That early culture-changing work is why it was "no big deal" as some writers said recently when Brittney Griner, the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft and one of the best female basketball players, came out of the closet, before she even played her first pro basketball game for the Phoenix Mercury.

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He would never forget the first time he saw a basketball game.

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The idea is to give the production the uptempo feel of a basketball game while covering plenty of material from the pair's first meeting in the 1979 NCAA championship game, to their decade-long rivalry, to Johnson's announcement that he was HIV positive, to Bird's struggles with late-career injuries.

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For example, my 10-year-old son, the day before the Shanahan-Griffin event, sat the third quarter of our basketball game after jamming fingers on the last play of the first half.

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Other events officially on deck (the plan for the first year is still about 85) include several college basketball tournaments and the ACC Championship football game in December.

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But a basketball game is four quarters, and if you only play the first half well, you can blow the game in the second half.

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Instead, he told them first thing in the morning, before a day of family activities - going to a restaurant and a basketball game together - which he says displaced the bad news.

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