Christine Brennan

Author of NYT bestseller ON HER GAME: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports. USA Today, CNN, ABC, PBS NewsHour, Milan Magic podcast.

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

@EMPosts @NorthwesternU @NU_Sports Exactly!

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

What a photo! @NorthwesternU @NU_Sports

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

Looking forward to this!

[TrueSport @TrueSport]

On #WorldMentalHealthDay, we're thinking about how the stories we tell in sport affect how athletes see toughness, perfection, and success, and whether it feels safe to ask for help.

At the 2026 TrueSport Talks Symposium, @StephenBorelli, and Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) from USA Today, Olympian and USADA Vice Chair, Kara Goucher (@karagoucher), and Kate Hartman Rosenzweig from the USOPC will look at how media narratives and cultural expectations can influence athlete mental wellness, and how intentional storytelling can help build sport cultures that are safer and more resilient.

Free virtual event, November 4 at 8:30 a.m. MST.
Save your Spot: https://t.co/aaN1isd1So

#WorldMentalHealthDay #TrueSportTalks #AthleteMentalWellness #YouthSports #NationalYouthSportsWeek @SportsEngine

[Northwestern @NorthwesternU]

Cheers to 175 years 🥳 Thank you for celebrating with us, Wildcats!

https://t.co/XMMy3zgNCI | #NUat175

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

Happy 175th anniversary @NorthwesternU from a few of us Wildcats! @MedillSchool

https://t.co/nacvIPuUZg

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

@MAVoepel Agreed, @MAVoepel. Such a good team and such sad news. The Washington Post sent me to LA to cover the 1992 Final Four where the Cavaliers lost in the semis to eventual champion Stanford in the old LA Memorial Sports Arena. Great memories!

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

NYC! Join us Thursday night, Oct. 29, for a fun and informative @MedillSchool @wisenycmetro event: https://t.co/rroMwzoA9Y @NUAlumni

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

Gorgeous day kayaking on the Potomac at Fletcher’s Cove in NW DC

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

A bit of good news for the WNBA: Instead of losing 55% of TV audience when Fever go out (info below), the drop for semis Game 1 vs Game 1 of Fever-Aces a week earlier is 44-47%:

2.11M Fever-Aces ABC

1.17M Liberty–Dream ABC

1.12M Aces–Valkyries NBC/Peacock

All Sun vs NFL games

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

There’s joy among anti-CC WNBA fans but no joy among TV execs and sponsors. Sad reality hits the W with Fever now out: based on three seasons of viewership data, when Caitlin Clark leaves, half of W’s TV audience leaves as well. Maybe this month is different? From On Her Game:

[Linda Cohn @lindacohn]

Join us LIVE Tonight 11p ET!
So much to talk about and react to!

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

I went to my collection of signed baseball cards when I heard of the death of “Sudden Sam” McDowell. As kids, we mailed cards to top MLB players, asking to get them signed and returned. They always sent them back.

[MLB @MLB]

We are saddened by the passing of 15-year Major League veteran and 6-time All-Star Sam McDowell.

Nicknamed “Sudden Sam”, McDowell spent his first 11 seasons with Cleveland from 1961-71. The 6’5” lefty led the league in strikeouts five times, including 1965 when he racked up a career-high 325 Ks to go along with a league-leading 2.18 ERA.

In 1970, McDowell won a career-high 20 games and struck out 304 batters in a career-high 305 innings and finished third in Cy Young Award voting.

A Pittsburgh native, McDowell finished his career with the Pirates in 1975 after stints with the Giants and Yankees. His career totals included 141 wins and 2,453 strikeouts.

During his post-playing career, McDowell worked as a Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Consultant and served on the Board of Directors for the Baseball Assistance Team (B.A.T).

He was 84 years old.

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

Thanks to the Forum for Cultural Engagement @ForumEngagement for a great event.

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

The WNBA did none of this.

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

Since the A’ja Wilson incident and Kelsey Mitchell’s exit interview, the always-tense racial discourse in the WNBA is intensifying. I want to share what the great Dr. Harry Edwards suggested to me in an interview for On Her Game more than two years ago:

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

Kelsey Mitchell last year, in the paperback edition of On Her Game: “You bring in Caitlin who changed the world, changed the dynamic of basketball. As a friend, as a player, you better appreciate her because certain doors have opened because she’s come to the Fever.”

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

Screenshot of video of the curtains covering empty upper-deck seats at today’s playoff game in Atlanta taken by @2097media

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

No matter how critical I’ve been of Cathy Engelbert’s repeated & erroneous attempts to favorably compare Angel Reese to Caitlin Clark’s drawing power, this is a surprise: Curtains up because only 9,745 came to NY-ATL playoff. But two Clark regular-season games? 17,044 both times.

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

@prettygirle2004 Please DM me and it will be my pleasure to sign and personalize — and send — a book plate for you. Thanks so much for your support!

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

While I’m in a retweeting mood 😉 I’ll retweet this. 💯 I’m proud that my book On Her Game both foreshadows and explains every bit of how the WNBA has mismanaged the greatest thing to ever happen to it. I’m asked about this constantly in interviews and book events. Sad but true.

[Evelyn DR @prettygirle2004]

@cbrennansports @jamelehill You are absolutely correct. This league should be studied in business schools for generations as an example of what not to do.

[John U. Bacon @Johnubacon]

A bit of actual irony:
The Big Ten brought in Penn State in 1993 as “Northwestern Insurance,” in case the long downtrodden Wildcats finally left the league. Perhaps that wasn’t necessary after all.