It is sometimes difficult to appreciate the courage of our nation’s athletes. Perhaps no one in our country has taken a braver stance than WNBA players making the controversial decision of opposing a Republican senator.
This is how it sounds to the New York Times, at least. You see, Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler is a co-owner of Atlanta’s WNBA team. She is also a “bully” and a racist who wants to draw black athletes into a fight, according to Kurt Streeter. But WNBA players took a brave stand: They are refusing to say Loeffler’s name.
According to Streeter, this is “political jujitsu,” an astounding move that strikes at Loeffler’s very dignity. Further down, the piece actually mentions a substantive move of resistance, as the WNBA has lined up behind Loeffler’s main Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock.
Streeter is careful to note that it’s impossible to draw a direct correlation between the WNBA’s support for Warnock and his recent surge in the polls. The Democratic Party has already rallied around Warnock, with endorsements from Barack Obama and Stacey Abrams. Warnock is not even the real threat to Loeffler right now: Republican challenger Rep. Doug Collins currently leads the polls.
More so than even the NBA, the WNBA dove headfirst into partisan politics this year. The league has partnered both with the Women’s March and Planned Parenthood, and before now, players had been calling for Loeffler to be stripped of her co-ownership of the Atlanta Dream. You might be surprised to know that the WNBA also plays basketball — not that anyone watches that.
Loeffler could very well lose her Senate seat, though it would almost certainly be Collins replacing her. Even if it is Warnock who comes out on top, it’s unlikely that a basketball league that can’t even bring a crowd of 7,000 into an arena would be the thing tipping the scales.
Without politics, the WNBA wouldn’t make news in the first place. You can be forgiven if you were unaware that the WNBA Finals ended just this week. But being portrayed as a brave political force by the New York Times doesn’t bring fans to games or stop them from changing the channel. Nor are they actually moving the needle with their “political jujitsu.”
