irector Kevin White told ESPN in July the bill is most unfortunate. As an institution, if not personally, we have gone on the re

The Maine mens basketball team will wear rainbow-themed warm-up shirts before its game Saturday against No. 5?Duke?in Durham as a way to protest North Carolinas controversial House Bill 2 law.?That law, signed in March by Gov. Pat McCrory, effectively prevents transgender people from using a bathroom of their identity, rather than of the gender on their birth certificate.The warm-up shirts are black with a rainbow-colored America East logo and print. They are in coordination with You Can Play, a social activism organization dedicated to eradicating homophobia and transphobia through the sports world. The team also has the support of the America East Conference, of which Maine is a member.?Maine considered cancelling its trip to Durham but decided the television audience could draw attention to its cause.Its one thing to boycott or not show up because of the financial impact and the message that would send, You Can Play vice president Chris Mosier?told USA Today Sports. ?But they wanted to be visible, and the biggest thing is they want to take the next step. Its not just wearing a pin or a patch or a shirt, Mosier added, who as a duathlete became the?first known out transgender athlete to qualify to a U.S. national team. ?They want to be better allies. And they would have done this whether it was Duke or any North Carolina institution because [HB2] doesnt align with their values.The law applies only to bathrooms in government buildings, schools and public universities. Duke is a private institution and is not subject to the measure, but has come out against it.Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski condemned the bill, telling USA Today Sports in July its an embarrassing bill.Duke athletic director Kevin White told ESPN in July the bill is most unfortunate. As an institution, if not personally, we have gone on the record indicating that our state position on this is very troubling, if not embarrassing.?Maine is not the first America East program to take action in response to the law. ?The Albany mens basketball team canceled its Nov. 12 matchup with the Blue Devils, as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order banning publicly funded and nonessential travel to North Carolina. And the Vermont womens basketball team canceled its road game against North Carolina.The conference partnered with You Can Play back in 2012 with all nine conference members hosting a You Can Play Night throughout the fall, winter and spring sports seasons.Had we not had the groundwork from 2012, I dont think Maine would be taking such an assertive effort for the Duke game, said America East Commissioner Amy Huchthausen. We havent issued an official statement on HB2, but our actions have spoken pretty loud and clear of where we stand. When people turn on the TV on Saturday, the message can speak for itself.The law has caused ramifications in other sporting events in the state. In February, the NBA decided to move its All-Star Game from Charlotte to New Orleans. In September,?the ACC decided to move all neutral-site conference championship games out of North Carolina. The NCAA also moved seven championship events this academic year from North Carolina, including the first and second rounds of the 2017 NCAA mens basketball tournament. Marcus Davenport Saints Jersey . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. Morten Andersen Womens Jersey ., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition. http://www.shoptheofficialsaints.com/Elite-Drew-Brees-Saints-Jersey/ . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. Thomas Morstead Womens Jersey . -- Playing time has been limited for Maxim Tissot this season, so the Montreal Impact defender made the most of his first scoring opportunity on Saturday. TreQuan Smith Saints Jersey . The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Nico Rosberg set the fastest time during second practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix after Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton ended his session in the barriers.The rear of Hamiltons Mercedes snapped out of shape as he approached Turn 11 on his fifth lap, sending the car into a long slide across the run-off area and into the barriers. The impact registered at 10.4G on the on-screen graphic and triggered an alarm in the cockpit that required the world champion to go for a precautionary check at the medical centre.Despite the force of the impact, Hamilton was able to get his car running again and return to the pits at slow speed with no obvious damage to the bodywork. However, the car needed to be fully stripped and checked for damage meaning Hamiltons session ended with just four complete laps on the board.During that brief spell on track he was still able to set the fifth fastest time of the session, albeit on the soft compound tyres rather than the super-softs used by Rosberg to set his best time. Hamilton missed out on the usual long-runs teams conduct on a Friday afternoon, but will be able to analyse Rosbergs 15-lap run on the super-softs and a 18-lap run on the softs.Mercedes appear to be in another private battle for victory this weekend, with Daniel Ricciardo the closest competitor 0.595s off the pace. He also set his fastest lap on the super-softs and was 0.8s quicker than Red Bull teammate Max Verstapppen, who made mistakes on both of his attempts at a quick lap.dddddddddddd.Verstappens errors allowed Sebastian Vettel to split the Red Bulls, but any hope of a repeat of last years victory at the Hungaroring look slim with the Ferrari driver 0.913s off the pace of Rosbergs Mercedes. Kimi Raikkonens best lap time underlined Ferraris struggle as failed to beat Hamiltons early effort on softs despite using the faster super-soft tyre.For the second session in a row, McLaren resumed its position as the best of the rest behind the top three teams. Once again, Fernando Alonso was the faster of the two drivers by 0.059, but more importantly for the team he was over a tenth clear of Nico Hulkenbergs Force India in ninth.Esteban Gutierrez finished the session 0.020s outside the top ten, ahead of both Williams drivers and the Toro Rossos. Carlos Sainzs session ended in the Turn 1 run-off as he pulled over with a technical issue just a few laps after Felipe Nasrs session came to an end with a problem at Turn 2.Romain Grosjean complained about his Haas brakes early in the session, saying he was fed up with the persistent problems, and finished down in 15th, albeit just 0.191s behind teammate Gutierrez. Jolyon Palmers problems in the Renault continued into a second session and he finished 19th with just 12 laps. ' ' '