach has a scheduling idea that he thinks might help with both. We gotta get that weight up, but we really gotta get that GPA up.Few coaches in big-time college football walk the fun-but-focused tightrope better than Bret Bielema. Some do fun at the expense of focus, but more go the other way.?Bielema, 46, has figured out how to walk that line straight down the middle. Hes the guy with the hilarious Twitter timeline that includes pics of his unknowing wife, Jen, cleaning the pool deck.Hes the guy who has replaced Steve Spurrier as the cant-miss news conference at SEC Media Days. In July, he held court on everything from Russell Wilsons wedding (I was at Russells wedding -- not in the wedding. I just sat and watched. I was the guy in the eighth row in the outside seat.) to Michigans cancellation of an upcoming series with Arkansas (The Michigan-Notre Dame thing sounds sexy to everybody else, but I think Michigan and Arkansas sounds sexy.).He stars in the reality show Being Bret Bielema, which recently moved from webisodes to ESPNU. Actually, he costars with Jen, whom, as the internet loves to remind us, he met at a Las Vegas casino. She was also the Freudian subject of a Bielema quote that YouTube will never let us forget, said when Bielema was ready to leave Arkansas roller coaster 53-52 win over Ole Miss last November, Im just looking forward to hopping on the wife -- hopping on the plane! Hopping on the plane with my wife. I cant believe I just said that.I cant believe he said that, either, she recalled with a roll of the eyes at SEC media days. But thats Bret. If people cant see the fun behind Bret, I feel sorry for them.Certainly, there are those who dont. Earlier this month, an SEC coach was quoted anonymously by GridironNow.com as saying: Arkansas is getting tired of Bielemas bulls---. He hasnt won over nine games. Houston [Nutt] won 10 and was a hell of a lot better person.That coach, and the Arkansans he refers to, appear to be outnumbered -- at least for now. Time spent listening to local sports talk radio in The Natural State doesnt come with a lot of venom oozing through the speakers. Despite his living somewhere along the same timeline as fellow next-generation SEC head coaches such as Texas A&Ms Kevin Sumlin or Tennessees Butch Jones, Bielema doesnt seem to be shadowed by the statewide screams of Its time to get on with winning or else!I think people know we are building something here, and were trying to do it the right way, Bielema said.He audibly groans when thinking back to 2013 and his first Arkansas team, which went 3-9 and 0-8 in the SEC. He admits to wondering if the reasons he went to the conference -- the high levels of competition and passion -- might also be the reasons given for running him out of that conference before hed barely unpacked. The following seasons of 7-6 and 8-5, increasing SEC wins from zero to two to five and ending with bowl victories, have eased his mind. But only a little.We dont have guys getting into trouble anymore, certainly not like they were, he said. Weve brought our academics way up. And I think parents know that when we say were going to look out for their son, they know we mean it. Willie McCovey Jersey. And their son knows hes going to have fun but also work hard.Then the coach repeats a mantra heard since his hiring. That being said, all of that only works if we win games. Were getting there. Im just fortunate to have people around me who know this is a long-term project.Certainly, a big portion of that sense of security comes from his boss, athletic director Jeff Long. It was Long who sent Bobby Petrino packing and went searching into decidedly non-SEC corners for a replacement. Ultimately, he found his way to Wisconsin, impressed by Bielemas Badgers and their three consecutive Rose Bowl trips, but even more affected by the handwritten note he received from the Wisconsin head coach complimenting the AD on how he handled the bizarre Petrino situation.What was portrayed as an unconventional hire makes a lot of sense in retrospect. Bielemas tractor-pull style of football was the opposite of Petrinos QB-centric methods, but it tapped into decades of Arkansas pigskin DNA. Bielema was painted as a Big Ten guy, and rightfully so, but Fayetteville has always been more Midwest than southeastern or even southwestern, no matter what conference it might belong to. The southern border of Iowa, where Bielema played for and coached under Hayden Fry, is just five hours north up I-35. Kansas State, where he coached under Bill Snyder, is also a little more than five hours to the west.He was always going to be a better fit here than some people were willing to admit, but theres a certain attitude you have to have to be at Arkansas, said Jimmy Johnson, who was a Razorbacks player and coach under Frank Broyles before he became the builder of The U and rebuilder of the Dallas Cowboys. Johnson certainly never had a difficult time balancing fun and focus. You have to come into Fayetteville with a bit of a chip on your shoulder. We arent Texas or Alabama, so we have to work harder. And when you do finally beat Texas or Alabama, that makes it just that much more fun, knowing what all you had to do to get there.Thats kind of like being at Iowa and beating Penn State. Or being at Kansas State and beating Oklahoma and USC. Or being at Wisconsin and beating Ohio State and Michigan. Bielema was there for all of that, learning under the tutelage of Fry, Snyder and Barry Alvarez, all members of the College Football Hall of Fame.A man with that kind of mentors isnt one to run a loosey-goosey sort of program, even if he runs that program while wearing flip-flops and blaring country music in his office. That office is covered in notes -- legal pads packed with observations from practice that will be ripped off and placed in front of Arkansas players and assistant coaches. They know those notes might come with the occasional ironic elementary school teacher-ish smiley or frowning faces, but they also know the information written below those scribbles is ultra-serious, just as they know that being late for anything -- and on time is late -- is an offense punishable by public humiliation.Youre only ever late to anything once, senior linebacker Brooks Ellis said. He is the perfect kind of Razorback, a Fayetteville native and pre-med student with a near-4.0 GPA. I honestly dont know what the punishment would be if youre late twice because no one ever is.This is the unmistakable work ethic of Bielema, a kid who grew up on a farm in northwestern Illinois, rising early every day to do chores and schoolwork, study football and work toward his dream of becoming an Iowa Hawkeye. Now hes an Arkansas Razorback. His drive has never wavered, a drive often taken with the windows down on his Jeep while listening to Justin Moores Kinda Dont Care with a pair of teacup Yorkies in the backseat hanging on for dear life.Everyone should have a goal in mind. I dont care what you do for a living, he said. But you also need to live your life a little bit. Look around, and see whats there. Find some fun. If you dont, this will drive you crazy. So head it off at the pass and be a little crazy first.That sounds fun, right?Yeah, coach, it does. Fun but focused. ' ' '