Brittney Griner: Playing Above The Rim In The WNBA

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Most know Brittney Griner as the basketball player changing the women’s game because she can dunk. She did so to much fanfare 18 times as a Baylor University Lady Bear. She also finished her college career as the second all-time scorer in women’s NCAA history, with 3,283 points, and became the top shot-blocker ever, shattering both the men’s and women’s college records, with 748.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">That athletic prowess wrapped up in her impressive 6-foot-8 frame and 7-foot-4 wingspan is why the WNBA has been salivating to get her into their league. As predicted Griner went No. 1 on Monday night in the draft, to the Phoenix Mercury.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><img src="http://b-i.forbesimg.com/christinasettimi/files/2013/04/Brittney-Griner-Jersey-1-199x300.jpg" /><img height="320" src="http://b-i.forbesimg.com/alanaglass/files/2013/04/IMG_0049.jpg" width="240" />Now she and two other highly visible rookies, Elena Delle Donne from Delaware drafted No. 2 to the Chicago Sky, and Skylar Diggins from Notre Dame who went No. 3 to the Tulsa Shock, are expected to breathe new life in the league that is entering its 17th season, trying to re-brand itself with a new logo and an extended $12 million a year television deal with ESPN through 2022.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">But Griner is expected to be a game changer off the court as well. Her idea of femininity — including her love of her longboard (she’s a skater kid who idolizes Tony Hawk), her playfulness on current fashion (her Pinterest account shows her love of on-trend oxfords including a pair with lilac laces and soles, and another two-toned pair in this season’s color mint), her fresh faced look (she has a baby smooth complexion and enviable high cheekbones), her confidence in her ability to be friends with her female competitors (she and Elena Delle Donne swapped encouraging tweets through the NCAA tournament) and to sincerely compete with men (she and Mark Cuban recently caused a stir when he said he would take a chance on her and she said “I’ll hold my own”), and her open acknowledgement that her sexuality is just part of who she is (despite headlines today, <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/news/20130417/wnba-griner-delle-donne-diggins-sports-sexuality/" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">her interview with SI last night was not a ceremonial coming-out</a>) — is a refreshing twist on the archaic ideals of beauty imposed on female athletes. Accordingly, she is expected to earn coveted endorsements that have typically eluded female team-sport athletes.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">“Brittney is powerful because she is true to herself. She embraces what makes her unique and in doing so, empowers everyone around her to do the same,” said her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">“She’s incredibly inspirational and for forward leaning brands that are interested in connecting with consumers emotionally, she has the potential to be very, very compelling.”</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Nike agrees and just signed her to a multi-year deal. She joins the brand’s current roster of female brand ambassadors, all solo athletes, including tennis stars Serena Williams and <a href="http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mli45imfe/1-maria-sharapova/#gallerycontent" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Maria Sharapova, who earned $27.9 million last year to rank as Forbes’ highest paid female athlete</a>.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Despite all the hype, expectations and judgments, Griner is incredibly humble and authentic. It showed when she welled-up when her name was called at the draft, even though hell was set to freeze over before she was passed on being called first. Forbes caught up with her the day after the WNBA draft at the league’s offices in New York to talk about her career, that little thing with Cuban, and how she wants to play on and off the court.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Christina Settimi: It was interesting to see you last night after what everyone, including you, knew what would happen — you were drafted first by the Phoenix Mercury. What did the tears stem from then?</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Brittney Griner:  I finally got caught up in the moment. I kind of froze, my mouth froze, my mind froze up and I just couldn’t say anything. It was just like when I met Tony Hawk [earlier in the day on the ESPN campus]. I just froze up. It was overwhelming.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">CS: What are you looking forward to most with joining your new team?</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">BG: A new start in a new city. But I don’t want to say a new city like I’m just visiting there. I’m looking forward to a new home. But I also can’t wait to play with Diana Taurasi, Candace Dupree, DeWanna Bonner, Penny Taylor. And Corey Gaines is an awesome coach. So I’m definitely looking forward to meeting up with all of them.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">CS: That was quite a frenzy that surrounded the Mark Cuban situation when he publicly said he would draft you and you responded to him asking when you show up for tryouts. Did you anticipate that at all?</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">BG: No, I didn’t think it was going to be that big. But it was definitely good. It got people talking. People on the NBA side that really don’t talk about the women’s game started talking about it. I’ve had a lot of people respond to say they are going to start watching me. I had a Phoenix fan tweet me today, saying he lived in Phoenix his whole life and never been to a game and now that I’m there, he’s buying tickets. So it got people interested in the league that never had one and that’s awesome.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">CS: But did you anticipate your response to Cuban would have been as scrutinized as it was?</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">BG: Regardless of what I would have said, it would have been scrutinized. If I had declined and said “no, I don’t want to take you up on that offer” people would have said “she’s scared” or “she can’t do it”. And as it was, I said yes, I do want to take you up on that offer and people jumped to the conclusion that I don’t care about the WNBA. I do care about the league. The league is first. Then if the opportunity still is there to present itself in the NBA, I will give it a shot. Either way though, someone was going to have something negative to say. A lot of the fanbase thought I was going to skip the WNBA draft and just focus on Cuban. But no, I was living for this draft. When I started playing basketball the dream was always the WNBA. It wasn’t to make it to the NBA. Our league is what has always been special to me.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">CS: Had you thought about it though, ever playing in the NBA?</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">BG: No, to be honest it never crossed my mind. I’m a fan, I watch. But I never thought about playing there.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">CS: Do you take the constructive criticism that the women’s and men’s games are different?<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 16px; text-transform: uppercase;">PAGE 2 OF 3</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">BG: Yes I think they are different, but equal. We shouldn’t compare them. We are our own league. They are their own league. We’re the top female athletes; they are the top men’s athletes.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">CS: Well on that note, the Phoenix Mercury posted a congratulatory video from LeBron James to you on their website. He compared you to Wilt Chamberlain. What do you think of that?</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">BG: That is definitely an honor. But you’re not going to change that. People are going to compare us over to the men’s side. I wish they would compare back to women. You have to take it as a compliment though, especially to be compared to Wilt who is just a great athlete, not just on the men’s side, but in general.</div><br /><aside class="vestpocket" data-position="4" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px; border-top-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 5px; float: left; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; margin: 8px 30px 1px 0px; overflow: visible; padding-bottom: 20px; position: relative; width: 175px; z-index: 1;"><div class="box article" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 5px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 20px 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 175px;"><a class="thumb exit_trigger_set" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanaglass/2013/04/16/its-official-brittney-griner-will-be-dunking-in-the-wnba/" style="border: 0px; color: black; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px 0px 5px; max-height: 175px; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="icon" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><img alt="" src="http://b-i.forbesimg.com/alanaglass/files/2013/04/IMG_0049.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgb(184, 184, 184) 1px 1px 6px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgb(184, 184, 184) 1px 1px 6px; margin: 0px; max-width: 175px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></a><a class="vp_text exit_trigger_set" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanaglass/2013/04/16/its-official-brittney-griner-will-be-dunking-in-the-wnba/" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It's Official, Brittney Griner Will Be Dunking In The WNBA</a><cite class="box_byline clearfix" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; line-height: 14px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="exit_trigger_set" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanaglass/" style="border: 0px; color: black; display: block; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Alana Glass" class="avatar" src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/870e302eb8fde16bf0b55ae3a6873ef2?s=40&r=pg&d=http%3A%2F%2Fb-i.forbesimg.com%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Favatars%2Fgeneric_profile_image_40.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 3px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 20px;" /><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Alana Glass</strong><span class="desc" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; display: block; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Contributor</span></a></cite></div><div class="box article" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 5px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 20px 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 175px;"><a class="thumb exit_trigger_set" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanaglass/2013/03/29/wnba-espn-extend-television-agreement-announce-rebranding-initiative/" style="border: 0px; color: black; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px 0px 5px; max-height: 175px; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="icon" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><img alt="" src="http://b-i.forbesimg.com/alanaglass/files/2013/03/WNBA-Logo-2013.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgb(184, 184, 184) 1px 1px 6px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgb(184, 184, 184) 1px 1px 6px; margin: 0px; max-width: 175px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></a><a class="vp_text exit_trigger_set" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanaglass/2013/03/29/wnba-espn-extend-television-agreement-announce-rebranding-initiative/" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">WNBA, ESPN Extend Television Agreement, Announce Rebranding Initiative</a><cite class="box_byline clearfix" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; line-height: 14px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="exit_trigger_set" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanaglass/" style="border: 0px; color: black; display: block; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Alana Glass" class="avatar" src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/870e302eb8fde16bf0b55ae3a6873ef2?s=40&r=pg&d=http%3A%2F%2Fb-i.forbesimg.com%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Favatars%2Fgeneric_profile_image_40.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 3px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 20px;" /><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Alana Glass</strong><span class="desc" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; display: block; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Contributor</span></a></cite></div></aside><br /><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">CS: So who would you want to be compared to?</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">BG: Lisa Leslie, in her prime, definitely. Although I think she could still get out there and do something and definitely teach me a thing or two.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Elena Delle Donne and Forbes contributor Alana Glass joined the conversation for a moment at this point.</em></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Alana Glass: Can you comment on your relationship with Elena? I see you two have a huge amount of respect for each other.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">BG: We first met on the All American team and I heard her story before with her decision and how she wanted to stay close to her family and her sister. I already thought she was an amazing person. She proved it on the court night in and night out too. Then getting to meet her dad and mom confirmed it. Watching her play and her career, I tweeted out that she was great. People don’t do that enough. We compete, we go head-to-head, but that doesn’t mean we have to hate each other, or be spiteful and hope one falls or hope somebody doesn’t succeed. You can be friends and still compete and go hard on the court.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Elena Delle Donne: Right when we met, Brittany was awesome. She makes awkward situations not awkward. We’re sitting in this All American meeting and no one’s talking. She walks in and just hilarious, making jokes, making everyone talk. Right then I loved Brittany. Like she said, I respect her game and what she’s going to do for women’s sports. We’re both confident enough in our own games to support the other. When we both lost in the NCAA tournament, we were able to lift each other. We both understood. She obviously had a little bit of a harder time because Baylor was supposed to win the national championship but I told her she’s the greatest and she’s going to change women’s sports and to keep her head up.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">AG: Did you ever think there are young girls following you on twitter and seeing the nature of your relationship and how you can be competitors but still be kind and respectful and essentially be role models?</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">EDD: I hope girls can see that and not be spiteful towards one another and see that it is ok to be supportive and to want others to be successful with you. Because the more successful that women are in our sport, the more attention we’re going to get.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">BG: I hope it makes them realize you can compete and go at each other’s head but you don’t have to hate each other. On the guy’s side they have that brotherhood and it’s looked at like they’re just butting heads, it’s competitive. But if two female athletes go back and forth it’s a catfight. I’m pretty sure sound effects would be put in on SportsCenter and people would have a field day with it.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">CS: So how do you guys change that?</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">BG: First talking about it and bringing it up. Letting people know that’s not the case and it’s not right. Getting people to stop with all the comparisons including the gender comparisons. As far as the game, playing as hard as we can. We are dominant, we can do anything we put our minds to, anything the guys can do.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">CS: I know you both have Nike deals. Are there any certain brands you want to affiliate yourselves with then that would do that, show better how you really are as women?</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">BG:  We should have the big commercials like the guys. We shouldn’t always be put in that stereotypical feminine role in the commercial, always having to wear pink. There’s nothing wrong with pink but you always see that stereotype with a woman lightly running, doing something gently, in skirts and short shorts. But we can be who we are and not wear pink and not be that typical girl they want us to be. I’ve been told “you don’t really play like a girl” and I wonder, what does that really mean? I play like an athlete. I’m a competitor.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">CS: So how do you want to be known off the court?</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">BG: I want to be known as a strong person off the court — strong in the sense that I know who I am and being comfortable with my body. I went through a lot of scrutiny from the “she’s a man” to “she has large feet, large hands”, “she doesn’t fit the typical girl’s stature”. I want to be known as someone who gave back to the community especially the LGBT community, the younger girls and boys that just walk down the street and get beat up. I hate bullying, as someone who got bullied before. I definitely want to be known to have a strong voice to make a difference there and bring awareness and bring an end to it.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">CS: Do you have any official partnership yet with LGBT?</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">BG: I’ve done work with the It Gets Better Campaign and you’ll see a lot more soon. I’m living that slogan right now and am proof of it.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></div></div>

Brittney Griner Brittney Griner: Playing Above The Rim In The WNBA

Most know Brittney Griner as the basketball player changing the women’s game because she can dunk. She did so to much fanfare 18 times as a ...

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