Locker Room

PHILADELPHIA — Less than an hour before the 8 p.m. tipoff, Philadelphia 76ers employees are scurrying around the Wells Fargo Center, hoping this Saturday night unfolds as planned. It's late March, and the team is handing out Allen Iverson bobblehead dolls. Iverson himself is scheduled to attend, a rare public appearance for the 37-year-old former NBA superstar. He'll be introduced during a pregame ceremony and then watch the game from Sixers chief executive Adam Aron's suite.

MINNEAPOLIS — The Vikings released punter Chris Kluwe on Monday, bringing an end to his colorful and outspoken eight-year stay in Minnesota. Kluwe announced the news on Twitter shortly after meeting with Vikings GM Rick Spielman, a move that had been expected ever since the team spent a fifth-round draft pick on punter Jeff Locke at the end of last month. Kluwe said he knew what was bound to happen as soon as he saw Locke come off the board and he was pleased to get his release earlier enough in the summer to...

In the wake of the announcement that Jim Zorn had been fired in the early hours Monday after the final loss of a 4-12 season, Washington Redskins players reflected on their former coach as some cleaned out their lockers at Redskins Park. Many praised Zorn's ability to withstand a trying season while also acknowledging a lack of discipline within the organization this season. Zorn's tenure in Washington started strong, with the Redskins going 6-2 in his first eight games. But Washington won just six of the next 24. As the Redskins...

Patrick Burke is a founder of the You Can Play Project and a scout with the Philadelphia Flyers. In the same week that much of the country was congratulating Washington Wizards center Jason Collins for coming out as the first openly gay male athlete on a major league sports team, I met with a National Hockey League player about why tweeting "no homo" is unacceptable, and I addressed a Major League Soccer team whose player had taunted an...

On one of Gilbert Arenas 's final nights as a Washington Wizard , he stood in the corridor leading from the locker room to the floor — fearful of being booed almost a year after he and a teammate had irrevocably tarnished themselves and a franchise by bringing guns to Verizon Center. Asked whether he had spoken to Javaris Crittenton since they were suspended for the remainder of the 2009-10 NBA season and Arenas had spent 30 days in a halfway house, Arenas replied, "No, but I...

When fall football practice starts next month, Richard Montgomery High School coach Neal Owens will evaluate nearly 100 prospective players based on their on-field talent. He will also keep a close eye on something else: the athletes' hygiene. "I don't know if the kids will like it at first, but there is no doubt in my mind, Richard Montgomery will have the cleanest athletic facility in the county," Owens said. "It's often overlooked, but I have seen firsthand what types of bacteria can grow in the...

The debate around the New Orleans Saints' pay-for-performance system initially centered around the prevalence of such programs and their propriety within the NFL. But the NFL's punishments of the team revealed something else: a discord among current and former players not only over the bounty program and the league's response but in the manner in which they became public. Some players clearly believe the existence of the bounty system should have remained where it began: in the...

Patrick Burke is a founder of the You Can Play Project and a scout with the Philadelphia Flyers. In the same week that much of the country was congratulating Washington Wizards center Jason Collins for coming out as the first openly gay male athlete on a major league sports team, I met with a National Hockey League player about why tweeting "no homo" is unacceptable, and I addressed a Major League Soccer team whose player had taunted an...

Bradley Beal 's stone face and steely eyes couldn't mask the anger and melancholy festering inside him as he trudged toward the locker room Saturday after his disappointing home debut against the Boston Celtics. Noticing that Beal was rattled, Washington Wizards assistant Sam Cassell felt compelled to comfort the 19-year-old rookie who scored just two points, missed all five of his shots and watched the final 4 minutes 52 seconds of an 89-86 loss unfold from the bench.

Cal Ripken Jr. will always be known as the Iron Man for the record-setting 2,632 consecutive games he played for the Orioles. He started his career on an Orioles farm team at 19 and retired from the Baltimore Orioles 21 years later. In baseball terms, he was an old guy. Yet today, on the cusp of 52, Ripken is as focused as ever. He runs three minor league teams, the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, the Ripken Stadium and the Ripken Youth Baseball Academy in Aberdeen, Md. He also writes...

  NBA player Jason Collins's groundbreaking decision to come out as gay, and the overwhelming public support he's received so far, is a clear sign of how our sports locker-room culture — filled with its suppression of anything that isn't overtly heterosexual — is beginning to change, especially compared with my own athletic career in the 1970s. I was 11 when my dad, a career military man, signed me up for the Vandenberg Air Force Base junior football league in 1974. He worried that his only son —...

A week rarely passes without fresh anguish for D.C. United. Defeats have mounted . Dreary, disjointed performances have spoiled the spring. And to compound the anguish, injuries to the midfield have dented Ben Olsen's alternatives. The latest setback: Midfielder Chris Pontius will not play in Saturday night's match in Columbus after injuring his groin in practice Thursday, Olsen said. Asked when Pontius might return, Olsen said, "I'm not sure. " Through a club spokesman,...

PHOENIX — The visiting locker room at US Airways Center was filled with the usual laughter and playful banter that comes following a victory, but the Washington Wizards ' celebration of a much-needed road win over the Phoenix Suns was tempered some by what was happening behind a glass window leading to the training room. There, rookie Bradley Beal sat with a white towel covering his head, left leg elevated as he received treatment on a troublesome ankle that he...

Trevor Ariza was completing an interview session with reporters after the Washington Wizards ' 104-87 win over Charlotte when Martell Webster emerged from the training room. As he is wont to do after home wins, Webster crept from behind, prepared to interrupt with a loud, playful comment to make Ariza laugh or flub his words on camera. Sensing Webster approaching, Ariza smiled, turned and said, "You got it. " Ariza moved aside, laughing as he scooted out of the locker...

Jordan Crawford has supreme confidence , carries an extreme chip on his shoulder, calls himself "Sizzle" and never steps on court believing that he should take a back seat to anyone. Those qualities helped Crawford overachieve for much of his career but also proved to work against him in his final days as a member of the Washington Wizards. On Thursday, Washington traded the disgruntled third-year shooting guard to the Boston Celtics for injured veteran guard Leandro Barbosa...

One by one, the elder statesmen of the Virginia men's basketball team emerged from the visitor's locker room at the Dean E. Smith Center, the same sullen expression on their faces. It was the sort of look one expects from a child awaiting punishment from a parent, and in this case, the Cavaliers knew exactly what they did wrong. After months of adhering to the brand of patient, defensive-minded basketball Coach Tony Bennett has made his calling card, Virginia...

National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern suspended Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas indefinitely without pay Wednesday, saying a gun incident in the Wizards' locker room last month and Arenas's behavior since had led him to conclude "that he is not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game. " Stern's action, announced in a scathing statement issued from his office in New York, cast into doubt the future career of one of Washington's most colorful athletes who once...

A week rarely passes without fresh anguish for D.C. United. Defeats have mounted . Dreary, disjointed performances have spoiled the spring. And to compound the anguish, injuries to the midfield have dented Ben Olsen's alternatives. The latest setback: Midfielder Chris Pontius will not play in Saturday night's match in Columbus after injuring his groin in practice Thursday, Olsen said. Asked when Pontius might return, Olsen said, "I'm not sure. " Through a club spokesman, Pontius said...

VIERA, Fla. — Ryan Zimmerman sat Sunday morning in his corner of the Washington Nationals ' clubhouse, not far from the space he occupied seven years ago at the same moment of the baseball calendar. There were no lockers there in 2006, Zimmerman's first spring training. Back then the makeshift kitchen resided in the corner — a few feet away from the toilets. "Seems good," Zimmerman said, laughing. His teammates pulled on gray pants, red socks over white sanitary...

In the days leading up to Wednesday night's Howard County rematch between No. 17 Oakland Mills and River Hill , Scorpions Coach Jon Browne taped up a newspaper article in his locker room for his players to read. The article quoted Hawks forward Walt Moody calling Oakland Mills "the best," before adding that River Hill was, "capable of beating them. " Moody's statements lit a fire underneath the Scorpions, who snapped River Hill's 12-game winning streak...