90sBear said:Mitch Blood Green said:90sBear said:Mitch Blood Green said:90sBear said:
Minnesota Lynx HC when they played the Indiana Fever.
That's what you call "vilifying" Cunningham?
Might I point out Mr. C was harder on Ritchie than a t shirt.
An anecdotal story: My wife who is a former collegiate athlete, hates basketball with a passion. Last week, completely unsolicited, she made the comment "I hate basketball, but I might actually be interested in watching an Indiana game just for Sophie Cunningham."
So if you are looking for a public quote by someone saying "Sophie Cunningham is a villain" you're not going to find it. However, that does not mean that fans and potential fans are not watching the statements and actions coming out of the hierarchy of the WNBA and forming opinions about the organization based upon them.
I don't think she's a villain. I think she's a player in the WNBA. As happened with Rodman, I hated him with the Pistons. Loved him with the Bulls.
No one attacked Cunningham. From what I can see, she's wanting all of this frenzy to die down as it's clearly affecting her teammates.
Cunningham is entitled to her opinion. Same as Jaxon Dart. And like Dart, the coach is entitled to hers.
Unlike the NFL, Dart's controversy didn't go all but bag like this thing.
I didn't say you think that. I said if you are looking for those exact words publicly stated by WNBA hierarchy, you won't won't find them.
As to whether, "no one attacked Cunningham", that's probably a bit more subjective and we don't know what has been said behind the scenes.
Online of course there were plenty of commentary attacks, but I don't think you are referring to the average twitter, blue sky, or TikTok poster.
From the WNBA side, the Lynx HC stated that she approached Cunningham before the game (wearing her "Trans Kids Belong" shirt) and spoke with her, but declined to report what she said in their conversation. That's certainly her right to do so.
Riley Gaines reported she was initially told by Lynx staff that her sign supporting Cunningham was not allowed during the game.
https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/riley-gaines-says-target-center-staffer-tried-shut-down-sophie-cunningham-sign
And of course the Storm owner was suspended for her remarks towards fans of Cunningham at the Indiana/Seattle game prior to all of that.
So we don't know what the Lynx HC or anyone else privately said to Cunningham, but some Cunningham fans sure seemed to be getting direct attention from WNBA staff.
Meanwhile the WNBA issued the following statement:
"To everyone who loves this game: The WNBPA represents 200+ individual people with different lived experiences, cultures, lifestyles, and opinions. We embrace justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Those are the values that unite this Union and allow it to protect women's sports while creating transformational change.
Hate, abuse, and demonization of any person or group of people, "including transgender people", only fuel fear, division, and harm. We will continue to have hard conversations. But we will not be used as political pawns."
Again, not a direct rebuke of Cunningham. But there are a lot of, shall we say, coded words there regarding the WNBA's support of the trans community after Cunningham's ESPN interview.
So if you don't think any of that adds up to "attacking Cunningham", ok, that's your perspective. But other people who perhaps feel more strongly about this topic than you do are going to disagree and as shown above they aren't pulling it out of thin air.
They were heading in the right direction, but they should have said "including white people" that is the only group a hateful reference was lobbed at. The commonsense statement to keep biological men out of women's sports is common sense and something the WNBA at least officially haven't articulated. That is not demonizing transgenders, that is keeping them in their lane, the way every other person alive has to live.