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Message: [QUOTE="RockyMTblue2, post: 2893960, member: 250"] In responding to the thread about pay disparities here and in Europe I stumbled on an old story that put the murder of Diana's Russian oligarch Spartak owner is a whole new light. The article talks of the dangers that can be involved in play abroad. This "dodged bullet" is particularly chilling: "On Nov. 2, 2009, Shabtai Kalmanovich, 62, the flamboyant owner of the Spartak women's basketball team in Moscow, was a passenger in a Mercedes S500 that had stopped at a traffic light near his home on a busy street near a police station. With him were his driver, a friend and a bodyguard. As the investigation would later describe, at least one assailant armed with a high-powered weapon lay in wait for his car. And when Kalmanovich's driver stopped at the light, a barrage of semiautomatic gunfire struck him at least 20 times, killing him instantly and seriously wounding the driver. This was not just a murder; it was a contract-style hit. Kalmanovich, along with being wealthy, had a long list of enemies. The Jewish Russian Telegraph described him as a "former Israeli double agent who penetrated [URL='http://www.courant.com/topic/politics-government/government/government-ministers/golda-meir-PEHST001327-topic.html']Golda Meir[/URL]'s government on behalf of the KGB." His violent death did not surprise people. However, if the assassins had waited just another 20 minutes, a few more blocks down the road, the number of innocent victims could have been higher, and the story more prominent in the U.S. And their names would have staggered a sport. Known to spend lavish amounts of money on his players, many of them former stars of American college basketball and the WNBA, Kalmanovich was headed to his office to pick up more people for a Beyonce concert designed as a birthday celebration for McCarville, who was playing for the [URL='http://www.courant.com/topic/sports/basketball/new-york-liberty-ORSPT000446-topic.html']New York Liberty[/URL] at the time. [B]Not only would McCarville have been in the car — in fact, she was in the same car with him the night before — so likely would have been Taurasi, [URL='http://www.courant.com/topic/sports/basketball/sylvia-fowles-PESPT00016152-topic.html']Sylvia Fowles[/URL], Bird, Aneta Jekabsone-Zogota, Edwige Lawson-Wade and Kelly Miller, all WNBA stars. And the coach of Spartak was Pokey Chatman, the former coach of Louisiana State University and now coach of the WNBA's [URL='http://www.courant.com/topic/sports/basketball/chicago-sky-ORSPT000443-topic.html']Chicago Sky[/URL].[/B] "We were all at his office, waiting for his car to pick us up," McCarville said. "He was just a couple of miles away, on his way to get us. I can only assume that we all would have been with him within just a few minutes after [he was killed]. "When we found out what had happened, I remember how quiet the place became. We were all there just reflecting on our lives. He may not have been the best man in the world, but for us he was very good. He treated us well. All we could do was be thankful that we weren't near him at that moment." A price of playing in a volatile, violent world. As Renee Montgomery said in the article: "What can you do? I just stay prayed up. " [URL="http://www.courant.com/sports/basketball/connecticut-sun/hc-wnba-players-overseas-0807-20140809-story.html"]For Rewards, Increasing Risks[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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