- Dee Rowe, who had covid-19, was a coaching icon, but his talents as a college player were ignored by most of the media when he died at 91Posted 21 hours ago
- With Quickley and Toppin, Knicks have finally found young core to build aroundPosted 6 days ago
- How did two teams in the Patriot League manage an unlikely 46-point turnaround in back-to-back games? Or, what a difference a day makesPosted 7 days ago
- The chaos at the United States Capitol affected college basketball, preventing the playing of the UMass-George Washington gamePosted 1 week ago
- Yup, LaMelo Ball’s going to be pretty damn goodPosted 2 weeks ago
- Not just a football player, Hall of Famer Floyd Little also played on his high school basketball teamPosted 2 weeks ago
- Dom Ferrara, a Connecticut high school basketball all-stater, who played at two colleges, then became an acclaimed scholastic coach, has died of coronavirus at 80Posted 4 weeks ago
- Aubrey Robinson went beyond the call by surprising an 11-year boy with a new basketball and hoop after she saw him playing with a bent onePosted 1 month ago
- Mike Krzyzewski wants a reassessment before college basketball continues; denies Duke’s 2-2 record is the reasonPosted 1 month ago
- Seattle’s Raul Ruidiaz is the most dangerous man in Major League SoccerPosted 1 month ago
Pope Francis is “super chill” according to Anthony Tolliver, who was in a group of NBA players who had an audience with the Pontiff in the Vatican
- Updated: November 24, 2020
By Joel Alderman
It hardly was a typical papal audience when a delegation of five N.B.A. players and officials from the players association met privately with Pope Francis at the Vatican today (Nov. 23) to discuss their efforts toward promoting social justice and opposing economic inequality. They got to Rome after accepting an invitation on just two days’ notice.
The players were Kyle Korver (Milwaukee Bucks), who at first thought it was a joke, Sterling Brown (who agreed to a free-agent deal with the Houston Rockets only a few hours before departing), Anthony Tolliver (Memphis Grizzlies). Marco Belinelli (San Antonio Spurs), and Jonathan Isaac (rehabilitating from a torn A.C.L, and is an ordained minister, Orlando Magic).
They are all active members of the players’ union. They were joined by Michele Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, and two other union executives, Sherrie Deans and Matteo Zuretti.
30-minutes of history
The unique audience lasted 30-minutes. “I’m still not even sure if this really happened,” Michelle Roberts said. The players took turns addressing the Pope and offered him a book documenting many of their community and social initiatives in the last few months, as well as jerseys, and a Black Lives Matter T-shirt.
“He (the Pope) said sport is such an opportunity to unify and he compared it to a team, where you have a common goal and you’re working together, but you all use your own personalities,” Korver said.
Brown and Korver had been instrumental in causing the postponement of playoff games in the bubble after the shooting of James Blake in Kenosha, Wis. Their protest also led to the haulting of games in the W.N.B.A., Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer.
A great experience
Brown said he wished the meeting with Pope Francis had lasted longer.
“Nobody gets to do this from where I’m from, barely get to do it from the United States,” Brown said. “For me to be one of them, I can definitely take this and hold this and let people know I’m out here doing this to make a change, to actually get things put on other people’s minds that have influence, to a degree.”
Belinelli, a member of the San Antonio Spurs, was born in Italy and was able to speak in Italian to the Pope. He already was in the county prior to the meeting, but the others traveled from the United State on a chartered flight. They were tested for the virus within 72 hours before leaving for Rome and will be retested upon their return.
The pontiff, who will be 84 on Dec. 17th, sat at a distance from the group and did not wear a mask and, in a photograph, it did not appear as if the players were either. They did have them on by the time they were taking video calls later.
Pope Francis familiar with the Globetrotters
Tolliver, in addition to describing Pope Francis as “super chill,” or “totally awesome” (urbandictionary.com), said, “He was actually way more relaxed than I’d ever imagined a Pope being.” He said the Pope told the players he used to love watching the Harlem Globetrotters and even demonstrated a sense of humor.
“And you know, when the Pope makes a halfway joke, it’s the funniest thing ever, right?” Tolliver said. “So, when I say making jokes, anything that was supposed to be remotely funny, we made sure we gave him a good laugh.”