Free Republic

The WNBA is on the cusp of upgrading its travel logistics. The league is discussing the parameters of all 12 teams flying by charter “as soon as this regular season,” USA Today’s Christine Brennan reported on Tuesday. “Why now? The explosion of interest in the league, business growth and anticipated future revenue from the next media deal,” Brennan wrote on X. WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert quickly confirmed the report, telling reporters Tuesday that the charter flights will be up and running “as soon as we can get the planes in place.” The WNBA has been in a pickle for several...

Caitlin Clark continues to shatter records. But apparently, she has racism to thank for her achievements. Clark and Nike are in an agreement on a historic 8-year, $28 million endorsement contract that will include her own signature shoe, according to ESPN. The Athletic first reported that Clark was on the verge of signing the record breaking deal on April 17, although the length and dollar amount were not yet known. Instead of celebrating this historic deal and giving props to Clark for all she's done for women's basketball so far, one USA Today columnist cried foul because Clark's deal apparently...

The ridiculous “equal pay” debate about the WNBA coming from some Democrats raises an awkward question when it comes to their view of transgenderism: If men and women are indistinguishable and the WNBA doesn’t pay enough, why don’t women’s basketball players join the NBA instead? ..... The issue here, of course, is that neither Biden, members of his Cabinet, nor his judicial nominees can answer what they think a woman is. In the view of Biden and Democratic politicians, there are no differences between men and women, and men can be women or women can be men just by saying...

It got so bad that Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy went on a 3-plus-minute tirade on X. Portnoy wanted Clark’s predecessors to give the Iowa star “her flowers.” From Diana Taurasi to Breanna Stewart, all were slamming Clark. Portnoy’s remarks were simple: no one watched women’s basketball when these two were playing, and now that some attention is being offered, thanks in part to Clark and others, the ladies of old are trashing her.

Remember the WNBA? The women’s basketball league the NBA started to draw more women into watching basketball? In it’s inaugural season, the WNBA finals drew 2.85 million viewers, when the Houston Comets won the first of their four championships. It’s never reached those heights again, and the Comets folded in 2008. There was a mild uptick to 728,000 viewers last year. So you’d think the league would welcome an exciting, highly skilled new breakout player. You’d be wrong. - “For almost three decades the WNBA has been a laughing stock and disgrace of a professional sports league that only survives...

The Las Vegas Aces, champions of the WNBA, have been offered $1million if they can beat a high school boy’s state champion team. The Las Vegas Aces won back-to-back titles in October and have now been challenged to basketball's version of ‘Battle of the Sexes’ by the host of the “OutKick the Show” podcast, Clay Travis. He took to social media platform X to write that BetOnline.ag would give coach Becky Hammon’s team the prize money if they were to win the game. "Gambling company @betonline_ag has offered $1 million to the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces if they can beat...

Watch Sabrina Ionescu put on a show during the WNBA’s three-point contestSabrina Ionescu just made history during the WNBA’s three-point contest. The New York Liberty star advanced to the finals of the WNBA’s three-point contest after putting up a solid 26 points in the opening round, and she was joined in the finals by Arike Ogunbowale from the Dallas Wings, and Sami Whitcomb from the Seattle Storm. But in the finals, Ionescu put on an absolute show, and she left no doubt about who was taking home the hardware. She scored 37 out of 40 possible points — setting a...

Former NBA player calls out many athletes for being uneducated on the rest of the worldEnes Kanter Freedom is speaking out after WNBA player Natasha Cloud called America "trash in so many ways" on Fourth of July weekend. The former NBA player joined "Fox & Friends" Wednesday to call out Cloud, pointing out that many professional athletes in America are "uneducated" about the rest of the world and don't realize how proud they should be to live in the U.S. "I just can't believe how people still cannot understand how lucky and blessed they are to be in a country...

A Russian arms dealer who the US traded in a prisoner swap for WNBA star Brittney Griner is running for office as a member of an ultra-nationalist party. Viktor Bout, dubbed the 'Merchant of Death' by Western security services, has been nominated to run for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) in the Russian election next March, according to state news agency Rossiya Segodnya (RIA). The 56-year-old has only been out of prison for six months, after serving 10 years of his 25-year sentence behind bars in Marion, Illinois, on arms dealing charges. Bout, who is ostensibly from Tajikistan but holds...

Washington Mystics player Natasha Cloud ripped the U.S. on Friday amid multiple rulings by the Supreme Court. Cloud, who shared reports of both rulings on her Instagram, hopped on Twitter and expressed her displeasure with the country. "Our country is trash in so many ways and instead of using our resources to make it better we continue to oppress Marginalized groups that we have targeted since the beginning of times," Cloud posted to Twitter. "Black/brown communities& LGBTQ+ man we are too powerful to still be attacking issues separate." Cloud also shared a story from Rolling Stone on the Supreme Court’s...

Phoenix Mercury star center Brittney Griner has spoken for the first time since the incident occurred at Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport where she was harassed by YouTuber Alex Stein. She considers this situation "rock Bottom" for the WNBA regarding its charter flight rules. Griner was the subject of harassment on June 10 at the airport, as Stein approached her and asked several questions, including whether she had sex with Vladimir Putin to get out of prison in Russia.

Jason Whitlock: “Why did you do this?” Stein: “Calling out woke athletes. This is so crazy about how insulated Brittney Griner is. She was literally the biggest political story for a year and not one journalist from any major outlet at ESPN, CNN, ABC, blah, blah, blah will ever ask her a hard-hitting question. And me, just asking that question was like considered assault, the Mercury statement even used the word ‘hate’. I don’t hate Brittney Griner, I think she’s a great college basketball player, and women’s college basketball is actually pretty interesting to me. I respect her as being...

As the WNBA faces increased pressure to move away from commercial airline travel, the league has allowed teams this season to fly on a public chartering service called JSX with certain protocols in place, league sources told ESPN this week. The league's travel situation has come under increased scrutiny after the Phoenix Mercury's Brittney Griner -- who was detained in Russia most of last year and subsequently released in a high-profile prisoner exchange -- was harassed in a Dallas airport this past weekend while flying commercially with the team. WNBA teams primarily fly commercial, citing cost. Some franchises and players...

NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA suspended Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon for two games Tuesday for comments Hammon allegedly made to former player Dearica Hamby about her pregnancy. Hammon was suspended without pay after the monthslong investigation stemming from Hamby's allegation that she was bullied and manipulated for being pregnant. The WNBA found Hammon violated league and team respect in the workplace policies. The league also rescinded the Aces' first-round pick in the 2025 draft for violating league rules regarding impermissible player benefits. Las Vegas didn't have a 2024 pick in the first round because of a prior...

Brittney Griner addressed the media for the first time since her return to the United States on Thursday. The seven-time WNBA All-Star spoke on her experience after being detained in a Russian penal colony for 10 months last year. She also made a very important announcement. Griner said that - barring playing for the United States in the Olympics - she would not go overseas to play basketball again, as she had done in Russia before being detained...... Brittney Griner on whether she plans to go overseas to play basketball in the future: “I’m never going overseas to play again...

Duke coach Kara Lawson said the teams played with a men's basketball for the first half of a loss to Florida State on Sunday. The 16th-ranked Blue Devils lost to the Seminoles 70-57 in Tallahassee, Florida -- the team's second Atlantic Coast Conference loss of the season. After her team beat Pittsburgh 53-44 on Thursday, Lawson ended her news conference by speaking animatedly about Sunday's game. "This would never happen in a men's game. This would never happen," she said. "It's embarrassing for our sport."

This week President Biden announced that he had reached a deal with Russia to exchange Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for Brittney Griner. He touted the deal as “a victory for American diplomacy” and “something former president Trump could never have achieved.” Trump wasted no time in confirming that “I would never have freed one of the biggest arms dealers in the world. He was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and horrific injuries.” John Bolton, former national security adviser during the Trump Administration and now a dedicated ‘never-Trumper,’ agreed with his old boss’ assessment, saying “there’s a lot...

Former President Donald Trump shot down Russian attempts to trade former Marine Paul Whelan for “Merchant of Death” arms dealer Viktor Bout, former national security adviser John Bolton said Thursday — as Trump ripped his successor for agreeing to send Bout home in exchange for the return of WNBA star Brittney Griner. Bolton recalled in an interview with CBS that he was in the midst of his 17-month tenure at the White House when Whelan was detained on concocted espionage charges in December 2018. “The possibility of a Bout-for-Whelan trade existed back then,” said Bolton, 74, “and it wasn’t made,...

The world woke up Thursday morning to the news that WNBA star Brittney Griner had been released from Russian custody roughly 10 months after being arrested for bringing vape cartridges containing hashish oil through a Moscow airport. Griner was freed from a Russian penal colony in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News. Notably, the prisoner swap left another U.S. citizen in Russian custody. Paul Whelan, a retired U.S. Marine veteran, was not involved in the exchange. Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in 2018 for espionage charges. Whelan’s absence in the deal...

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) predicted on Thursday that leftist President Joe Biden’s decision to trade imprisoned basketball player Brittney Griner for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the “merchant of death,” would result in people dying as rogue states interpreted the move as open season to arrest Americans. Biden announced and the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Thursday that Griner and Bout were both free.