WNBA, teams and players were NOT PREPARED for influx of new fans... 

I agree, they need to be trained because it does impact mental health. It’s not easy.

After watching several videos, I've seen intelligent, thoughtful, informative, videos. Overall, a job well. Please keep it up.

As a new fan, glad to have discovered your channel. Well said.

There's always a NBA comparison, but let's not act like NBA players dont ever speak on these unruly fans. Everybody uses LeBron as an example, but we've seen him remove fans from the arena. Even just on the internet, NBA players see stuff and react to it. KD never misses a chance to argue with fans. CJ McCollum with his "I'm trying Jennifer" tweet, was responding to a fan. Danny Green was receiving threats when he was on the Lakers and missed a shot. We know because he spoke up about it. Tyrese Haliburton remembered the reporter that trashed him in his rookie season and addressed him years later. There has to be a better strategy than "you just better get used to it." These ladies are humans with normal emotions and they don't get paid enough to deal with this nonsense.

FASTFOOD WORKERS DEAL WITH THIS CRAP ALL DAY EVERY DAY FACE TO FACE FOR MINIMUM WAGE

Simple solution is stay off social media. How do you think CC handles it? She got vitriol for liking a comment. Limit your viewing and get a tougher skin. Don’t give the trolls materials.

Great commentary! I agree 100%. Things today's college athletes need to be trained in: talking to the media, taking care of one's personal brand (through how you behave in public, how you dress, etc), and how to handle stress.

I wonder what mental health resources are available to the players through the players union, the wnba, and the various teams. I do worry for these ladies sometimes.

BG gets the worst hate, in my opinion. I have seem intensely cruel, racist, sexists, death threats on her social media pages. It hurts my heart for her.

In 2024 there is no way this women’s league can even pretend they don’t understand how the world works online. The players agents should have been helping the players navigate their new fame.

Dear Isabella, I watched your post game interview and we understand the emotions that went into it. From losing so many games to crashing out of the playoffs. Its a lot to bear. But I want you to understand that as a pro, you don't let outside noise affect your job which is playing basketball. You just don't let that happen. Angel Reese is the MOST BASHED athlete alive today yet each time she steps her foot on that court, she balls out and OUTWORKS even her opponents. She has been dealing with online trolls for 3 years starting from college to the WNBA and rather than BREAKING DOWN, she break records. Angel has mastered the act of composure and use of inner strength. Angel never allowed CC racist fans to mess with her MENTAL FOCUS. Infact she uses CRITICISM from trolls as fuel for her motor. Evidence abound looking at the number of SPECTACULAR records she set this season despite being a ROOKIE in the game. Same thing happened to Kelsey Mitchell of Indiana Fever. She suffered the WORST of attacks from irate Fever fans but she shrugged it off and kept putting in the work every game day. You can see her numbers. The BEST player in Fever right now. I would love you and Dana Evans to take a cue from Angel and learn how to use CRITICISMs, Hate and Racist attacks, as fuel for higher performance. Fans will never stop talking and Chicago Sky will always have trolls in their midst. Many are not even Sky fans but racists who infiltrates your timeline and Chicago Sky official page to cause chaos.

Are the players taking this up with their union? Get the union to force the WNBA to implement therapist, PR teams for each team, etc. Help filter some of the hate…good on them for calling people out. But like you said , it just adds fuel to the flame. Sadly it’s the new normal. Union should be the ones on the soapbox handling these concerns and pushing change/help.

New W fan here! Just discovered you and you seem like a fair, objective voice that doesn’t seem to be common in the WNBA. Will be looking forward to more of your commentary! Thank you for not making me feel bad to be a Fever fan ❤

Why won’t people tell the truth. It wasn’t Sky fans harassing Dana and Izzy, it was Angel Reese fans and you know this is true once you see Weatherspoon creepily enter the press room and touch the shoulders of Dana and Izzy because they let the cat out of the bag and she wanted them to shut up and get back on the everything is the fault of CC fans script.

Quita, Angle Reese and Caitlin Clark Being Tied Together !!! The Sky Will Always Have a Ton Of Press !!!! Every time They Play One Other!!! They Bring The Microscope To The Teams !!!

Commenting early in the video, so maybe youll say this later on- these women don’t get paid enough for the level of attention/scrutiny they get!! It’s one thing to be in this spotlight and be making an NBA salary- much easier to have a thicker skin. But to be making 100k and being subjected to this level of vitriol is not fair!

Dana Evans such a beauty omg, 😫😍😍😍 But yeah, I agree. 98% of the WNBA wasn’t ready for all this. The commissioner wasn’t neither. Reese and Clark were ready, simple because they’ve been around the media and everything that comes with it since college.

Media Training for the college players is necessary. The Teams needs to get a publicist for the players.

Lisa Bluder talked about this earlier this year. She tells her players to post & don’t read the comments. Teams/players can get ppl to read/filter the comments if they want good interactions with fans on social media. This isn’t difficult.

The WNBA needs to help these women manage social media. A lot of this is people acting like the cesspool that is Twitter is real life. It’s not. These are not basketball fans they are racist trolls - these players respond to literally everything these people say and the Swoops hate and the treatment of CC and the jealousy and pettiness has just made it worse. Like Carrington played for an open bigot in Kim Mulkey. She had a “don’t ask don’t tell” style college program - why was Carrington ok with this and Mulkey’s horrible treatment of BG - but she has all this time for racist online trolls? She linked troll accounts that were trump bots and said “see look at the CC fans”. It’s gaslighting for attention. Do these players not think male athletes get hate and threats - all celebrities do cause there are a lot of creeps out there and the internet is anonymous. So I am sure some of it IS real. And if this is happening in the arena - show these people the door. If it’s a situation like Paige had a stalker - OF COURSE call the police and take that seriously. Stop feeding online trolls cause you want to play victim. This is people coping with not being as popular as CC or as good as they thought they were. Remember Angel tried to say her bus was being attacked and it was one reporter politely asking them a question. I am sure these women have had absolutely hateful and horrible things said about them and too them on social media- I have too. I am sure it’s far worse for them. But social media is not real life. Part of this is the younger kids just don’t know how to get off Twitter. Twitter is a racist cesspool where Elon Musk tries to pollute the public discourse with hate so billionaires like him can exploit society while everyone fights with each other. That’s the scam. Play basketball and gain fans. I had the league pass the last 4 years - I am sorry CC is getting the EXACT same treatment Serena Williams and Tiger got - they were minorities in their sport and CC is a minority in her sport and league. We saw Skylar Diggins Smith bullying CC when she was just bullied for being pregnant and set up an anti-bullying group which has all credibly after what she did. I watched the WNBA as a kid - I got back into it when Kobe Bryant started supporting it and I was VERY dissatisfied that the NBA has turned into the WWE with zero competition and just 40 year old LeBron padding stats and discrediting the great history of the game. I watch more WNBA the last few years and have had the league pass the last several seasons. This season the league embarrassed itself and so did the media big time. If CC was a black lesbian and the rest of the league and media were straight white women - CC would be considered the female Jackie Robinson and anyone denying that is just being dishonest. I am glad CC gave a nod to Harris as there absolutely were white supremacists trying to use her as a symbol for their cause. Get those people out of here too. Just so much toxicity and drama and not the fun sports kind of drama. This is why the league didn’t grow for so long. Unprofessional refs - incompetent commissioner, hateful jealous gate-keeping vets. The NBA fans don’t like how this generation has cheated the game - but the legends don’t bash them - the fans do. The legends just started to speak out some cause of LeBron’s decade long mission to discredit NBA history with propaganda to be falsely named “the goat”. But in the WNBA it would be like if Kobe’s rookie year Jordan started saying he sucks and is overrated. We saw racism against Bill Russell - we saw racism when Isiah Thomas said Larry Bird was an average player and was only getting attention cause he was white. This is the same thing. Is CC “the goat” - no. She could be but that talk is years premature. She is a very good and VERY exciting player. She plays a wide open style - but the WNBA did not legislate defense out of the game like the NBA did to achieve it. That’s why it’s so exciting. So I followed you for the last few seasons - good stuff as always. Nuanced issues here.

Honestly - the BEST part of this entire story is they exposed how toxic SOME Angel Reese fans can be so the media CANNOT run with this narrative that ALL of Clark fans are X,Y, and Z. It is terrible the mental health issues many are dealing wirh..with... but this story shows CONCLUSIVELY that W never really had FANS - they merely had a few SUPPORTERS. Fans are TERRITORIAL they are PASSIONATE and are IMPATIENT and care a little too much. That is the negative. But the POSITIVE is that those same fans will be LOTAL because they are both financially and EMOTIONALLY invested to the team and players. Fever were GARBAGE for half of the season but the fans were there through it ALL. ALSO - the very same fans who attack you one minute will lift you up when you do well. Don't believe me? ASK KELSEY MITCHELL ...and Lexie....and Boston.... and now even Wheeler.

That's life ladies! Deal with it.

This is great point . I do feel like the Wnba is too in tune with Twitter, and it can detail them easily . We've seen different flare ups all season by different players from different teams . The ladies are being trolled and they are satisfying the trolls by referencing them. .

The league was not prepared. Not sure how much they were warned, but they haven’t been prepared or been proactive. Not ready for the numbers or the love/hate. These women will reap the benefits of the extra eyes eventually, but it is a different world. They need and deserve media and social media training to learn how to celebrate the good and ignore the hate. I agree with you, that the more you clap back, the more crazies come out to attack! My hope is that the entire W can focus on the true basketball fans that fully appreciate their talent and effort!

It's one thing to talk about their games but personal attacks and racism are never acceptable.

I always appreciate your perspective because you seem to have a level head. I was enjoying the twitter spaces at first because they talked a lot about the game but once it started getting messy, it became less fun. Hate seeing some “fans” get defense about what DE and IH said at presser.

The anonymity of social media has made for a very cruel society.

They should all just get off the internet for their own mental health. What do they expect? It's the only way Clark has survived - stay off the net.

All the new fans exposed how bad of a product the wnba is. Hopefully, this will spur them to improve.

Your spot on about media training

It's not all the rookies, it's CC that has brought in the crowd

Before 2022, no one was watching the WNBA. I remember back in 2021 after the draft and before that season began, everyone was saying that the WNBA Draft classes beginning either in 2023 or 2024, the pool of talent from college could be a gamechanger for the league.

Clark she knew for 5 years😂😅😅 CeCe was in college she had police with her every game cuz she got the same threats😅😅

That's so true: "social media is not real life." Such a minuscule percentage of people have X/Twitter account. It's not the real world. E:60 just did a documentary on Nebraska women's volleyball and it covered some of the mean comments the team got for losing games. The coach said "I'd rather people care, and we had to deal with that negative stuff then have people not care at at all."

Well said Quita!!!!

Wow, you are such an amazing strong woman. One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed listening to you is you always speak with such kindness and you are encouraging and uplifting. Thank you for the reminder that Jesus is our hope. The condition of man is a condition of brokenness. But thank you for reminding us of the hope in Jesus.❤

Welcome to the internet

Alot of players does not know how to answer questions from the media during post game.

Are these women professional WNBA players or NOT? If they aren't, then they need to step aside and let others like Paige Bueckers and Juju Watkins take over the scene.

Keep them untrained that’s how you get boring

Aces vs Fever in finals. Reigning champs vs upstart rookie team. Storybook match up. Go Fever!!!

A lot of times it’s trolls who love to do this if you block them they just create a new account

Don't you think it is sad that a person with the prestige that a Sheryl Swoops had, feels the need to add to the stress of Caitlin Clark and her teammates have to handle. I can not figure out what the upside for Swoops is. Is she that butt hurt that CC gets so much attention. Or does she need to be the center of attraction all the time to feed her ego I really dont understand her.

Even things like when A'ja Wilson referred to Kahleah Copper as, "That bitch!" In a live national TV (hell, ANY interview). It was an AWFUL moment and ending to an otherwise good interview. Too often, WNBA players try to be TOO Real, and it goes wrong, and they think they're coming off authentic and like they're everybody's Homegirl from the hood, saying crazy stuff, with no filter or sense of awareness, or (they think) trying to be like the guys, because, "They do it too", which is the stupidest logic to lead with how you present yourself and your league, and most of the time (especially in the case of A'ja in particular) it's SO unnecessary. But she feels to always try to say something that has some shock value, and it comes of corny and just bad.

The good comes with the bad. Life is hard, wear a helmet😂😂😂 If these women can't handle it, leave!!

BOTTOM LINE : NOW [ PPL CARE ] IF YOU LOSE OR PLAY BAD. IN THE WORDS OF QUITA: YOU MATTER❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉

Dana Evans should make sure a team wants her next season because there is no room for 7 players to be useless, not injured, just purely not useful to the team to that Chicago Sky team, you can't have 2-3 players busting their asses off every night and others will sit comfortably on the bench. She was the starting PG for more than 12 games this season but she was turning the ball over too much, teams will be up by 15 points in the first quarter, Chennedy Carter have to come in and save us. She should go to a team where she will not be noticed even when she plays badly in 10 games.we are going to continue holding players accountable. Chennedy Carter, Angel Reese and Kamila Kadoso don't have two heads

I think BG has put up with this crap forever. It does affect players mental health😢

I saw the Florida State Championship team and they were really awesome, there starting 5 are so good that it is unreal, their point guard is 6ft 4in and have 3 players 6ft 11in they look more like a college team

This is my take in all this. Media has made this rivalry between the Fever (CC) and the Sky (AR). Now the fans are wanting the team to be up there with their rival. So the fans have harsh words to their team. On both teams. Players need to use the negativity as fuel to up their game. I see it with great players. The extreme comments that are cruel is not necessary but if you don’t want any of it, just shut it off. Comes with the territory, you have a lot of eyes on you every time you play, you’re going to get it in the end, good and bad. I have heard about the media training before, just don’t think the WNBA has the budget for it, yet.

The rookies coming in are much better at it, with the exception of Angel. Somebody should have been looking out for her. I would crash course all of the players post season and give them the resources and support to avoid all the traps of the press. Love your analysis.

I don’t understand why trolls have to hurt people - they are sick people. Us fans would prefer our favorite players to just turn off the comments so nothing bad gets through.

Why don’t you show Diamond s video of her knocking Clark to the floor they start something but can’t finish it or take it when it comes back you all heard of Karma?

Well im glad to see these Women spoke up here. They waited until their season was over to do so. So they have been holding all this in the whole season and they let it out today. Not on twitter but at the presser.

The WNBA is finally growing and just like the NBA they are also attracting alit of trolls. The players should stay off social media, they should private their social media accounts, and the teams should hire social media personnel to handle the social media for them.

I’m a new fan

I don't know how to feel about the feelings the vets are having about social media. They saw it coming!! They saw what happened with Angel. So, idk how to feel.

Great video/points. The men have dealt with this for decades and decades in the NFL, NBA. Welcome to the big time, they’ll get used to it. 22 and AR have legions of fans, and they’re bringing the money and ratings. Teammates of Lebron and Steph curry are going to be scrutinized if they aren’t pulling their weight and you can’t police social media or having ten thousand microphones in your face post game. If you wanna get anywhere in the neighborhood of equal pay then you gotta be willing to go through what the men go through. Just wait till people start to actually GAMBLE on women’s sports. It’s only going to get worse

That is the Caitlin Clark effect .

Quita, it’s the Angel and Caitlin unmoored fans dong this. I can’t imagine Cam Brink or Jackson’s partisans are this hysterical and mean-spirited.

I feel bad that both Dana and Izzy had to face so much hate from Angel's fans. AR sound make a statement to protect her teammates!

Good video please don’t forget when fantasy and batting comes into play. It’ll be something else and more intense

you're absolutely right

You are, unfortunately, right. It's the double-edged sword of new found popularity. I hope they're able to talk to someone about this in the off-season. I'd say use the hate as fuel. That's what great players do. I will say The Liberty and Aces have handled the new media and fans better than most. Could be the markets they're in, and they were teams that were kinda the driving force of the 2023 boom.

The things people complain about😂 very few even paid attention to this women’s basketball league. People should learn how to count their blessings and stop being ridiculous.

THAT'S THE BAD SIDE OF GETTING BIG EXPOSURE WHEN YOUR NOT USE TO IT

Good video. And it is an important video.

Though the NBA has experienced worse and for a longer time, to an extent, wouldn’t you say they have a lot of perks that perhaps compensate for it? Million dollar contracts, practice facilities, better playing schedule…etc

Look at the world we live in. The leaders of our country talk terrible about one another. It just keep filtering down. Players need to stay off of social media. The internet is good for something’s but it is detrimental to a person mental health. People hide behind social media to say terrible things. Stay off social media. Right now we are dealing with young kids putting threats towards their own schools. Stop the hate.

They personally attacked Clark if Clark would have done that to Diamond the Sky’s whole bench would have ran out on the floor and been ready to fight and what Carter did dish out hate you get it back !!!!

The commissioner needs training as well!

Yeah some in the Press will try to create negative drama - please get that media training

Suck it up true Sky fans. We need to get ready for next season.

Do these teams have PR? It’s clear that this year the WNBA has become a major brand.

I don't know what learning how to manage this issue looks like for the W, but they do need some kind of media training and support services because this is unchartered territory for the WNBA. Unfortunately, they appear to be just figuring things out as they go. They could get some help from the NBA with this issue. They need to quickly figure out a blueprint for every aspect of the newly emerging WNBA because new highly talented and just as popular players are on the way. You can't keep giving oxygen to the trolls as well by acknowledging their ignorance with a response because that sh** gets exhausting at times.

I tried watching the WNBA over a decade ago. I quit watching after only watching a bit of a few games and the league wasn't even as bad then as it was this season, especially the first half of this season. What's worse? The refs' double standards and allowing mob rule on the court, and worse, only for some. To be fair, this nonsense has infiltrated other sports leagues too, including the NHL. So why did I come back to the WNBA? Because I heard the controversy over Caitlin Clark, so almost 2 months into the season I started watching, which I think was a month before the all-star game. Then because of how Aliyah in press conferences defended her I became a fan of Aliyah. I am in awe of CC but not a fan. Am not yet a fan of the league itself either, dependent on to what degree it removes the corruption it is infiltrated with.

Have you watched Teaspoons exit presser? What are your thoughts on the job she did? Is she the right coach? Would love to see a show!

Especially since the vitriol did not match with their low salaries. The level of critique they got makes sense if the game and money came with it. Enough money to provide better protection from crazy fans and live private lives where they can escape it.

I love your takes!

I wonder if there's some nuance to comparing the kind of hate that WNBA players get versus NBA players. Imagine NBA players get harassed about about how they play, race, maybe looks, some personal life. And WNBA players are getting hate based on how they play, their race, their gender, their sexuality, and whatever else people can think of. Not to mention the increased scrutiny on looks and sort of personal life that women face. So it seems like the ladies don't have media training and are dealing with two or three additional types of harassment based on their identities.

No, the new fans do not listen to the older fans. We don't need it.

😂😂WNBA did not know nothing about that cuz they never had publicity😅😅

Check in real close. Caitlin has someone to talk to all through college. She hs been badgered for a long time. When she has a bad game she gets slamed.

WNBA is done, after Reese walk away🤣

An example of being careful of what you wish for!!

Specifically to Angel Reese, I think she did not realize how big of a deal it was to make it personal and taunt CC during the National Championship game. From there she has been the center of a lot of hate and negative attention. But instead of showing humility she leaned into it with comments about the attention the WNBA is getting also being because of her and how she is ok with being the villain. Why are you saying this and making it about you? What exactly would you think would happen when you create that kinds of energy? Exactly what you got, more attention which seemed like it was planned for self promotion and marketing. But this is what comes with that and in my opinion you cannot complain about the kind of energy you get back if you are ok putting it out. All popular people get hate and threats. To attribute that to another player was also wrong because that player doesn’t choose their fan base or make people do those things. Real ‘fans’ are the ones coming to games and putting money into the game which is what AR and all of these women should want. I think she should reconsider how she goes about getting the attention she craves or if not, find ways to filter it out and protect yourself like all ‘famous’ people have to. Or the best option, make it about your game and your team and good energy and the outcome will be better.

If you can’t say it to someone’s face you shouldn’t tweet it

Caitlin Clark is excellent example of how to do press conferences and in handling the Social Media mess. I don't know if Iowa trained their players or her parents did, or even if Caitlin just learned in the process of getting her marketing degree but she does the best job handling these things that I have seen. Maybe Caitlin should contract out to the WNBA and do training during the off season 😉 I know, I said the Caitlin Clark word and will probably get jumped on, but lets be real she is an excellent example of how to handle these things. I would also suggest that the players turn off Social Media during the season life would be better.

The rest of the players should just model the behaviour of Caitlin Clark. She handles hatred, including acts of physical violence like the Carter blindside shot with calmness. She even praised Chennedy’s game and accurately predicted in a post game interview that Carter would soon be off the bench and become a starting player which happened shortly thereafter. She handles criticism with a self deprecating, awe shucks attitude and humour, typical of a lot of midwestern folk. She is extremely patient and articulate in her answers to the media’s questions and stays around after exhausting games to sign autographs, especially focusing on the children in the crowd. Just try to model Caitlin’s approach to her sport and life’s challenges as a sport’s star athlete and the other ladies should be fine. Most especially, stay off social media and never react to criticism from strangers online.

People do a lot of tagging as well these days or trolling player comments

The solution to this horrible condition is Jesus?? Girl…

Quita, You Have Fans Do Sports Betting Out There and If A Player Has a Bad Game And It Cost Them Some Money They Will Let You Know How Bad You and How They Sucked

For Clark shes used to it, having 55 k in a football stadium for a Clark"s BB game in College.

Your followers are understanding and thoughtful - mostly. Your comments should be directed to ms Cathy who supposedly in charge. The offended players simply just get off social media. The players of course should not be treated like this.

Ya one problem gambling plays a big role. You can bet on anything these days example player points rebounds etc which makes degenerate gamblers send hateful messages. Happens all the time in tennis now happening a lot in wnba

Geez Quinta, I guess the W Commissioner let the players down by not being proactive to send the memo about the -Attention all players “oh-by-the-way” let me prepare you for the influx of fans coming our way-- I’m not sorry these professionals do not know how to be professional.

players could physically abuse other players with no consequences. players could abuse players based on their lack of skin color with no consequences. that's over because caitlin clark has taken the league mainstream and polite society has different sensibilities than the old fan base. the game is changing. deal with it or find another obscure sport to follow, like cricket

Unfortunately, our culture has normalized toxic discourse on public platforms. It's not okay that NBA players have to navigate harmful and derogatory discourse. I hope the league and the player’s support system offer assistance to protect their mental health and create ways to mitigate detrimental social media commentary because what we are seeing here in the WNBA is only a reflection of what is happening more broadly in our society.

In 2022, the Indiana Fever were a WNBA worst 5-31 and lost their final 18 regular season games and averaged just 1,776 fans per game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Two years later and two number 1 overall draft picks in back to back years, the Fever lead the league in home attendance, averaging 17,035 a game and are back in the playoffs.

HEY QUITA