good person. That the sport doesnt define who we are only what we can do, Smith said. Pretty much what Im saying is thank you BASKETBALL youve been G

Ray Smith could not help but smile at Arizonas media day last month, barely able to contain his excitement for the upcoming season.After tearing the ACL in both knees over the previous two seasons, he had every reason to be amped up.His elation did not make it past the first game and now his career is over.Smiths difficult basketball career took another frustrating turn on Tuesday night when the redshirt freshman had to be helped from the court during the No. 10 Wildcats exhibition game against College of Idaho.On Thursday, Arizona coach Sean Miller announced what everyone had hoped would not be the case: Smith tore his right ACL for the second straight year, along with meniscus damage.The torn ACL was Smiths third in three years, leading him to end his basketball career.I love the game of basketball, but I have decided to step away from the game for good, Smith said. I will still be involved with the team and I will still attend THE University of Arizona.Smith went down early against College of Idaho, setting off a collective groan from the McKale Center crowd. He walked off the court to the locker room and returned to the game.Midway through the second half, he went down again and didnt get up. Smith crumpled from the non-contact injury and immediately gestured for help. He was carried off the court.Arizona said in a statement that Smith will have surgery within a month and begin the rehabilitation process.In the 25 years I have been a college basketball coach, I have never felt as helpless as I did when I saw him go down on Tuesday night, Miller said in a statement.No 19-year-old kid should have to experience three season-ending injuries in a 30-month period of time. I have watched Ray work with our strength and conditioning coach tirelessly for two years. I have seen him in our training room around the clock, doing everything he can to play the game he loves. To witness his extraordinary efforts and see this happen to him once again is beyond disheartening.Smith was one of the nations top high school recruits out of Las Vegas, an athletic 6-foot-8 forward who played above the rim and was a versatile defender.He missed his senior season at Las Vegas High School after tearing his left ACL, but was expected to join Allonzo Trier and Justin Simon as the next stars in Tucson last season.Instead, Smith tore his right ACL in practice before the season began.Following a lengthy rehabilitation, Smith returned to the Wildcats this season, ready to get his career back on track.The last two years, I would say, imagine someone who starved for two years, Smith said recently. How much I wanted to compete and watching them compete, that just hurt me and for a while, I just didnt feel like myself. Finally getting a taste of that competition, Im finally getting my swagger back, starting to believe in who I am.Now Smith has to go through it all over again.Miller said last month that he planned to ease Smith back into the fold by limiting his minutes in games, possibly giving him time off at practice. The goal was to give Smith time to regain his strength and confidence.Smith had no trouble running and jumping in practice, but was not able to make it through his first game back.My father once told me that just because someone is a good basketball player doesnt make them a good person. That the sport doesnt define who we are only what we can do, Smith said. Pretty much what Im saying is thank you BASKETBALL youve been GREAT! Custom Predators T-shirts ., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition. Wholesale Custom Predators Shirts .Y. - New York City has been selected to host the NBA All-Star weekend in 2015, with the game played at Madison Square Garden and the slam dunk contest and other skills events held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. http://www.custompredatorsjersey.com/ . A big centre with all the tools to be an elite player, Johansen paced the Blue Jackets with a standout game Saturday night. He had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points as Columbus beat the New York Islanders 5-2 to snap a five-game losing streak. Custom Predators Jerseys . LOUIS -- Attorneys for the St. Cheap Custom Predators Jersey . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very good match -- I was playing really good tennis," Radwanska said. Its nearly impossible to count the ways Jessica Luther is changing the landscape of sports. Her work has directly served fans, students, players, coaches, university administrators, law enforcement officials and fellow journalists by putting all of us on notice for the myriad hypocrisies and injustices to which we contribute in big-time, big-money sports, particularly when it comes to sexual violence. And while its also nearly impossible to narrow down her impact, Jessica has perhaps most meaningfully served survivors in a culture that tends to discard them altogether.Last year, along with co-author Dan Solomon, she blew the lid off a major sexual assault scandal within Baylor athletics, resulting in an administrative fallout and the effective firings of head coach Art Briles and university president Ken Starr. Her reports in Texas Monthly exposed the widespread and brazenly ignored rape culture on campus and the coordinated effort to minimize and cover up a multitude of accusations.But her impact extends far beyond Waco. For years, Jessica has covered similar cases from every corner of the country. She has forced us to acknowledge the blind eye weve all turned toward sexual assault by athletes and the systems in place designed to shield them from scandal. In September, her commitment to exposing the dynamics of power and violence within college football culminated in the publication of her first book, Unsportsmanlike Conduct, a sobering, powerful, necessary read into the ways in which every aspect of our sports culture excuses men who do terrible things, simultaneously demonstrating that this is by no means limited to the gridiron. That its not just a campus problem or a football problem -- its an American problem.What makes Jessicas work so effective isnt just her relentless attention to detail, her willingness to ask the questions nobody dared to before, her meticulous parsiing of police reports and legal documents and witness testimony and case law.dddddddddddd Its her empathy in approaching these stories, in interviewing these victims, not to mention the astounding strength it takes for her to continue to do so. It can be overlooked -- but not overstated -- just how much of an emotional toll it takes on journalists to cover such cases of systemic abuse over and over again, hearing firsthand accounts of pain and violence and seeing the same patterns of behavior often followed by little progress from the time before.As a survivor of sexual violence myself, Jessicas work in this space has been an emotional bedrock. As both a survivor and a journalist, her friendship has been invaluable. Shes constantly giving advice to me and to other writers on how to properly cover sexual violence, reminding us that its not just about the athlete, that theres a victim at the other end. She could teach a clinic on how to balance sensitivity with objectivity.Where the criminal justice system continually fails accusers, Jessica Luther continues to serve them. Shes leading the charge for institutional reform, calling on universities and publications alike to hire more women to change whatever locker-room culture may be used to excuse rampant violence. As her work continues to demonstrate, its not all just talk.More on Jessica Luther? Luther: Football coaches cant just stick to sports Story ?? Jessica Luther on Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape ?Story ?? Athletes, domestic violence and the hurdle of indifference?Column ?The IMPACT25 is espnWs annual list of the 25 athletes and influencers who have made the greatest difference for women in sports. Explore the 2016 list and more content at espnW.com/IMPACT25. ' ' '