The WNBA has endured two epidemics this season. The first, which I discussed two weeks ago, is a surge of injuries around the league. The second is something that almost no one saw coming and became a national headline.
Last week, we learned why lime green adult toys have been thrown onto the courts in over one-third of WNBA cities. A group of crypto traders launched a meme crypto coin that mirrored the toys. To garner attention for their coin, this group coordinated a plan to make sure these toys were thrown across the country.
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While representatives from this group claimed that their intent wasn’t to demean women’s sports, that’s exactly what happened. That negative, demeaning attention reached many spheres, with the President of the United States’ son posting an AI-generated meme mocking the players and the league.
This latest prank is representative of how for so long women’s basketball and the WNBA were often treated every single day. The online bullying, the jokes across mainstream media that punched down.
It’s not funny and it never was. Just like most social progress, a step forward is often countered with at least one step back. The WNBA’s growth over the past two years and this prank in response is a case in point. Now that the dust has settled, and arrests and investigations are underway, it’s time to take another step forward instead of retreating.
Now onto the basketball. This week is the continuation of Rivals Week, a new league initiative where the WNBA is spotlighting a bunch of different matchups that feature the most established stars and most intriguing young stars in the league. The WNBA also wanted to be able to spotlight rivalries throughout league history in addition to the potential and bubbling ones of the present while also trying to create some more drama when it comes to playoff positioning.
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While the idea is creative and thoughtful in theory, it hasn’t been working out so well in practice. The first 2024 WNBA finals rematch came at the end of July, and the final three matchups, two of which have been scheduled during rivals week, are going to…
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