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MINNEAPOLIS -- Seimone Augustus has that southern storytellers way about her. She can mimic voices and act out the parts in whatever tale she is sharing.When she starts with the stories, I listen, Lynx teammate Maya Moore said. Because theyre so funny. She impersonates people and adds her own little touches to it. Shes quite a character.However, the stories from Augustus beloved hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, havent been amusing this year. The massive rain and subsequent flooding that hit the area in August wrought horrific damage that will take a long time to clean up and rebuild. Many people were also left devastated emotionally.Ill show you a picture of my grandmothers house, Augustus said while getting out her phone to display a gigantic pile of debris. Thats how the entire street looked. So many people lost all their belongings.Augustus parents had damage but not total destruction. They also had flood insurance, which was a big help. The animals Augustus keeps back home all made it through the flooding safely; that was among her worries while she was at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.Augustus was moved to tears while talking about her hometown after the United States won the gold medal, and she has been back to visit a couple times since. When the WNBA Finals are over, shell have more time there because she doesnt plan to play overseas this winter.Her heart is always between these two places: Minneapolis, where she has played professionally since she was drafted No. 1 in 2006, and Baton Rouge, where she was born, grew up and played collegiately at LSU. Through her play and her life off the court, she looks to honor both places.Now in her 11th WNBA season, Augustus is trying to win a fourth league title. But she has already cemented her legacy as a champion. What do you want your legacy to be? was the question Cheryl Reeve asked Augustus when she took over as Minnesotas coach in 2010.When she kind of challenged me, I had never really thought about it, Augustus said. Then I realized, in order for us to be successful, Ive got to be a complete player. I have to play defense.It cant be like, Well, Mone is guarding this player today, so well have to give extra help. Because that puts pressure on everyone else to not only do their job but to help me do my job too.Augustus averaged 21.3 points over her first three seasons before a knee injury limited her to six games in 2009. From 2010 to 14, Augustus averaged 16.5 points, with her offensive production as consistent as a metronome.As the Lynx improved in other ways offensively the past two seasons, her scoring average dropped: 13.8 points per game in 2015 and 11.2 this year. Yet guarding her remains a difficult task.Shes incredibly crafty with the ball, Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike said. Shes a spectacular ball handler. But she can also score in many different situations. She can post up, pull up, take you off the dribble.Sparks coach Brian Agler added, Seimone knows the game so much more than she did when she was younger. And thats not to discredit her younger days. Its just to say that shes worked at her craft and thinks the game now at a different level, which all the great ones do.Ultimately, as Augustus said, her commitment to defense helped turn the Lynx into champions.In 2011, when Minnesota began its current run of success, the Lynx had another young scoring sensation: then-rookie Moore.Cheryl didnt want to throw me into the fire defensively then, as I was adjusting from being a 4 to a 3, Moore said of her move from power forward at UConn to small forward in the WNBA. She had Seimone guard the more dominant scorers every night, and she stepped up and did it. That was a big reason why we were able to win in 2011.I have appreciated how she doesnt necessarily get a lot of praise for it outside of our team. But its so important to why we win. Shes just dependable. And we know if theres a game where she struggles, shes going to bounce back.Augustus didnt have her best showing Sunday in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, shooting 2-of-5 from the field for six points with four turnovers. But Moore is right that Augustus has always been resilient, and her personality has been the perfect counter for Reeves seriousness.She is incredibly humble and hilarious to be around, Reeve said. I always say shes great for me because she brings levity to a lot of situations. Seimone is a big reason why this team has fun in what they do.At this point, shes saying, Im going to play as long as I can and as hard as I can. Shes a great veteran and a great teacher, and I think shes grown into those things.Augustus is outspoken without being strident. She has never shied away from talking about social issues and things that matter beyond basketball. She was out and an advocate of marriage equality before a lot of other athletes were willing to talk about it. Earlier this year, she took a stand?with her Lynx teammates in regard to the Black Lives Matter movement. The shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in St. Paul, Minnesota, in July hit especially close to home for Augustus because those two communities are home for her.There are always those boundaries that you can and cant always cross in your professional career, Augustus said. Some people speak up, no matter what. And some people tend to take the back seat and wait it out.The great thing about Coach Reeve is she said, Theres no better time to do it than now. Its happening now. We got some backlash from it, but for the most part, we got a lot of positive feedback. We were talking about the maturity and growth of this team, to be able to do that and play basketball. That says a lot about the women we have on the team.Maturity is a key word and one that means so much to Augustus development. She was a prolific scorer in high school, college and the early part of her WNBA career. She could have been offended by Reeves suggestion that she needed to be better at everything else. She could have been resentful when asked to do more of the so-called dirty work.She just said, OK, and did it, Reeve said. I think its leadership and being a great teammate. Shes like the pied piper. Everyone loves being around Mone. But we needed her to not just be that fun person but also a leader on the floor, to sometimes have to say something difficult to a teammate.Now you look at her years later. What is her legacy? Thats something she took very personally and applied it. swell Bouteille France . Louis Blues. Shane Hnidy joins Brian Munz for the broadcast on TSN 1290 Radio at 7pm ct. S Well Bouteille Paris . Nine days before the opening ceremony, organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said Wednesday that Sochi is "fully ready" and will deliver safe, friendly and well-run games that defy the grim reports that have overshadowed preparations. http://www.swellbouteille.fr/ .Y. -- Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers had no intention of changing his hard-hitting style before taking part in a disciplinary hearing for his illegal check to New Jersey forward Dainius Zubrus head. swell Bouteille Isotherme .ca! Hi Kerry, Heres an interesting one. I know its common knowledge that all players are responsible for their sticks. We witnessed that when Zack Kassian hit Edmontons Sam Gagner in the face after a missed check. swell Bouteille dEau . Dusautoir, the former World Player of the Year, sustained a torn bicep playing for Toulouse in the Heineken Cup on Saturday. The flanker, who has played 65 times for France, is expected to be out for up to four months. CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- North Carolina has known all summer it wont have one of its top receivers and special-teams performers for the first half of its opener against No. 18 Georgia.The No. 22 Tar Heels are still tweaking how theyll adjust the lineup with senior Mack Hollins serving a suspension due to a targeting penalty from the bowl loss to end last season.Really the biggest deal for us is hes been a starter on all four special teams, so youre talking about four different units that youre having to prepare for, UNC coach Larry Fedora said Monday at his game-week news conference. Thats been more difficult than preparing offensively. The next receiver will step up. Weve got a lot of guys that have been playing the position.Hollins was penalized for a helmet-to-helmet hit while making a block in the second half of the Russell Athletic Bowl loss to Baylor. By rule, that ejection triggered a first-half suspension in the next game, carrying over to the first 30 minutes of Saturdays game against the Bulldogs in Atlanta.Hollins, a 6-foot-4 former walk-on from Rockville, Maryland, had 30 catches for 745 yards -- good for an NCAA-best 24.8 yards per reception -- with eight touchdowns last year as the Tar Heels offense set school records on the way to an 11-win season.But his impact is just as important on special teams, where he has served as a three-year captain. Look no further than receiver Ryan Switzers 78-yard punt return for a touchdown in a November blowout of Miami: Hollins made the first block to give Switzer space for a clean catch and drove the tackler behind the play, then sprinted back to get in fronnt of Switzer and lead a convoy of blockers down the sideline and into the end zone.ddddddddddddHes really good. Ill just say that, Georgia first-year coach Kirby Smart said. Hes the best gunner, kickoff cover guy, plays on every special team. He is a dominant feature player.Fedora said he expected it would take multiple different players to fill Hollins jobs on special teams. He didnt sound quite as concerned with replacing Hollins on a deep and veteran-led offense.Switzer and Bug Howard will serve as the top targets for junior quarterback Mitch Trubisky, while Hollins is still listed atop the depth chart at the other receiver spot. Junior Austin Proehl would appear to be the player most likely to earn a bigger role with Hollins out for a half, though Fedora said its still undecided exactly who will start in Hollins spot. He also said the Tar Heels have been having multiple receivers work at inside and outside positions to make them interchangeable.The good news for the Tar Heels is that Hollins will have fresh legs when he takes the field after halftime Saturday.Its just going to be exciting with him bringing that leadership and energy the second half, Trubisky said. Itll definitely give us a spark. ... Its going to be a cool moment. Its going to be different.---AP Sports Writer Paul Newberry in Athens, Georgia, contributed to this report.---Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap and the APs college football site at http://collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '