Women in racing aren’t anything new. In fact, it’s very old news. Camille du Gast, a French woman, was the first at the wheel in the early 1900s.

Today, Heinricher Racing fields Acuras in IMSA’s GT Daytona class for an all-female driving team with big-money sponsorship from Caterpillar.

Katherine Legge has been a top-tier driver for years, always just a heartbeat away from a big breakthrough. She’s more than held her own in IndyCar and IMSA, driving the Panoz Delta Wing before signing up to drive one of Michael Shank’s Acura NSX race cars.

“Racing is never easy,” Legge is quick to say. “Once you’re able to drive for one of the top teams and you’re able to see what everybody in the paddock has to go through. Everyone has a struggle to some extent, that’s what makes it worthwhile to get through (those struggles).”

For Legge, it was anything but easy in 2018. She drove like there was no tomorrow because there wasn’t. She had to get the job done at every race to make it to the next.

“Last year was tricky because we didn’t know if we were going to run the whole season,” Legge said. “We didn’t know if we were going to have the funding. We needed good results and we were in the championship hunt. We were able to put the pieces of the puzzle together and we got some help from Acura and we got down to racing.”

Legge’s grit and indefatigable spirit earned a permanent spot on Shank’s squad.

Then, Legge had a “what if” moment. What if there could be an all-female IMSA team? She formed a relationship with Jackie Heinricher, another driver running the Lamborghini Super Trofeo series. It was a star-crossed coming together.

“I had been talking to Jackie (Heinricher) for over a year,” Legge recalled. “When I met with her she told me her vision. We had the same ideas, the same drivers we wanted to use. We could only do it if we could get those drivers. My luck and her luck meshed and we took it to Mike (Shank) and asked him if he would be interested in helping us with the team side. He said, ‘Absolutely, it’s a great idea.’

“He believed in me, he believed in us and we could make a difference. Yeah, this is really Jackie’s baby. She pulled off something that a lot of people in racing have been trying to do for a very long time. And she found a major national sponsor and I’m really proud of her for doing that.”

Shank is all in.

“She (Legge) brought it to me,” Shank explained. “She had driver coached Jackie (Heinricher) a few years ago and knew her from that. Katherine just basically put the left and the right together. It took us about eight months to get the deal done. I think the deal is great, pretty unprecedented. It was super, super hard to put together and I’ll give that to Jackie for getting the deal done.”

Veteran defenseman Ben Lovejoy is retiring from the NHL after an 11-year career, announcing his decision on NHL Network on Wednesday night.

Lovejoy, 35, was a Stanley Cup winner in 2016 during his second stint with the Pittsburgh Penguins, with whom he began his career.

In December 2017, he became the first active NHL player to announce he was donating his brain to concussion research.

A defense-first player who excelled on the penalty kill throughout his career, Lovejoy finished last season with the Dallas Stars following a trade-deadline deal with the New Jersey Devils. He also played in parts of three seasons for the Anaheim Ducks.

He retires with 20 goals and 81 assists in 544 career games.

Show me someone in the sports media who is criticizing fans, and you're undoubtedly showing me someone who has forgotten what it's like to be one.

I was reminded of this when Indianapolis Colts fans were called "just too stupid to breathe the same air we breathe" for booing their franchise quarterback off the field within hours of finding out that he was removing himself from the franchise.

After hearing Andrew Luck's lament about how injuries and pain have sapped his love for the game, one hopes that these fans wouldn't do that again if given the chance. But in the moment? C'mon, that's the reaction you'd reasonably expect from people paying thousands of dollars to consume pro sports, which are essentially a vessel for emotional expenditure and an outlet for otherwise irrational reactions.

So I get it. Or, at least, I make every effort to get it.

Every NHL season, I make it a point to buy tickets to watch some games from the seats. I think it's important. We're blessed as sportswriters to have free access to the arena with (usually) good seats and free food and (depending on the venue) free parking and an elevator for our exclusive use and a bathroom that doesn't have a line of tipsy patrons out the door between periods. I think it's important to reconnect with your inner fan and consume the game experience without professional obligations -- which, admittedly, creates the opportunity for a more varied selection of beverages -- while experiencing the economic realities of being a fan in 2019.

Attending an NHL game is an expensive proposition. SeatGeek reported in 2018 (via the Seattle Times) that the average NHL ticket on its secondary market platform sold for $91, which was more than that of the NBA ($88) and MLB ($45) but far behind that of the NFL ($166).

Ask a hockey fan what they would change about the game-going experience, and there are two primary responses: lower ticket prices, which won't happen unless there's a downturn for either a team's fortunes or the economy, and lowering the volume of ... everything.

"Everyone I know who attends games thinks the music is too loud. I agree," said (ironically named, in context) Gary Yellen, a Carolina Hurricanes fan. "I know it might be 'a thing' to pump up the music to try to get a high-energy experience. However, we would like to be able to talk to the person we are with, and the music makes that impossible.

Ask fans if they like the music the way it is, whether they would [want] it louder or lower, and most would say lower. I would guess that the overwhelming majority would like the volume turned down."

I'd like to turn up the volume on a few suggestions to make the NHL arena experience better, some submitted by readers and some that have been knocking around my noggin since last season. Here are six ways to transform the in-arena experience in the NHL:

Sensory-sensitive nights

The sensory overload of the arena experience can be exhilarating, such as when the lights are flashing and the music is matching the volume of the fans in a climactic moment. But not for everyone.

"The in-arena sound is entirely too much. A constant wall of noise. It hurts, physically and mentally," said Jen Conway, whom you might know as the indispensable @NHLHistoryGirl on Twitter. "The worst are those that flash lights into the crowd or that strobe. Anyone with any sort of light-related sensory or neurological issue gets to sit through torture. No one wants to go to a hockey game only to flee the pregame or, worse, be trapped and forced to sit through it, affecting them negatively for the rest of the night."

To their credit, some teams are cognizant of this. The Cleveland Cavaliers were trailblazers in providing "sensory inclusive" kits that included headphones, sunglasses, weighted blankets and other items. The Vegas Golden Knights began offering kits at T-Mobile Arena for home games last season.

That's a great start, but the NHL should take a page from the minor leagues for its next step. Last season, the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones held a sensory-friendly night in partnership with Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Some of the changes: no goal horns, decreased volume on music, no strobe lights and sensory kits available.

Dedicating one home game to this audience, in this manner, could be meaningful for fans and families who might not otherwise attend games. It would also be a hit with those fans who wouldn't mind having the volume turned down.

Rethinking ticket plans

As for the other oft-mentioned problem with the arena experience, we like this concept used in the Canadian Football League and suggested by reader Luke Gibbons.

The Ottawa RedBlacks have something called the "Lumber Pass" that retails for $300 and covers all home games. (There are nine in the regular season.) How it works: You have a ticket for the game, but you don't have a seat for the game until game day. Then one is assigned to you based on availability and sent to your email. In theory, you could end up with a seat at a higher price point than the average of your "season-ticket" plan, or you could end up in the cheap seats that cost about what you're paying on average.

Obviously, the price of this ticket plan would be much higher for 41 NHL home games. And it might not work in every market, as 500-1,000 "floating" seats per game wouldn't make sense if you're near capacity every night.

But for those markets in which you buy the back rows of the upper deck just to move down to a seemingly empty row later in the game, this plan would officially grant you those better seats -- and eliminate awkward moments when some late-arriving fans chase you from them.

(In short: Please don't sit in my seats. It ruins my whole night when I arrive and someone's splayed out in my chair who knows they don't belong there. Scram.)

No-stakes 'gambling'

As long as we're lifting ideas from other sports, how about this one from the Los Angeles Rams?

Starting this season, the Super Bowl participation trophy winners have something called the "Rams Pick' Em," in which fans predict things such as the outcome of the game, the kickoff, the opening drive and the like. Successful predictions can net fans prizes such as Rams tickets and autographed footballs, depending how many points they accumulate during the season.

The next generation of this innovation: What about winning points during games that could then be applied as discounts inside the arena? Earn enough points in the first period, get yourself $5 off at the team shop in the intermission?

This sounds like a fun way to keep fans engaged and shave a few dollars from the price of popcorn. Plus, it'll be good training for when sports wagering is legalized and fans are betting on this stuff anyway.

Granted, this assumes that arena Wi-Fi can handle all of this usage, which is an entirely different discussion.

Better fan connectivity

While we're talking about the in-arena mobile experience, many fans we interacted with were asking why there isn't a catch-all app to enhance the game.

With a code on your ticket, you could get access to play-by-play feeds, instant-replay feeds, camera feeds that focus on specific players or parts of the ice and game announcements. Never again will you struggle to hear what the referee mumbled into his mic after a coach's challenge; the explanation will be delivered to your phone!

As a regular patron of Comic-Cons, I can say that the relationship between fans and the venue is greatly enhanced by the dedicated mobile app, which features a constant feed of information throughout the event. Heck, bring a little Disneyland into it: Tell me which concession stands have the longest wait time. Maybe you'll persuade me to buy that dodgy sushi in the upper concourse if I'm impatient enough!

More focus on the players

"Be more like the NBA" is always a tricky proposition for the NHL when it comes to marketing stars. They're inherently different sports. I mean, it's lot easier to have Kawhi Leonard's star shine when he isn't hopping off the court every 55 seconds for a breather.

But there is a way the NHL can put more of an emphasis on star power in an NBA-esque way during games, and that's in the player introductions. Why not have the starters skate out individually? Why not make the starting lineups a bigger deal, with some smoke and pyro and other WWE-adjacent stuff? Why not put the spotlight on the scheduled shooters for each team when the game hits the shootout?

True, this would fly in the face of the "logo on the front, not the name on the back" culture in the NHL, and maybe the players wouldn't be down with this kind of showmanship. Or maybe that's a generational thing and the younger stars in the league would very much accept this kind of hype.

The bottom line is that the arena experience would be enhanced with a little more personality and star power emanating from the ice to the stands.

Finally, police the stands

"Silver" is a young female fan who grew up going to NHL games.

"I've seen ugly," she said. "I have experienced sexual harassment at games."

She's one of many fans who told us they'd like to see more vigilant policing of abusive and repulsive behavior in the stands. There have been incidents that were dealt with swiftly, such as when the Chicago Blackhawks ejected fans who racially taunted then-Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly near the penalty box. The team said, "We are committed to providing an inclusive environment for everyone who attends our games, and these actions will never be tolerated."

Fans we heard from want the same kind of consideration.

"There should be a service to be able to move your seat midgame or remove the person harassing you. Like, basically add some human decency," Silver said.

We heard from a lot of fans who appreciate attempts at inclusiveness (such as Pride Nights) but want to see more action taken on typical game nights to let all fans know that they're welcome.

Because when it comes to all of these suggestions, that's the whole game: giving folks a variety of reasons to attend, and enjoy, an NHL game -- and then come back.

The Week in Gritty

There were a couple of news items about the tangerine Cthulhu worth sharing this week. The first concerned the birth of Gavin James Giroux to Claude and Ryanne, a blessed event commented on by Uncle Gritty:

Glad he didn't get Uncle Gritty's eyes https://t.co/JNtBUa1TNQ

— Gritty (@GrittyNHL) August 28, 2019

I mean, his eyes are closed, so it's a bit of an assumption at this point, no?

The other Gritty news is, sadly, about the Philadelphia Flyers mascot taking an 'L' at the annual mascot conference:

Congratulations to our favorite fowl, @BhawkTommyHawk, on being voted the @NHL's Mascot of the Year by his fellow mascots!

We're glad your peers love you as much as we do ? pic.twitter.com/iFynlXi8Aq

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) August 26, 2019

Yes, Tommy Hawk, previously seen fighting with a fan on the concourse at the United Center last December, won "mascot of the year" over Gritty, who in the span of said year became the googly-eyed face of the NHL.

Maybe this is some sort of rookie mascot hazing? Or maybe it's just really hard to win an award from your peers when they keep accusing you of lifting their comedy bits.

Wing Bowl

The Stanley Cup is famous as a vessel for all manner and sort of food and beverages (to be consumed by humans, dogs, horses and Tom Wilson). But it's not the only hockey championship trophy to serve as a serving bowl.

Forward Andrew Poturalski won the Calder Cup with the AHL's Charlotte Checkers last spring, and the Buffalo native spent his day with the Cup as a Buffalo native should: with copious amounts of chicken wings, courtesy of Bar Bill Tavern in East Aurora.

Poturalski was also the winner of the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy for playoff MVP. As luck would have it, it was also a bowl-shaped award. Two bowls and a bunch of wings. What's a western New Yorker to do?

Turns out the Calder Cup and the MVP trophy make some pretty good buffalo wings ? #WhenInBuffalo pic.twitter.com/qi3dCo3hIw

— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) August 27, 2019

Championship Buffalo wings. That's what it's all about, kids.

Jersey Foul

From Mr. Fjormes comes this California confusion:

Check out this jersey foul @wyshynski. Sharks logo with Ducks colours... pic.twitter.com/aRxec3wpQb

— Mr. Fjormes (@joelthesakic) August 20, 2019

You may have to click the photo for clarification, but yes, that's a San Jose Sharks logo on a classic jade-and-eggplant Mighty Ducks of Anaheim jersey. Whenever we come across something like this, our default explanation is always "abandoned beer league jersey," but we're also willing to entertain the idea that this is a relic from some misguided Teemu Selanne cosplay. In any case, that's fowl, er, foul.

Listen to ESPN On Ice

The full season archive of our podcast can be found on iTunes. So grab yourself a fresh beverage and listen to two people who have had it up to here with playoff officiating.

Puck headlines

Evander Kane calls out racism on Instagram.

Looking at the Minnesota Wild and whether they have a prayer of getting a wild card.

What about those Dallas Stars and the playoffs?

A Title IX loss for the former University of North Dakota women's hockey team.

When are we going to see the next batch of special game jerseys in the NHL?

Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid aren't exactly lifting the spirits of skeptical Edmonton Oilers fans.

Nick Kypreos, Doug MacLean and John Shannon are out at Sportsnet.

Katie Baker gets some hockey angles into her Andrew Luck coverage.

Hockey tl;dr (too long; didn't read)

Some words of caution about stats and player tracking from Justin Bourne. ($)

In case you missed this from your friends at ESPN

An absolutely fantastic story from Emily Kaplan on how Jacob Trouba balances his career ambitions with those of his fiancée, Kelly Tyson.

The draw for the Champions League group stages will take place on Thursday, Aug. 29 in Monaco and is expected to begin at noon ET / 4 p.m. GMT.

Teams will appear below. Please refresh the page to see the latest content.

GROUP A:
GROUP B:
GROUP C:
GROUP D:
GROUP E:
GROUP F:
GROUP G:
GROUP H:

Follow the draw LIVE with ESPN here.

11.45 ET: Welcome to the coverage of today's live draw.

Holders Liverpool will join Europa League winners Chelsea among the eight seeds, along with Barcelona (La Liga), Manchester City (Premier League), Juventus (Serie A), Bayern Munich (Bundesliga), Paris Saint-Germain (Ligue 1), Zenit Saint-Petersburg (Russian Premier).

Meanwhile, Pot 2 includes Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk, Ajax and Benfica.

Continuing down the line, Pots 3 contains Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, Red Bull Salzburg, Olympiakos, Club Brugge, Valencia, Inter Milan and Dinamo Zagreb.

Finally, Pot 4 features Lokomotiv Moscow, Genk, Galatasaray, RB Leipzig, Slavia Prague, Red Star Belgrade, Atalanta and last but not least, Lille.

One team from each pot will be drawn into a group, making eight groups of four clubs.

In addition to the 2019-20 Champions League draw, the winners of the UEFA Men's Player of the Year, UEFA Women's Player of the Year and top goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward awards of the 2018-19 UCL season will be announced this evening in Monaco. With all that said... let's begin!

12:00 ET: That sweet intro music means only one thing... it's time for the Champions League. But before the matches of the Champions League proper begin on Sept. 7, we must first find out where and who each of the 32 remaining clubs will be playing. Welcome to the Champions League Draw and Award Show from Monaco!

India men's allrounder Ravindra Jadeja and women's wristspinner Poonam Yadav were presented with the Arjuna Award, an honour bestowed by the Indian government to recognise outstanding individual achievement in sports.

While Jadeja, currently on tour in the Caribbean, wasn't there to receive the award in person, Poonam received hers from the president of the country, on Thursday, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi.

Jadeja, 30, and Poonam, 28, were among four cricketers - Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah being the others - recommended for the award by the BCCI in April. They were the only cricketers among the pool of 19 athletes to receive the award this year.

Poonam Yadav receiving #ArjunaAward at National Sports Awards Function 2019.
Such a proud moment

Congratulations @poonam_yadav24!
Credits @ddsportschannel pic.twitter.com/CB2gAEgN4c

— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) August 29, 2019

Currently on tour in the Caribbean, Jadeja occupies the fourth place on the ICC rankings for Test allrounders. He also struck a half-century and picked two wickets in India's 318-run victory against West Indies and during the World Cup last month, he almost carried India to the final with a flamboyant 59-ball 79 against New Zealand.

Poonam, meanwhile, is India's leading wicket-taker in T20Is and is ranked No. 2 by the ICC. She was the world's T20I leading bowler last year with 35 wickets in 25 innings at an average of 14.91 and strike rate of 15.4, including a career-best 4 for 9 in the final of the Asia Cup, which India last off the last ball.

Earlier this year, she was promoted to BCCI's Grade A contracts list, having been part of the Indian sides that finished runners-up in the 2017 ODI World Cup in England and the T20 World Cup in November last year.

Jadeja is the latest Arjuna Awardee among an elite list of former and current men's cricketers that include Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Virat Kohli among others.

Poonam, meanwhile, is the third India women's cricketer - and 11th overall since 1976 - to win the award, following T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur and opener Smriti Mandhana.

Hardik Pandya is back in India's 15-man T20I squad that will play three matches against South Africa starting September 15. His addition, in place of fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, is the only change India have made from the squad that won the T20Is against West Indies.

MS Dhoni continues to be absent from the T20I squad, and so does Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested from India's white-ball leg of the Caribbean tour.

The absence of Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah means that India have an inexperienced fast-bowling line-up that includes only 11 T20Is between the trio of Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar and Khaleel Ahmed. Among the spin options, India have named left-arm spinning allrounders Ravindra Jadeja and Krunal Pandya, offspinner Washington Sundar and legbreak bowler Rahul Chahar.

Hardik was rested from the tour of the Caribbean from all three formats, after a long season that included tours of Australia and New Zealand followed by the Indian Premier League and the Men's World Cup. Hardik's workload management had been a concern for the team ever since he picked up a stress-fracture injury at the Asia Cup last year and the lower-back stiffness that forced him to miss the ODIs against Australia at home in March.

Among the batsmen, Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer keep their spots along with KL Rahul. Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and the captain Virat Kohli complete the squad.

India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini

The season opener between Florida State and Boise State is expected to be moved from Jacksonville to Tallahassee because of the impending threat of Hurricane Dorian, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday.

Dorian is expected to impact the East Coast of Florida, and DeSantis has already declared a state of emergency. The schools were scheduled to kick off in Jacksonville on Saturday night.

Tallahassee, which is located 160 miles west of Jacksonville, is not expected to feel effects from the storm on Saturday.

"I think they are going to go forward with the game but they are not going to do it in Jacksonville," DeSantis said during a news conference. "hey are going to do the game in Tallahassee and I think they will have more details for everybody who is interested in that going forward."

Two years ago, Florida State postponed a home game against Louisiana-Monroe and rescheduled a game against Miami because of Hurricane Irma.

Ryan Russell is a three-year NFL veteran. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in 2015 after a successful college career at Purdue. He played one season with the Cowboys and two for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He started seven games for the Bucs in 2017. This is his story, in his own words.

IN EARLY AUGUST, I met with an NFL team that was interested in signing me as a free agent for the upcoming season. This was a big moment for me because, other than the love for my family, playing football again in the NFL is my dream. The team invited me to meet with their front office and members of their coaching staff because, even though I missed all of the 2018 season after suffering a shoulder injury in 2017, I feel the organization believes I have the skills and character to contribute to their success. What they know about me, they like -- but there was one very important detail about my life they weren't familiar with.

My performance in the interviews and workouts was first-rate. Coaches saw that I still have the kind of speed and agility to pressure quarterbacks that prompted the Dallas Cowboys to choose me in the fifth round of the 2015 draft and enjoy two successful seasons in Tampa Bay. Execs and I discussed the legacy of the organization and the culture they are trying to build to achieve success at the highest level. Though the team didn't ultimately need help at my position, I feel positive about how I presented myself that day: A hardworking, coachable, accountable and trustworthy player whose priorities are in the right place. I've never felt more confident that if I continue to train and value the right things, I can add to the winning culture of an NFL team.

But for all the encouraging feelings about the visit, I do have one strong regret that has inspired me to make a promise to myself: This is the last time I will ever interview for a job as anything other than my full self. Out of love, admiration and respect, I want the next team to sign me valuing me for what I do and knowing who I truly am.

Have I lied to teammates, coaches, trainers, front-office executives and fans about who I am? Not exactly. But withholding information is a form of deceit. And I want the next part of my career -- and life -- steeped in trust and honesty. During the season you spend more time with your team than with your own family; truth and honesty are the cornerstones of a winning culture. My truth is that I'm a talented football player, a damn good writer, a loving son, an overbearing brother, a caring friend, a loyal lover, and a bisexual man.

Today, I have two goals: returning to the NFL, and living my life openly. I want to live my dream of playing the game I've worked my whole life to play, and being open about the person I've always been.

Those two objectives shouldn't be in conflict. But judging from the fact that there isn't a single openly LGBTQ player in the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball or the NHL, brings me pause. I want to change that -- for me, for other athletes who share these common goals, and for the generations of LGBTQ athletes who will come next.

GROWING UP, I always felt as though my existence slipped between the cracks of two worlds. I wasn't flamboyant, tidy, or any other stereotypes kids are forced to construct their world around. I wasn't straight, hyper-masculine or aggressive; I cried quite a bit, and, as a young black man, I didn't fit the bill. I played football -- so I put that in the straight column. I wrote poetry and romance stories -- so I put that in the gay column.

Over time, I came to build two worlds. There was football, the drive to play at a professional level, a place that catered to my competitive instincts. Football was a world of opportunity where, if I performed well, I could earn a scholarship, support my family and build a life for myself long after I stopped playing. Then there's my personal world, which probably isn't much different from most people who are figuring out who they are in adulthood. It's a world of relationships, inner thoughts and off-the-field interests. For me, that's my mom and brother, hometown girlfriends, guys I spent time with in my early 20s, and my best friend Joe, a teammate from Purdue who died last year. It's my poetry, my bouts with depression, my love of Tarantino films and my passion for Hemingway. For me, the beauty of life can be found in a simple walk on the beach, the thrills of traveling to new places and the savoring of delectable cuisine. I attempt to capture life between the pages of my journals and sometimes the words are the truest form of soul.

Pursuing a career in the NFL is such an intense challenge that I began to compromise my personal world -- and my personal happiness. Though I confided in close friends and family and gave myself permission to date both men and women discreetly, I deprived myself the basic privilege of living an open life. That meant I had to be strategic and cautious about meeting guys or getting involved with them during the regular season. It also meant that even though I was building important friendships on my team, I couldn't be authentic or honest about who I am or what was going on in my life. I wasn't always fully present in the locker room. Being an NFL-quality teammate takes more than just excelling on the field. It comes with common trust built by knowing your teammate is physically and mentally fortified. You know the man next to you as well as you know yourself and you, in turn, trust him irrevocably. If you aren't fully present and authentic in the training facility, you simply can't be a standout teammate.

After my first season, a well-known blogger messaged me. He had come across an Instagram story of a man I was dating that included a quick snippet of me in the background. Even though the man and I were never in a post together, the dates, times and similar locations were enough evidence for the blogger to deduce that we were an item. The blogger could have revealed I was in a gay relationship. My professional world and personal world were colliding with me caught in the cataclysm. I panicked, then wrote back, reminding him that there were implications about his actions he didn't fully understand. If the blogger outed me, I was sure that would kill my career, one that was supporting not just me, but my mother and grandfather. He'd eradicate a childhood dream that was the product of years of work and sacrifice.

After hearing me out, know what that blogger told me? That he would grant me this favor, but that I should be more careful.

Let that sink into your brain: Even though openly LGBTQ people are thriving in every area of public life -- politics, entertainment, the top corporations in America -- they are so invisible in pro sports that a gossip blogger is doing a favor for a bisexual football player by not disclosing that he happens to date men. Nobody should need a favor to live honestly. In nobody's worlds should being careful mean not being yourself. The career you choose shouldn't dictate the parts of yourself that you embrace.

UNTIL RECENTLY, I didn't love myself enough to live openly and honestly. I was ashamed of who I am. I prayed countless nights for God to take away this part of me. I was ashamed to love women because I knew I could also love men. I stayed up so many nights in fear of being found out, in fear that the professional sports world would reject me for the way I was born. I lied to myself every chance I could. I looked in the mirror and lied, got into relationships and lied, woke up every morning and went to sleep every night lying about the fullness of my soul.

During my first few seasons in the NFL, I rationalized my fear because it was easy to convince myself that hiding who I was made the most sense. The competition is so stiff to stay in the league, that any small mark can lead a front office to choose another guy for your job. Whether you're gay or straight or bisexual, you're always making sacrifices for the sake of your career, whether it's not going out during the season, or working out during your downtime. For me, not publicly acknowledging my sexuality became one of those sacrifices, just one of those hundreds of little interests or passions a pro athlete puts off until their playing days are long gone. But after my departure from the Dallas Cowboys, confiding in a few loved ones about who I am, and getting a new chance to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, I started feeling the freedom of transparency -- even if it was small at first -- and the fear of people finding out and rejecting me slowly dissipated. Being more comfortable in my own skin made me a better teammate. I was able to play and start at the highest level in the world, and felt like I belonged.

With football, no matter the topic, there is criticism and scrutiny. I took on the mantra, "If you don't know me personally, I don't take what you have to say personally." I began to apply the same idea to outside opinions of my sexuality.

Brooklyn Nets forward Wilson Chandler is facing a 25-game suspension for testing positive for PED use, league sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on Thursday.

The NBA is expected to make an announcement later Thursday.

Chandler, 32, averaged 6.0 points and 4.2 rebounds while playing in 51 games for the Philadelphia 76ers and LA Clippers last season. If suspended, he would be allowed to participate during training camp and play in preseason games for the Nets.

The Nets signed Chandler as a free agent in July, hoping he could bring a veteran presence to their frontcourt rotation.

The 25-game suspension would result in a loss of $582,898 -- $23,316 per game -- for Chandler, according to ESPN's Bobby Marks.

If suspended, he would start the regular season on the active list and move to the suspension list after the fifth game (Nov. 1), which would allow the Nets, who have 15 guaranteed contracts, to add a 16th player after that game.

Brooklyn plays the following night (Nov. 2) at Detroit.

Chandler would be eligible to be taken off the suspension list for the Dec. 15 game vs. Philadelphia.