2021 Sports Picture Story

Summary: After the Major League Baseball season was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic officials made an unprecedented safety move to play a shortened season in ballparks without fans in attendance. Fans were replaced by cardboard cutouts, cheers and celebrating was piped in over the loudspeakers and actual fans were forced to watch from outside the ballpark fences or on TV.

Caption: A fan watches through a fence as the Washington Nationals play the New York Yankees, at Nationals Park in Washington, DC on Thursday, July 23, 2020.

A sign on Nationals Park outlines safety precautions, in Washington, DC on Tuesday, August 25, 2020.

A rainbow is seen over Nationals Park as the Nationals play the Toronto Blue Jays in Washington, DC on Tuesday, July 28, 2020,

A spider web is seen in a row of seats at Nationals Park in Washington, DC Saturday, July 18, 2020.

Cardboard cutouts of fans are seen as the Washington Nationals play the Philadelphia Phillies, in Washington, DC on Tuesday, August 25, 2020.

Unused beer taps are wrapped in plastic at Nationals Park in Washington, DC on Friday, July 3, 2020.

The club level lounge at Nationals Park is seen deserted in the absence of fans, on Wednesday, July 15, 2020. in Washington, DC.

Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg pitches to an empty stadium, at Nationals Park in Washington, DC on Wednesday, July 15, 2020.

Washington Nationals outfielder Adam Eaton fails to catch a three-run home run ball hit by Philadelphia Phillies J.T. Realmuto as it falls into the Nationals bullpen, at Nationals Park in Washington, DC on Tuesday, August 25, 2020.

Washington Nationals pitcher Erick Fedde pitches to the backdrop of empty seats against the Toronto Blue Jays at Nationals Park in Washington, DC on Monday, July 27, 2020.

The Washington Nationals logo is seen in the early evening light as the Nationals play the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park in Washington, DC on Tuesday, July 21, 2020.

Taevion Rushing is a soft shooter with hard edges, a senior guard who has a star quality — with bouncy dreadlocks, pretty-boy pink sneakers and undeniable personal magnetism — but nothing to show for it through three years on varsity.
Some of his Jaguar teammates remain leery of Tae. They think he was a big part of why last year’s team played so selfishly. After he quit midseason, chemistry improved.
Rushing leads his team out of the locker room early in the season.

Flint has always done its talking through basketball, particularly after the shops shuttered and moved elsewhere. These Jaguars grew up with the stories — of a hard-working culture at General Motors, of a trio of young men from their neighborhoods who came together as the “Flintstones” to win a national basketball championship at Michigan State — but little of the community investment to mold them in the same blue-collar way.

“It’s rough on someone like me, in my 23rd year in this building,” says his teacher, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of retribution. “We’re not teaching them. They’re not learning the real life consequences. With the water crisis, much of what our community has done is given people excuses for poor behavior. And then we wonder why they’re not being successful.”
This teacher has been trying to get through to Tae, who is in real danger of not graduating. But she can’t teach him to care.

Flint had once been a model for industrial cities, but as the auto industry went into decline, basketball players became Flint’s greatest export. GM began its long goodbye in the 1980s, right as the Flint public high schools were on a remarkable five-year run of winning Michigan’s Class A state title over Detroit schools.
But, even before the water crisis, Flint schools’ pipeline to the next level began to rust. It wasn’t that the city didn’t have talent. At some point, a generation of kids had become convinced that they had to leave the city to be developed. For instance, the Lakers’ Kyle Kuzma is from Flint but was groomed in the suburb of Grand Blanc. The Nuggets’ Monte Morris starred one mile north of the city at Beecher, giving this week’s Western Conference Finals a genuine Flint flavor. Miles Bridges, of Michigan State and the Charlotte Hornets, played his freshman year at Flint Southwestern before leaving for prep school.

The moment he took the Flint job, he had a decision to make about the best player, and Demarkus Jackson chose to give Tae a real chance, to let him play through some mistakes, on and off the court, unlike past coaches.
He hadn’t met Tae, but he felt like he already knew him through his older cousins. Tae was the latest in a long line who squandered their gifts. Jackson yells out to players during a winning effort against Atherton High.

Taevion, Julian Gardner and Dekobe Lemon, right, celebrate during a winning effort against Kearsley High in the district playoffs.
“I feel like a hero,” he said after a young fan congratulated him on his 31 point game.

“They say they love basketball, but some people just like it. I wish he would have taken it seriously. He could have gone to a high [Division I school] or something,” said Beecher High basketball star Jalen Terry about Taevion. Taevion buries his face in his hands as coach Jackson critiques their loss to Bendle High the day before.

On a night he should have been practicing for the district title game, the best high-school guard left in Flint is playing for fun, wearing Crocs instead of sneakers, the braids of his hair flying wildly in the cold, lake-swept winds that could take him anywhere.
In months to come, Tae will graduate and spend the summer going back and forth about which junior college to attend. Looking at his Flint career in sum, he did not win the big game, did not become a Division I recruit, did not fulfill Flint’s destiny of old. So what was gained?
“I got close with my teammates,” he says. “I like this season the best because we are a team.” He plays a pickup game with cousins.

Taevion spends much of his free time at the home of his grandparents, Dennis and Linda Rushing. Dennis said watching Tae’s existence is hard for him. Dennis spent almost four decades at the same Buick plant; now his children and grandkids wouldn’t have those kind of opportunities.
“One thing about our clan,” he said, “never been shy from work. Never was any loafers that just decided they was gonna live off somebody else’s being. I don’t want him to end up like that.
“If we have one flaw, it’s the fact that we take from ourselves and give to our grandkids, because a lot of times their parents can’t step up to the plate When he ask for another T-shirt or jersey or something, I’ll mumble and grumble…”
But Dennis will give in, he said. He seemed disappointed in himself just as much if not more than in Tae.

The Flint water crisis grabbed the nation and shook it in 2014. A state government made a financial decision that ended up poisoning a city that’s 54% Black, becoming a brazen example of systemic racial injustice in America. Long after the news trucks pulled out and societal watchdogs found fresher injustices. Rival players from Beecher High enter the visitors locker room before a late season game on the Jaguar’s home court.

Davison won the state football championship in the fall. These Cardinals know much more about what it takes to win big games than the Jaguars.
“We ain’t been here before!” coach Jackson says before tip. “Let’s make history!”
Flint flies from the start. The Jaguars get on top with their full-court pressure defense, learning early that Davison doesn’t have the mental stamina to keep up.
Before long, the Davison fans are the ones yelling at the refs, booing and stomping their feet in protest. Nobody in the host gym here in Grand Blanc — a Flint suburb which fittingly translates to “Big White” — can believe it: Flint has the tougher team tonight.
“This reminds me of the old Flint teams,” says a woman in the stands.
Flint 74, Davison 58.

Taevion Rushing is a soft shooter with hard edges, a senior guard who has a star quality — with bouncy dreadlocks, pretty-boy pink sneakers and undeniable personal magnetism — but nothing to show for it through three years on varsity.
Some of his Jaguar teammates remain leery of Tae. They think he was a big part of why last year’s team played so selfishly. After he quit midseason, chemistry improved.
Rushing leads his team out of the locker room early in the season.

In the coldest months of the year when most Bostonians are piling on extra layers the L Street Ice Swimmers are out doing laps in the ocean with only a bathing suit and swim cap to keep warm. The highlight of the winter swimming season is a full-fledged swim meet that takes place in February in a two lane pool carved out of ice called the Winter Swim Festival at Lake Memphremagog in Vermont, the only event of its kind in North America.

South Boston, MA - 2/26/20 - (L- R) L Street Ice Swimmers Laurie Craigen, Kellie Latimer, Polly Madding and Karen Nazor head out for an evening swim in Dorchester Bay.

South Boston, MA - 1/19/20 - L Street Ice Swimmers Kellie Latimer (L) and Elaine Howley share a laugh together in the sauna inside the M Street Bathhouse as they warm up after a winter swim in the chilly waters of Dorchester Bay where temperatures in the winter hover between 30 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Newport, VT - 2/28/20 - Snow falls on the 25 meter two lane swimming pool carved out for the Winter Swim Festival at Lake Memphremagog. Pumps circulate the water to keep it from re-freezing inside the pool but it will still be necessary to employ skimmers after each swim to skim away the ice that reforms on top of the water.

Newport, VT - 2/28/20 - Newport City Council President Julie Raboin kicks off festivities with a ribbon cutting during the Winter Swim Festival at Lake Memphremagog as she stands beside Phil White (2nd from R) the mastermind behind the event. White lives on the lake and happened to come across a large old ice-cutting saw owned by the city of Newport, which they used to harvest chunks for ice mazes and sculptures. White posted a photo of the saw on social media one cold winter day, along with the joke: Does anybody want to go for a swim? He soon got a call from a marathon swimmer asking if he was serious and the event was born.

Newport, VT - 3/1/20 - Qing Li, of Chicago stands ready at the steps of the pool as she waits to compete in the 100 meter freestyle in 28 degree water during the Winter Swim Festival at Lake Memphremagog.

Newport, VT - 2/29/20 - Bridget Williams of North Canton, Ohio (L) competes as a "hooker" walks alongside she and her competitor as a safety precaution in case the swimmers need to be pulled from the 28 degree water during the Winter Swim Festival at Lake Memphremagog.

Newport, VT - 2/29/20 - With the air temperature at 17 degrees and the water temperature at 28 degrees L Street Ice Swimmer Christopher Graefe, of Jamaica Plain (C) competed in the hat competition during the Winter Swim Festival at Lake Memphremagog.

Newport, VT - 2/29/20 - L Street Swimmer Sam Levinson, of Allston (C) celebrates as she is escorted to the warming hut by fellow L Street Swimmers after finishing the 200 meters. Many of the swimmers swear by the euphoria they feel after a swim in cold water, with some describing it as a reset.

Newport, VT - 2/29/20 - Qing Li, of Chicago swims during the Winter Swim Festival at Lake Memphremagog. The 93 competitors, who have to prove they can handle ultra-cold water to qualify for admission, race in distances ranging from 25 to 200 meters. Most swim multiple events, and the meet culminates with a pair of relays. The only rules are that there are no flip turns, no long push-offs under water, no backstroke, and no wetsuits. Also, if you swim the 200, you need a spotter who knows you well enough to be able to be able to hit the panic button at the first sign of trouble.

Newport, VT - 2/29/20 - Martha Wood, of Manchester (L) thanks her "stripper" as he helps to get her clothes back on after she emerges from the pool during the Winter Swim Festival at Lake Memphremagog.

Newport, VT - 3/1/20 - Many swimmers experience some form of a painful phenomenon known as Òafterdrop,Ó where cold blood from the extremities will suddenly rush to the warm core. Polly Madding, of East Boston puts her hands in a pot of tepid water to try to ease the pain after she took part in the 4x50 meter relay.