Letter to the WNBA...

This is actually a rewrite of my first attempt at this topic. I felt it was of the utmost importance to fully capture all angles, but also not let my emotions bleed through the screen and taint my message. My first attempt oversimplified the problems in our sport; this is a layered issue with multiple parties to blame, each for their own individual shortcomings. At first, I was just looking for one person to blame, and that fell solely on the commissioner of the WNBA. And while she is by no means a good commissioner and has shown time and time again the ability to squander opportunity, there are plenty of people working in the league who are complicit, and then there is also a level of responsibility that we must take as fans.

Because this truly is an emotionally charged topic, as you can see if you just look in any comment section regarding a WNBA highlight or play, I wanted to make sure I’m not writing from a place of hysteria and am instead truly getting my point across. A lot of incoming content on the WNBA also inspired me to dig a little deeper. I’ve heard some great points and arguments that I wanted to address, starting with Ric Bucher the other week.

So Bucher begins his rant, which has received a lot of backlash, asking for more diversity in who covers the league, and while I slightly agree with that stance, I think we should really just be hiring whoever is best at the job.

But the issue is that we’re not hiring the best people for the job. We’re hiring friends, ex-players and obedient, non-confrontational members to cover the WNBA for us. And it’s really scary. By no means at all am I an expert on basketball as a whole or even media coverage for that matter (even though my degree is in journalism), but there is an obvious disconnect from the messaging put out by the WNBA media and what actually takes place in reality.

What Bucher is really saying, and the part I want to echo, is that the WNBA media and coverage as a whole is so concerned with being safe and not ruffling any of these players' feathers or else you’re “disempowering women’s athletics,” and that completely compromises the integrity of our league. There’s this unified effort to convince people, “No, our league is the best it's ever been” rather than just letting the league speak for itself (which it's more than capable of now). It’s scary the discrepancy between what the WNBA messaging is and what the average person sees when they follow the WNBA.

Ric used the term pow-wow, which is great, but I’d throw in the term circle jerk. The WNBA media is a circle jerk of people who seem more interested in job security rather than using their platform to raise the integrity and quality of the league.

I have followed sports media for years now, and have heard Ric go on podcasts, Cowherd's show, FTF, and the whole shebang, and criticize: tanking, the All-Star Games, the total amount of games, league management, and even individual players. And is he doing that stuff for views? No. He does it because that is how the world improves (at least I hope). And that’s how the league gets better. Through uncomfortable, sometimes heated debate. Not through censorship and turning a blind eye. Society grows through dispute and discourse. Not through sweeping controversial issues under the rug. Non-WNBA, mainstream media is full of people voicing opinions, taking stances, and disagreeing with how situations are handled in their respective leagues. There is fair scrutiny to go along with fair praise. Disagreement and hate are not one and the same, and I think the WNBA as a whole has not grasped that concept yet.

The one thing the WNBA has going for it is that there is so much talent in the league at the current moment. Some people might scoff at that, but more so in any other year do I think, “wow, there's like legitimate quality play going on.” And I’m not saying that for a pat on the back.

Truthfully, I think the only good thing about the WNBA is the players. Every other aspect is laughably mismanaged, and I want to reference a Bill Simmons rant I watched the other week.

He’s asking for a commissioner to come in and dispel this abundance of hate and perpetuation of hostility toward certain WNBA players and organizations. In fact, any statement at all is better than the lack of a statement we have received. Again, it’s this safe, avoidant mentality. This idea that we can’t go and comment on what we actually think about the coaches or players or else we’re just racist, sexist haters, is one I will refuse to accept.

It honestly reminds me of VEEP a little bit, which is a show I love. Obviously the concept of the show is a joke, but some of the mistakes of the WNBA over the past year or two seem to be written almost for a TV show. I mean the Dan Patrick moment where Cathy is quite literally golfing in the background of DP when she’s supposed to be on his show addressing serious issues for the health of her league feels so absurd I almost can’t believe it. I’ve heard Collier go on the record on how she’s been treated by the league.

This was pulled from another article:

“This past February, I sat across from [Engelbert] and asked how she planned to address the officiating issues in our league,” Collier said. “Her response was, ‘Well, only the losers complain about the refs.’ I also asked how she planned to fix the fact that players like [Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers], who are clearly driving massive revenue for the league and are making so little for their first four years.

“Her response was, ‘[Clark] should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything.’ And in that same conversation, she told me, ‘Players should be on their knees, thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them.’”

This is reminiscent of when you’re a kid, and your parents hit you with, “Because I said so. You can go find somewhere else to live.”

The IG post of the Fever vs Wings graphic that chose to depict Lexie Hull rather than Caitlin Clark seemed like an intentional ploy for engagement. On top of that, they included a rookie who barely gets minutes (just because the roster is stacked. Not bc she’s bad) over Caitlin Clark. It’s disingenuous to say that this wasn’t personal, and reputable media personalities and figures who are trying to get into the WNBA are beyond put off by this. And that’s how you get to a spot where no one wants to actually talk about your league. I actually had to go make sure that it wasn’t some bot spreading misinformation, but no. Someone working in the WNBA offices did, in fact, think that was a good enough idea to use that image publicly. Either there is an intentional effort to use incompetence and divisive events/topics to get more attention for the league, and that’s their actual strategy, or the WNBA is just run by idiots. Either one is inexcusable when you look at how many quality players we have in our league. It’s a true disservice to them, and if this was how my employer represented and advocated for me, I would be embarrassed.

Another observation I have is that the WNBA has no interest in attracting the average sports fan and instead only cares about ultra diversity. And that misstep is the reason the WNBA, at least for the time being, has no chance of overtaking the NHL or MLB. It seems they only care about attracting LGBTQ members and women. And that’s great, and I want people in those demographics to have a sport where they truly feel represented and like a majority, but the pendulum has swung too far in that direction. It’s almost like if I’m a straight half-white male in my 20s (which I am, I’m waisian), they really just don’t want me to like their sport. And that fundamentally limits the ceiling on viewership and shifts ultimate focus on a demographic of people who are more likely to support your team to begin with.

I see twice as much content about what Sophie Cunningham said on her most recent podcast or which player who likes trans kids got booed during player introductions, than what happened in the actual game. We are slowly turning the WNBA into an extension of where your political beliefs lie, and that also is a testament to horrible management. The last thing we talk about the day after a spectacular Saturday WNBA slate is the actual WNBA games and players. I can’t believe I actually just typed that because that’s such a shame. As I get further and further into writing this, I feel discouraged that things will change because leadership is inept and seems to find no problem with this.

My chief, overarching grievance is that there is a complete missing of the point. This type of media coverage in the NBA (who should be grateful it’s not as shallow as the WNBA) would raise eyebrows and be shut down and called out immediately. It would be called lazy and argumentative. This also might be more an issue of the current talent pool. The way society has functioned is that when you’re actually good at your job (take basketball for example), you try to work in the NBA rather than the WNBA, and I really want to change that norm. For years, better coaches always opted to coaching men's sports, and that’s the same case for the media. I hope as the league grows, the interest from people who are talented journalists will begin to want to cover the WNBA just as much and at the same level as those in the NBA.

There are a lot of good players who try so hard and brilliant coaches who elevate what talent they're given, and all I see are headlines about men in women's sports. We’re just focused on the wrong things now. We need fewer people making content for brain-dead entertainment brands, and more who just talk about what happened in WNBA games.

The basis of sports is to connect with other humans. To compete with others. To challenge others. To build others up. To inspire others so much to the point that inspiration leaves the court or the field and gets carried into their life. And that seems like the exact opposite agenda of the WNBA right now. It seems intent on making as much money as possible and censoring or targeting those who don’t fall into line. In any other professional league, this would be considered negligence and incompetence, but since women's athletics is still in its beginning stages of becoming truly professional, a lot of these players are forced under a state of duress to just comply and be happy to be there. The league finally has an actual abundance of talent, so I hope that state of vulnerability begins to dissipate and they can begin to take stronger stances against oppressive management.

So what will all of this result in? Probably nothing. All I know is that Cathy Engelbert has completely botched the handling of some of the greatest female basketball talent this world has ever seen. She refuses to answer for it. She refuses to speak on it. And anytime she does, she leaves a very bad impression on all who hear it. But hey, at least there is a WNBA team in Cleveland now.

I love this league and want it to succeed so badly to the point where I waste all my time blogging about the games to give praise, attention, and honesty in a landscape populated by puppets. I’m almost ashamed to be a fan of this league because the treatment and management of the players is beyond egregious, but I refuse to just let inept powers win. As someone who is incredibly conscious of their digital footprint and putting my real thoughts on the record, I’ve never felt more compelled to speak my mind. So if you echo my sentiment and are looking for quality content that actually covers the WNBA and its players, please come back another day and read some of what I’ve written. I pledge to always call it how I see it, even when the league itself will refuse to do so.