The WNBA finals are a basketball wonderland – unless you’re part of the Maga machine

The Dream and Valkyries are locked at 2-2 following four captivating contests. Across the nation, many would prefer we revisit the national anthem debate.

When Crystal Renee, a leading actress in Tyler Perry productions, performed the national anthem at State Farm Arena ahead of Saturday afternoon's WNBA finals matchup between the Atlanta Dream and the Golden State Valkyries, a handful of photographers, game officials, and event security took their usual positions around her as the sold-out crowd rose for the flag. The teams, as has become standard practice, remained in their locker rooms during that time. Once the lights came back on, the players returned to the court to continue their warm-ups. Anyone genuinely focused on the finals would have been unconcerned by their brief absence—if they even recalled it after the Valkyries' 67-62 win evened the series at two games each. Yet for many viewers, basketball is secondary.

Seven years ago, Jay-Z stated that society had "moved past kneeling" and similar national anthem demonstrations, seemingly marking the end of an era of sports activism that had raised awareness about racial inequalities amid a growing social movement. That statement solidified his collaboration with the NFL as the league yielded to political pressure to suppress anthem protests, with other major US sports eventually following suit. However, right-leaning media and politicians never got the message. They persist in turning sports into a patriotic battleground, with basketball as the primary victim of this conflict. Continue reading...