Blaze News original: Top 5 insane quotes from the WNBA's biggest — and weirdest — season ever



The WNBA has wrapped up its most notable season since its inception, breaking multiple viewership records while increasing attendance across the league.

The rookie season of Caitlin Clark saw ticket prices skyrocket wherever she played, with games even having to change locations to accommodate the fans who wanted to see her.

'I'm speaking on a particular group that is motivated by hate and destruction.'

But with more eyeballs came far more scrutiny of — and pressure on — the players. Not only did many players buckle under their newfound fame but so did owners and reporters.

What resulted from this historic season wasn't a showering of praise on the league's new fans or an increased appreciation for the sport but rather a historic series of blunders.

5. WNBA owner calls Clark fans 'racist'

Typically, sports franchise owners want to pull fans into arenas, not alienate them. That note seemingly didn't make its way to the desk of Renee Montgomery, former WNBA star and part owner of the Atlanta Dream.

Not only did Montgomery claim there was a prevalence of "bots" and "faux fans" within Clark's massive online following, but also the owner doubted that the new star's fans even watched her games.

"I'm speaking on a particular group that is motivated by hate and destruction," Montgomery said in a clip she posted to X.

"I like when our fans are so engaged and so passionate that they just don't like the other team. But being racist, sexist, and violent with your words — come on now, what are we doing? ... That's not acceptable," she added.

For some reason, the owner even brought Boston Celtics fans into the mix and accused them of "racist treatment of players."

The Dream finished 15-25 and were swept in the playoffs. Karma?

4. Reporter says a single MAGA hat made a WNBA game 'unsafe'

It wasn't enough in the 2024 season simply not to be a fan of Clark. Any connection to conservative politics that possibly could have been made was made — and then connected to some form of hatred.

Take WNBA writer Frankie de la Cretaz. The "they/them" journalist attended Game 2 of the playoff series between Clark's Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun.

De la Cretaz's reporting included citing the game's "vibe" as "horrendous" while also claiming she and her "partner" told off a "racist" fan sitting behind them. The fan's crime was daring to mock one of the Sun players for wearing fake eyelashes on the court.

The writer was even more outraged by "a man in a MAGA hat" and a woman wearing a "ban nails" shirt. The fan also sported props of giant fingernails on her hands.

When all was said and done, de la Cretaz said she'd be writing a scathing review about her horrible experience before adding, "I've never felt unsafe at a WNBA game & tonight I did."

3. Players complain their private planes are too small

After Clark was photographed on a luxury private flight — likely due to her being responsible for the massive attention the league was getting — players began demanding similar amenities.

Did they take their issues to WNBA brass and ownership? Of course not. Instead they took to their social media pages and press interviews.

Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese was the first to complain, posting a photo of herself seemingly embarrassed to be on a commercial flight.

On her Instagram story, Reese showed herself in sunglasses and a paper mask with the caption: "Just praying that this is one of the last commercial flights the Chicago Sky has to fly." A second caption read, "Practicing gratitude & patience as the league introduces charter flights for all teams."

Phoenix Mercury guard Sophie Cunningham went about her request far more arrogantly, saying, "Butterflies and rainbows now that we got the charters" before adding that the private planes weren't big enough.

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

"We are so grateful to be able to start chartering, but with that, there's a lot of things that need to be adjusted," she said during an interview. "Our bags and some of our people can't fly with us because our charter is too small. While other teams get big planes."

Cunningham seems to be unaware that while the league is losing a reported $50 million in 2024, its private plane program is responsible for half that debt at $25 million.

2. A'ja Wilson claims black players don't get endorsements — and is immediately proven wrong

In what may have been a cruel joke by a reporter, Las Vegas Aces player A'ja Wilson made wild, racially charged accusations, only to be immediately proven wrong.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Wilson claimed that race has played a "huge" role in Clark's popularity while adding that black women aren't seen as marketable and, despite what they may accomplish, are still ignored.

"It doesn't matter what we all do as black women; we're still going to be swept underneath the rug," Wilson argued.

To the surprise of very few, Wilson's claims were completely destroyed before they were even published.

A week before the interview went public, Wilson signed a deal with Gatorade. Then, on May 11, Wilson and Nike announced that she would be endorsed and given her own signature shoe.

On May 12, Wilson's interview with the Associated Press was published, leaving egg all over her face.

Wilson called it a "dream" of hers to be able to work with such an iconic brand as Nike, but she failed to mention anything about being unmarketable due to her race.

1. Cameron Brink accidentally calls her teammates ugly

The most jaw-dropping quote of the season came from the right place — that is, if you believe woke culture and social justice are forces for good.

When Cameron Brink gave an interview about "tired narratives," she focused on the idea of breaking stereotypes and tropes. However, the 22-year-old actually just ended up calling her teammates ugly and manly.

'Some of my teammates go by they/them pronouns.'

In an attempt to spew woke dogma, Brink initially went with race as a factor in popularity: "I will acknowledge there's a privilege for the younger white players of the league. That's not always true, but there is a privilege that we have inherently, and the privilege of appearing feminine."

Your browser does not support the video tag. Video by Dave Tolley/Getty Images

After stating there is pressure for women to appear womanly, Brink attempted to explain why her more "masculine" teammates should be more popular despite their looks.

"Some of my teammates are more masculine. Some of my teammates go by they/them pronouns," she said. "I want to bring more acceptance to that and not just have people support us because of the way that we look. I know I can feed into that because I like to dress femininely, but that's just me. I want everyone to be accepted — not just paid attention to because of how they look."

Brink has since continued to dress like a woman.

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Keith Olbermann strikes out in Bud Light brouhaha with David Wells, former star pitcher takes swing at Nike's wokeness and coddled MLB players



Former MLB star David Wells replied with a pitch-perfect response to progressive blowhard Keith Olbermann in an online brouhaha over the Bud Light controversy. The former New York Yankees starting pitcher also took a swing at Nike's corporate wokeness and how Major League Baseball players are coddled.

Wells appeared at the 75th Old-Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium on Saturday – which celebrated the 25th anniversary of the 1998 Bronx Bombers squad that won 125 games and captured the World Series.

Wells covered up the Nike logo with medical tape on his Yankees jersey for Old Timers' Day because he disagrees with the sneaker company's politics.

Wells declared, "I hate Nike! They’re woke!”

According to The Athletic, "He said that if he were playing today, he would have cut a hole into his jersey and worn it on the field like that rather than display Nike’s logo on his body."

Wells also said today's MLB players are soft as he defended embattled Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who is under fire tor the team's disappointing season.

“It always seems that the (general managers), the managers and all of that are getting fired, and getting blamed for it, and it’s the players’ (fault),” Wells said. “If you’re not doing the job out on the field, and if I was a GM, I would start sending a message.”

The retired starting pitcher with 239 career wins under his belt called for MLB teams to send underperforming players to the minor leagues to "send a message."

"I don’t care how much money you’re making," he continued. "Send a message to them and let them go sit down there and think about it. That’s what you have to do. I think now they coddle them too much. They baby them. … It’s up to your peers to make you better."

The pitcher nicknamed "Boomer" recalled a time when he was pitching poorly for the Yankees and the team's catcher, Jorge Posada, got physical with him.

"He slammed me against the pillar and got in my face but I respected it,” Wells said.

Wells added, "But to me, that’s what you don’t see anymore. You don’t see the guys getting in each other’s face. And it’s not a personal thing. You’re here to win, and that’s what they try to do, and I think from seeing my perspective, looking in, they don’t have that kind of camaraderie anymore."

When asked if he drinks Bud Light, Wells fired back, "Nope!"

Former MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann infused himself into the situation by questioning if Wells no longer drinks Bud Light.

Seeking a rebuttal, Olberman tagged Wells on the X social media platform along with a screenshot of the former star pitcher voicing his displeasure with Bud Light.

Olbermann tweeted, "Bulls**t. @BoomerWells33 would drink wood alcohol. Another f***ing fraud."

Wells struck back at Olbermann with a home run response, "Keith shut the f*** up. Just because you never played the game and all you did was work for ESPN and talk s**t on all of us players because you have a degree in journalism makes you an expert on putting athletes down. And that's if you even have a degree. Stick to your politics."

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Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels' disgraced ex-lawyer, fails again, this time proving unable to overturn Nike extortion conviction



Disgraced lawyer and repeat MSNBC guest Michael Avenatti has done a lot of losing since threatening to run for president. Avenatti's latest effort to arrest that trend proved unsuccessful Wednesday, as his attempt to shorten his 19-year prison stint was rejected by a federal appeals court.

In June 2022, Avenatti was sentenced to four years behind bars for defrauding his porn star client Stormy Daniels out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then, just a few months later, he was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for tax and wire fraud, having both stolen millions from his clients and failed to pay taxes for a coffee chain he owned.

"Michael Avenatti was a corrupt lawyer who claimed he was fighting for the little guy. In fact, he only cared about his own selfish interests," said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada.

Years earlier — not long after receiving gratuitous praise from the likes of liberal talking heads Rachel Maddow, Stephen Colbert, and Lawrence O'Donnell and being hit with an accusation of domestic abuse for which he was not ultimately charged — Avenatti was found guilty on three felony charges in his Nike-related fraud and extortion case.

He was arrested on March 25, 2019, for threatening to damage the shoe company's reputation and tank its stock price if it refused to pay millions of dollars to him and his client, former Amateur Athletic Union basketball coach Gary Franklin.

Avenatti indicated on Twitter just before his arrest that he had planned to hold "a press conference to disclose a major high school/college basketball scandal" the next day.

Court documents indicated he told Nike reps, "I'm not f***ing around with this, and I'm not continuing to play games. ... You guys know enough now to know you've got a serious problem. And it's worth more in exposure to me to just blow the lid on this thing. A few million dollars doesn't move the needle for me," reported NBC News.

He demanded the company pay him up to $25 million to conduct a probe plus another $1.5 million to compensate his client.

Around the time he was cooking up his extortion scheme, the CNN regular had accrued at least $11 million of debt and recently gone through a divorce.

He was ultimately charged and convicted of conspiracy to commit extortion, transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort, and extortion, then sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and ordered to pay $260,000 in restitution.

In January, Avenatti asked the U.S. Second Circuit Court to overturn the verdict.

In an appellate brief, he suggested that "the evidence failed to establish wrongfulness. An investigation would have served Franklin’s objectives and, in seeking to conduct one, Avenatti did not disobey any of his client's instructions or impair his client’s rights, in particular because any settlement would have required Franklin’s consent. ... More fundamentally, an attorney does not commit criminal extortion by pairing a threat of economic harm with a request for compensation."

Reuters reported that in a 3-0 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan rejected Avenatti's claims about the evidence supposedly failing to support his conviction. The court minced no words, concluding his challenges were "meritless."

Contrary to Avenatti's contentions, the court indicated:

  • the "trial evidence was sufficient to support [his] conviction for the two charged extortion counts because a reasonable jury could find therefrom that Avenatti's threat to injure Nike's reputation and financial position was wrongful";
  • the "trial evidence was sufficient to support Avenatti's conviction for honest-services fraud because a reasonable jury could find therefrom that Avenatti solicited a bribe from Nike in the form of a quid pro quo"; and
  • the "district court adequately instructed the jury on an attorney's authority to act for his client, both generally and specifically as pertains to settling claims."

The 52-year-old in whom some Democrats once saw a future president will remain incarcerated at a federal prison near Los Angeles well into the 2030s.

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