Simona

[Simona @SimonaFGoyal]

@UnderdogWNBA I don't understand why the winning team can't show any grace. I've never seen a league act like this, and people from it make up lies over and over again--to make one organization look bad. What is the goal? Why do this to your growing league?

[Simona @SimonaFGoyal]

Caitlin doing the wave with the kids🖤💛

[ESPN @espn]

One of the greatest traditions in college football, the "Hawkeye Wave" 💛

Iowa and Ohio State fans, players, and coaches turn to wave at patients in the UI Stead Family Children's Hospital after the first quarter 👋

[Simona @SimonaFGoyal]

I loved & admired Natasha Cloud so much previously😭 I believe in so much of what she's done in life.

But now she's saying that a man pointing at a player & saying "The fouls on you!" implies he's a wife abuser?!😭

Come on with bs lies. Sports could bring us together🤝🏿🤝🤝🏽

[Ballislife.com @Ballislife]

Natasha Cloud on the Fever organization and the fan who pointed at A'ja Wilson:

"If he’s willing to do that s**t in public to a woman he doesn’t know….how do you think he acts in his home?"

(via Threads)

[IDX-Texas @idxtx_]

So it looks like she stepped at him? @NBA @WNBA, according to the CBA, assessed a tech, gotten a delay of game, and been ejected.

They found no wrong doing by the fan. What are you doing about the lie?

[Sports Patriot @SportsPatriotUS]

THE MOST REVEALING PART OF LAST NIGHT MAY HAVE COME FROM THE BROADCAST BOOTH.

A’ja Wilson goes into the stands to confront a fan, and before anyone knows what the fan actually said or did, the defense begins.

Candace Parker:
“We don’t know what was said, but A’ja took exception to it.”

Then LaChina Robinson:
“You know something was said.”

She went even further, suggesting A’ja Wilson would never react that way unless it was “absolutely necessary.”

The broadcast even called for the fan to be removed from the building.

Read those two statements again.
“We don’t know what was said.”
“You know something was said.”

That contradiction may explain more about the WNBA’s cultural problem than anything I could write.

The conclusion came first.

The facts came later.

A WNBA star reacted, therefore the fan must have done something terrible.

A WNBA star became angry, therefore her reaction must have been justified.

The possibility that the player herself had crossed the line barely seemed to enter the conversation.

Then security actually investigated.

They spoke with the fan.

They spoke with witnesses.

They found NO VIOLATION of the Fan Code of Conduct.

The fan stayed.

That should bother every serious sports fan.

Fans absolutely can cross lines. When they do, remove them. Ban them when appropriate. Protect the players.

But professional sports broadcasting requires something else too:

OBJECTIVITY.

Describe what happened.

Ask questions.

Wait for facts.

Hold stars accountable with the same intensity used to defend them.

What we heard instead was the reflex of an ecosystem that has spent decades talking primarily to itself.

Former players become broadcasters.

Players become coaches.

Coaches become executives.

Executives hire people from the same basketball circles.

Everybody knows everybody.

Everybody protects everybody.

And eventually the assumptions become so deeply embedded that nobody inside the bubble even recognizes them as assumptions anymore.

They simply become “the truth.”

Meanwhile, a much larger national sports audience is now watching closely enough to see the contradictions immediately.

The WNBA no longer has the luxury of operating inside that cocoon.

And with Cathy Engelbert leaving and the search for the next commissioner underway, last night should be another enormous warning to Adam Silver.

Hiring another guardian of the existing WNBA culture would be a profound mistake.

The next commissioner needs enough distance from this ecosystem to challenge it.

Enough independence to question its assumptions.

Enough basketball credibility to recognize when the story on the court does not match the narrative being sold around it.

And enough courage to tell everyone involved something they desperately need to hear:

The WNBA has grown too big to keep talking only to itself.

[CCFC-New season @sohali2012]

The @WNBA is actually shutting down creators who posted the A’ja meltdown. They refuse to follow their own rule book and now they are deleting the actual live coverage from game. Despicable.

[ericaf455💙 @ericaf455]

Jan “we’re gonna get a few more colors” 👀

Heck yes 🖤💛🖤💛🖤💛🖤💛

Love how it’s always used as a phone 😂

[Gaby :) @ouatdemii]

CC knows Stremmy her DAWGGGG 😭🔥

[ericaf455💙 @ericaf455]

She’s back!!!!!

Caitlin Clark back in IC 🖤💛

[ericaf455💙 @ericaf455]

Caitlin making friends everywhere she goes 🥹

[ericaf455💙 @ericaf455]

The best tradition in sports with a special guest

(via cbs sports)

[Iowa Women's Basketball @IowaWBB]

Oh hey there, No. 10 👋

@MeganDiLeo17 x #Hawkeyes

[correlation @nosyone4]

Kara Lawson repping the Caitlin 1s at Duke! looking good Coach

[ericaf455💙 @ericaf455]

@brilewerke captured the moment CC met CC 🥹🥹🐕🐕

[ericaf455💙 @ericaf455]

Demon home 💛🖤

(via @IowaWBB)

[Aaron Woliczko @AWoliczko]

#20. “Leave your jersey in a better place” @kate_martin22 > @McKennaDub 🖤💛
“Legacy” by James Kerr a story of @AllBlacks culture…. Something @goiowa & @IowaWBB knows a little about!

[LiveWire Sports Media @LiveWireSports1]

McKenna Woliczko @AWoliczko interview on College Game Day

[Simona @SimonaFGoyal]

@talktoemhavin @UnderdogWNBA Have you ever been to a gamete? I bet not. The fanbase is fine. Caitlin haters make up lies to make it seem like a bad place to be. Just do better and try to uplift the game. Not make up lies

[Rosalina Lee @YoitsRosie]

Lexie Hull getting stepped towards and pointed at. Just to say it happens all the time. We good?

[Simona @SimonaFGoyal]

@NBCNews It's the 5th playoff game of her 2 season career ffs on a badly constructed roster

Lmao

It's a team sport