Legacies were made (in more ways than one) as the New York Liberty won their first WNBA championship. Plenty to talk about on this week's Five Out for the week of October 21st.
As I've gone down a JJ hyperfixation rabbithole post-Finals, I keep being reminded of how short everyone's memories are. For example, JJ has for years talked about the double standard in marketing for white, straight players vs. someone like her, a black, queer person - and yet you have the Nat Esquire's barging into the space and telling us Paige was the first person to point this out in her ESPYs speech. Up until this season, Sabrina Ionescu was Public Enemy #1 because of how much she's been a media darling, but now you have people like Nat saying the media had an agenda against her to keep her off First Team (I don't mean to keep targeting her, but she is a symbol of a larger issue of new people jumping into the media landscape and just ignoring the work that's already been done here.)
I say all this to say - the W community sometimes seems to have a memory like an elephant, and sometimes a goldfish. This is why I wonder how this season will be viewed in hindsight. Will we talk about all the toxicity for years to come? Or by next year, when everything settles down, will everyone see them as growing pains, and perhaps note the ridiculousness of pinning it all on one 22 year old rookie (I have to note: I was at the game yesterday and Liberty fans behind me were being incredibly misogynistic. Caitlin wasn't anywhere in the game. This was my issue with blaming everything on her - not just because I like her, but because the issue doesn't start and end with her and solely blaming her will not stop the issue.) Will be interesting to see!
As I've gone down a JJ hyperfixation rabbithole post-Finals, I keep being reminded of how short everyone's memories are. For example, JJ has for years talked about the double standard in marketing for white, straight players vs. someone like her, a black, queer person - and yet you have the Nat Esquire's barging into the space and telling us Paige was the first person to point this out in her ESPYs speech. Up until this season, Sabrina Ionescu was Public Enemy #1 because of how much she's been a media darling, but now you have people like Nat saying the media had an agenda against her to keep her off First Team (I don't mean to keep targeting her, but she is a symbol of a larger issue of new people jumping into the media landscape and just ignoring the work that's already been done here.)
I say all this to say - the W community sometimes seems to have a memory like an elephant, and sometimes a goldfish. This is why I wonder how this season will be viewed in hindsight. Will we talk about all the toxicity for years to come? Or by next year, when everything settles down, will everyone see them as growing pains, and perhaps note the ridiculousness of pinning it all on one 22 year old rookie (I have to note: I was at the game yesterday and Liberty fans behind me were being incredibly misogynistic. Caitlin wasn't anywhere in the game. This was my issue with blaming everything on her - not just because I like her, but because the issue doesn't start and end with her and solely blaming her will not stop the issue.) Will be interesting to see!