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This story appears in ESPN The Magazines December 12 NFL Chemistry Issue. Cheap NFL Jerseys . Subscribe today!RYAN HARRIS ABRUPTLY pauses an interview on race in NFL locker rooms after overhearing two teammates discussing interactions with police over speeding tickets. You see? the offensive tackle says. Thats all the time.The Steelers fight for extra yards three hours each week; the rest of the time, they share whats on their minds. From NFL policies to politics to sex to religion to foreign relations -- you can find it all here, running back DeAngelo Williams says. We get that watercooler talk because were essentially next to the watercooler all day.An NFL locker room is the rare setting where diversity is built in, perspectives flow freely and interaction among people of different backgrounds is unavoidable. Ben hangs out with the damn kickers, center Maurkice Pouncey says of QB Ben Roethlisberger. There are no cliques here. We like to have conversations about different things all the time, not just 22-double and 52-protection.So to better understand the social consciousness of an NFL players sweat-drenched office, we asked more than a dozen Steelers about their workplace.Whats it like inside your locker room, and how does it compare to other NFL teams?JARVIS JONES, LINEBACKER: This is the only locker room Ive been in, but guys I talk to from other locker rooms, it sounds like there are a lot of cliques in other places or maybe you cant speak your mind the way youd like. Here, its all about coming together as one. I feel free to speak my mind at any time. Its really a no-judgment zone.DEANGELO WILLIAMS: When we go home, we dont get the opportunity to discuss what we need to discuss. My next-door neighbors, and most players next-door neighbors, are 40 and 50 and 60 years old, probably businessmen and women. You cant knock on their door to discuss politics or religion or something that could potentially help you. And Im 25, youre 54. You cant connect. You have to get that connection in the locker room.LAWRENCE TIMMONS, LINEBACKER: I hear a lot of people say this is the closest-knit group in the league. I feel like thats how they run the organization, and it carries down to the players. Antonio Brown will talk to anyone; Ben will talk to anyone. Everyones cool.LEVEON BELL, RUNNING BACK: We can say whatever we want to each other. We have that type of relationship. For us, when we see race or things play out from the outside, we can discuss it and we can still have an open mind to what someone is saying. Our locker room is very open, and it should be like that.What role do you think race plays in locker room dynamics?RYAN HARRIS, OFFENSIVE TACKLE: You cant help but talk about race. It matters to a lot of us, both black and white players. I read that 67 percent of white Americans dont have African-American friends. They are missing an interaction that we have multiple times a day.CAM HEYWARD, DEFENSIVE END: Its crazy to hear some of these guys stories. It doesnt matter where you came from. Everybody had to work with what theyve got. You hear about [police encounters among teammates]. Its unfortunate. We dont understand why anyone would be treated like that.ALEJANDRO VILLANUEVA, LEFT TACKLE: African-Americans are not a minority [in NFL locker rooms]. They are a majority. So their voices are going to be heard. The one thing I can truly take away from this: I feel something inside is not right. My teammates that I care so much about wake up in the morning with the feeling of not being equal.WILLIAMS: Im a firm believer that a person -- doesnt matter what color they are -- can learn a lot from someone if they are willing to learn. Not based on what theyve heard or what theyve seen but if theyre going in with the mindset of I want to learn about a day in the life of this person or that person. It opens a ton of doors, man.What experiences have shaped your thoughts on this topic?MARKUS WHEATON, WIDE RECEIVER: Some things I go through are normal to me. Through my eyes, it doesnt look out of place. But if you walked in my shoes, you would notice it a lot more. I once went to a city where there were no blacks. I met a few people there, and they actually said theyve never seen a black person in person. Kids were afraid of me. I walked down the street and they wouldnt walk down the same side as me. Its things like that that are kind of normal to me and shouldnt be. And if youre not exposed to it, youre not wrong -- its just different.HARRIS: There are a lot of guys in this locker room who have been affected personally by police brutality. A lot of guys have been affected personally by gun violence that doesnt include police. You get a lot of racial conversations, but its all said out of respect. It all starts on the foundation of respect vs. Im right and youre wrong.JONES: I had a gun pulled on me before. I was back home in Georgia, and I was speeding when [an officer] pulled me over. I was probably going 85. I pulled over about a mile down the road, and he came from behind me. He already had his gun out. I was on the road with no tint, both of my hands on the steering wheel. We were talking. It was all good, but Im like, Bro, you pulled your gun on me and I didnt do anything.B.J. FINNEY, CENTER/GUARD: Theres nothing I can do personally to understand what [African-American teammates] go through. And I know that. I can listen to them. I can try to understand. I can empathize with them and understand where theyre coming from on certain topics and be there to support them and help them with whatever they need.RAMON FOSTER, GUARD: Theyll never really understand it. And thats not their fault. You have to live through that. Even with us, not many of us get it. To be honest with you, being an athlete kind of separates you from a lot of different things. I hadnt directly had a person call me the N-word to my face -- for one, because of my size, and two, because of what I do. I dont know if they say it behind my back, but I feel Ive surpassed some of that stuff. Other guys have heard it, though.VILLANUEVA: Having an African-American head coach, our awareness is very high with race and America. Someone like Coach [Mike] Tomlin can make you think how much football has given to you, how much sports means to everybody in the NFL in terms of how weve been able to help our families financially. When you put in perspective someone like Coach Tomlin, who comes from a really tough neighborhood, youre appreciative of his side of the story.How does having a teammate who was in the military (Villanueva is a West Point grad and former Army Ranger) change your thoughts on anthem protests? Has your stance evolved throughout the season?WILLIAMS: Its a different dynamic, and we also get his perception from the military background: Somebody in our locker room that we know has been on both sides -- in the military and as an athlete.ROSS COCKRELL, CORNERBACK: We all know and recognize that Al has done a great service to this country, and we want to respect him by showing our respect for the flag. Having Al, having some other guys around, you recognize theres a lot more going on outside of this NFL bubble were in. Were definitely aware. We have good conversations about the things we see on TV and whats going on in current events, and that leads to openness.VILLANUEVA: We all feel very American, extremely proud of our country. In conversations with [James] Harrison, DeAngelo, there isnt a single person who doesnt disagree with injustices. We want justice for everyone. But we understand our platform. We understand who we are. We dont spend 12 hours a day reading the law and studying the news and cases and trials. We are football players. Our extent of knowledge on this subject is very limited.POUNCEY: Colin Kaepernick giving money back, making a difference instead of just talking and doing political stands, I respect the hell out of that. I can respect a guy who does that, whos putting his money forth and going out there and really making a change. Anybody else whos doing that and not following the same path as him, then its a little different situation for me. Its more talk than action. I like action. People who want to talk, get a radio show.What do you discuss about the election, both pre- and post-results?WHEATON: The election has been a hot discussion. Hot discussion.TIMMONS: I cant talk about that. [Imitating Tomlin] If you say anything about that, Lawrence ...VILLANUEVA: When you read the news, its very slanted toward one side or the other. But the thoughtful conversations Ive had with teammates have helped me become a better person.COCKEREL: Im happy its over with. Now that its over, Ive kind of settled in, like, hey, this is the direction the countrys going in for the next four years. Im ready to see wherever its going to go. I want Donald Trump to do well. If Trump does well, America does well.WILLIAMS: We talked about it a lot pre- and post-, but there was nobody visibly or emotionally upset or emotionally distraught by the decisions made by the majority. We all stay to our sides. There are obviously some policies that a lot of people dont agree with. There are a lot of policies that Barack Obama put in place before that. There are going to be ups and downs to each presidency and policies people dont like, and it wont be any different with Donald Trump. Its one of those things, man; Donald Trump is the president-elect. Were going to move on with it. Whether we want to or not, we have to. Cheap Soccer Jerseys . Spiller left Week 3s 27-20 loss to the New York Jets with a thigh injury, but fully practiced with the team all week and expects to be ready to go on Sunday. Wholesale Jerseys From China .J. -- Pitcher Carl Pavano is retiring after 14 major league seasons. http://www.wholesalejerseyschinaonline.com/ . It was the kind of score that might make everyone else wonder which course he was playing. Except that Graeme McDowell saw the whole thing. Crouched behind the 10th green at Sheshan International, McDowell looked over at the powerful American and said, "Ive probably seen 18 of the best drives Ive seen all year in the last two days. ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Hawks are planning a $192.5 million renovation of Philips Arena, with the city providing the bulk of the funding.As part of the deal announced Tuesday, the Hawks agreed to an 18-year lease extension to remain at the city-owned arena through 2046.The city will contribute $142.5 million toward the project, which will most noticeably alter the look of the luxury boxes stacked on one side of the arena. There will be new amenities, a variety of different-size suites, improved sightlines for basketball, a state-of-the-art video system, and connected concourses throughout the 17-year-old facility.Philips Arena originally was built to host both the NBAs Hawks and the NHLs Atlanta Thrashers. The hockey team moved to Winnipeg in 2011.Mayor Kasim Reed had pledged to contribute to an arena renovation when the Hawks were in the process of being sold by former controlling owner Bruce Levenson, who gave up the team after revealing that he sent a racially insensitive email. Tony Ressler wound up leading a group that purchased the Hawks and operating rights to the arena.Ressler said all along that he preferred to remain downtown rather than pursue a new facility, as long as Philips Arena was upgraded.We knew that a key part of producing a winning team, providing a superior fan experience and being a civic asset to the city of Atlanta required a renovation of our arena and a meaningful improvement to the downtown area of this city, Ressler said. Todays announcement with the mayor is a significant step toward this goal, and we look forward to this exciting transformation that will ensure that we provide the best fan experience possible now and for the next 30 years.Reed said the renovation was part of a long-range plan to transform an unsightly tract of downtown adjacent to the arena and the new $1.4 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a retractable-roof facility set to open next year as home to the NFL Falcons and a Major League Soccer expansion team, Atlanta United.There have been talks about turning the area, known as the gulch, into a mixed-used development much like the highly successful LA Live complex next to Staples Center in Los Angeles. Wholesale NFL Jerseys Authentic. Reed said its part of a plan to connect the sports venues to popular tourist attractions around Centennial Olympic Park, as well as to one of the citys biggest development flops, Underground Atlanta.This is the first stake in the ground in transforming the critical corridor, Reed said. I want to thank Tony Ressler and the Atlanta Hawks ownership for committing to this deal that will keep the NBA in our city and help reimagine downtown for the millions of residents, visitors and tourists who come to Atlanta each year.Its another huge commitment by the city to a sports venue, though Reed stressed that no money from the citys general fund will be used and no new taxes will be needed.About $110 million will come from an extension of car-rental tax and the city will contribute $12.5 million from the sale of Turner Field to Georgia State University and a development company, a deal expected to close by the end of the year. The remaining $20 million from the city will come from a series of expected future land sales, the mayor added during a City Hall announcement.The renovation of Philips Arena comes on the heels of the city agreeing to spend at least $200 million -- and perhaps much more, some critics have argued -- for the Falcons new stadium, which will replace the 24-year-old Georgia Dome. In addition, suburban Cobb County put up some $400 million in public funding to build a new baseball stadium for the Atlanta Braves that opens next season.SunTrust Park, about 12 miles from downtown, will replace Turner Field even though that stadium is only two decades old. Georgia State plans to downsize the Braves former home into a 30,000-seat stadium for its football program.The renovations on Philips Arena will begin next summer and should be completed by the start of the 2018-19 season. 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