1. Funker » t the hand extended, a hand that says I believe in you

I think bicycling has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel ... the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood. -- Susan B. Anthony, 1896Girls who break camp and ride,daughters of iron fleur-de-lis andpearl sankofa, smashing homeruns,charting backhands, in city sandlots,with floral abstractions and lightningrod detail, calculating their girl futureson urban stoops, long after dark,long before Wimbledonssilver trays spell out their planetarynames. Foremothers, women of ryeinvention in the business of movement& motion, concoction & measure,The Paper Bag, 1868,belongs to them.They rode their bicycles out of tightboxes and off their chains into a propellerof girl wind, only to discover thewide stained glass slide of themselves,they sallied forth and circled,in drums of cotton and sailboats of lace,salty & pugnacious, riding with handlebars but with no hands,Sue Sally Hale, colored in a mustache and dressed like a man just to play polo in Southern California in 1950.Juggling dream notes and sketches tenfeet in the provincial air, as their bikesflew the red dirt roads, women of wheelwind now giving historical permission totheir daughters traipsing gridirons, pitchingdiamonds, running the wooden courts,sleeping with their hands still arced inblack belt tunics and butterfly capoeira.This love song is for those who masteredthe almost falling over, in order to relishthe sublime female flight of up & away,the journey of female physical intentionAnnie Taylor, first human to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.The great girl flight is the tumbling from asolid, to a liquid, to a gas. Full throttle withwheels calculating the circumference ofinvisibility, fending off trumpets of chivalryand doubt, giving birth to shy daughters inneed of the sweet roux of their own bluecornflower flame. Contortionist swangirls of the track and field thathail from Housing Projects and Hollers,measuring the mechanics of their owndust tracks on the road, sweating the detailsand leaving their girl trace,The Murphy Bed, 1885,is one of their contraptions.Wrapping lavender and rosemary garlandaround the velocity of their handlebars,they sing and sign to the whirling, pirouetting,dervish band of other girls with wheelsfeverishly bringing up the rear, eyes andaureoles leaned in, pressing on aroundeach bend, loop de looping the arenawith their mighty wheelworks mastery.The circumference of a girl who wontback down is a registered trademarkmotion. On wheels, no longer standingstill they learn what makes them tick.Remembering how their mothers madequiet haste of cabin fever, preferring torqueto meander, saying No to any parade ofpretty dainty wave.Cathay Williams was also William Cathay, Secret woman & Buffalo Soldier, 1866.They would rather be chased and nevercaught, than stared at and never seen,daring, wild, and crooked free, and womanenough to build their own time capsules,The Windshield Wiper, 1903,invented by a girl.Sometimes a girl can sail her bicycle,sometimes her arm is already the wheel,she is the girl-woman of the double-quickhips, twerking with her kickstand up,Virne Mitchell, pitcher, who struck out Babe Ruth. Women would later be bannedfrom the sport.They refashion new arenas for womenwho fence and cover their hair, withcrescent and purpose, then lunge withmight and fearless heart.Monopoly, the game, 1904,was invented by her kind.No bra or bodice, she is at homewith her inner workings and the quickcockpit of her mind. Nobodys Foolcomes tattooed across her back beneath herhoodie. This great grand daughter, thesister, the lover to the woman who inventedthe circular saw in 1813,then bloomers in 1851.Verve and gadget set them apart fromothers, they are comfortable in theirrunning shoes and bloomers, relaxedwith themselves in an easy loose-fittingkind of way. Sing the love song againstthe liar who has tried, since the Gamesof Hera, to tell us who they are, fillthe silence that can set in quick whena girl is told from stroller wheel towheelchair, A girls mind is not that quick.Watch closely for the girl who is intenton spinning her wheels in the cockpit,Bessie Coleman, piloting herJenny into Paris, smiling downat the ones who told her shewould never fly a plane.Near the hoop, around the arena,past the insult, into the microphone,women who invented exertion,who thought go & travel a fragrance,The female Sumo wrestlers of 1870. Hattie Stewart, pugilist, 1884. The Women of Roller Derby.Girls who GirlTrek and gad about forfreedom from inertia, in the name ofgetting the lead out, with the same DNAas the women who inventedScotchgard, 1953, andKevlar, 1965 (5 times tougher than steel).From the wombs of women whobent forward all day in high cotton,beyond the wired corsets of motherswho could not leave the house(and still be thought of a lady),into the high notes of womenprone to move, girls made fromthe cloth of loose womenremoving their corsets withoutpermission, strait-laced womenwho took years but finally learnedto disobey the rules, then who withfists and fisticuffs fought back.We march into the new Hippodrome,in the name of women who twitch & move,to honor the long-legged, the short-limbed,the lanky girls, who uncrossed their legs,who rode by emancipated on their wheels,the loud whistling women who wantedout of the house, off the plantation,into the street, inside the ring,Ernestine Shepherd, 74, body builder. Women endowed with a wheel of a mind,moving their body at the speed of girl light,with sometimes a bat, a ball, a pencil,pushing off with ink, back flip, triple flute.Who sprint and glide into home with hairfastidiously beaded and cornrowed, withthe rubberbands of their ponytails pullingback their mothers eyes. Women whodreamed beyond the screened-in porchand backyard fence. A band of womenalive and well, who still saddle up theirmythological bikes, pioneering all the way,Retractable Dog Leash, 1908,Liquid Paper, 1951,to strike out on their own. Tomboys.Girls on bikes. Dykes on Bikes. Sweetgraying daughters of Title IX. All, us,kin to the women who run the Saharashoeless and at night, and the Kenyangirls of tomorrow now sprinting with themoon, granddaughters of keen women,who cant stand the standing still,who crave the nimbus and the eddy,and the flight, our girl XX DNA isin it, wheel in hand. Well Alpine race it,balance beam it, figure skate it,The Submarine Telescope, 1845,forearm it, curl & summit, CasterSemenya it, wheel in hand, we ignitefootfall, leave our trace, plantingAchilles and Sojourner, spinning still,from a solidto a liquidto a gas.Nikky Finney has written four books of poetry, including Head Off & Split, for which she won the 2011 National Book Award. She wrote this original piece for the 2016 espnW Women + Sports Summit. Zapatillas Salomon España . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. Salomon Baratas Chinas . The 28-year-old from Calgary matched his career best after missing just one shot in his two rounds of shooting in the mens 10-kilometre sprint competition. Smith finished in 23 minutes 15. http://www.baratassalomon.es/ . -- Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis was charged Thursday with driving while intoxicated, a day after he was suspended for an NFL substance-abuse policy violation. Salomon Baratas España . Calgary scored on the first shift, and Michael Cammalleri scored twice as the Flames cruised to a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Zapatillas Salomon Baratas España . Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. OAKLAND, Calif. -- Klay Thompson hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 4:31 left and another with 3:13 remaining to score a season-high 30 points, Stephen Curry also had 30 points with five 3s, and the balanced Golden State Warriors held off the Phoenix Suns 133-120 on Sunday night.Kevin Durant added 29 points, nine rebounds and five assists as Golden State just missed a third 30-point performance by its star three. The Warriors avoided a second home loss at this early stage that would have matched their total of two defeats at Oracle Arena in each of the past two regular seasons.Thompson shot 11 for 18 also with five 3s and scored 14 of his points in the fourth, while Draymond Green finished with 14 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for Golden State.Eric Bledsoe and T.J. Warren scored 20 points apiece to lead six players in double figures for the Suns.MAGIC 119, THUNDER 117OKLAHOMA CITY -- Serge Ibakas baseline jumper with less than a second remaining lifted Orlandao past Oklahoma City.Ibaka, who was traded from the Thunder to the Magic in the offseason, scored a career-high 31 points and added nine rebounds and four blocks.With the score tied in the final minute, Oklahoma Citys Russell Westbrook missed a pull-up jumper, and Orlando rebounded and called timeout with 11 seconds remaining to set up Ibakas winner with 0.4 seconds left.Westbrook finished with 41 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season and 40th of his career. The Thunder had won 20 straight when Westbrook tallied a triple-double.Elfrid Payton scored 23 points and Evan Fournier added 21 for the Magic, who snapped a three-game losing streak.CAVALIERS 100, HORNETS 93CLEVELAND -- LeBron James sparked a fourth-quarter comeback with 11 points, Channing Frye scored a season-high 20 and Cleveland beat Charlotte.James, who finished with 19 points, also had five assists in the final period.dddddddddddd He had eight points on 4-of-15 shooting through three quarters.Kyrie Irving scored 19 points and Kevin Love added 17, but neither played in the fourth quarter as Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue stuck with the group that helped Cleveland take control of the game.Kemba Walker scored 21 points for the Hornets, who have lost two straight after starting the season 6-1.TIMBERWOLVES 125, LAKERS 99MINNEAPOLIS -- Andrew Wiggins had a career-high 47 points, equaling the entire Lakers starting lineup to lead Minnesota.Wiggins made 14 of 21 shots and Nemanja Bjelica added a career-high 24 points and eight rebounds for the Timberwolves, who played without starting guard Zach LaVine and reserve forward Shabazz Muhammad. Both missed the game with sore right knees.Lou Williams scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter for the Lakers, who got 47 points from their starters and 52 from their bench. Julius Randle had 14 points and six rebounds and Jordan Clarkson scored 14.TRAIL BLAZERS 112, NUGGETS 105PORTLAND, Ore. -- Damian Lillard scored 32 points and the Trail Blazers handed the struggling Nuggets their fourth straight loss.CJ McCollum added 21 points for the Blazers, who have won five of their last six games. Portland trailed 57-50 at the break, but came alive in the second half and outscored Denver 36-15 in the third quarter.Jamal Murray hit a 3-pointer to pull Denver within 110-105 in the final seconds, but the rally came up short. It was the Blazers seventh straight victory over the Nuggets at the Moda Center.Murray and Danilo Gallinari led the Nuggets with 19 points apiece and Kenneth Faried added 18. The Nuggets have struggled with injuries this season and have just three wins. ' ' '