Sports have forever been stained by politics.
Once “wokeness” is allowed in, it’s impossible to root it out.
And one basketball coach canceled a game for a reason that will leave you speechless.
Duke women’s volleyball player Rachel Richardson claims that she was called the N-word constantly during a match at BYU.
Despite zero corroborating evidence, the entire corporate press ran with the story.
And now South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley canceled a home-and-home series with BYU because of Richardson’s allegations.
Staley said, “As a head coach, my job is to do what’s best for my players and staff. The incident at BYU has led me to reevaluate our home-and-home, and I don’t feel that this is the right time for us to engage in this series.”
Supposedly, Staley made the call herself without consulting anyone, not even Athletic Director Ray Tanner.
AD Tanner responded, “Dawn and I have discussed her thoughts on the situation. I support Dawn and all of our coaches in their right to schedule games and opponents that are best for their teams.”
Schedules are made well in advance and coaches tend not to be the ones involved in that process.
It’s mind-blowing that a coach would unilaterally make that decision when many people and millions of dollars are involved.
Staley doubled down and said, “I continue to stand by my position. After my personal research, I made a decision for the well-being of my team. I regret that my university, my athletics director Ray Tanner and others got drawn into the criticism of a choice that I made.”
Perhaps even more disconcerting is that Richardson’s claims are not holding up.
No witnesses, cameras, or phones picked up the incident.
That a racist could shout slurs at a sporting event for two hours and nobody said or did anything is difficult to believe, especially on a college campus in 2022.
Colleges are the most liberal places in the country.
A special needs fan was banned from the stadium after approaching Duke players after the game, but an investigation showed that particular fan was not the one who shouted the racial epithets.
The Cougar Chronicles spoke to a source inside the BYU athletic department who said, “When a mentally challenged fan approached a Duke player. The Duke team then suddenly recognized the handicapped man’s ‘voice’ as the same one shouting slurs. They never saw or pointed out a face, just a voice. They banned this man. Not for slurs, but for interfering with visiting guests. BYU Athletics staff went through footage of the entire game and the man Duke identified was never seated in the student section. Her story doesn’t add up, BYU banned an innocent man to appease the mob and make their PR mess go away. While I don’t know if Ms. Richardson genuinely misheard something or intentionally made up this story, it certainly does not constitute the criticism BYU has gotten. There is zero evidence of a slur being said. Not a single witness, besides Ms. Richardson, has come forth. Not a single cell phone video or BYUtv’s several camera angles caught a single thing. How unlikely when this person supposedly said a slur during ‘every single serve.’”
The whole saga stinks, and BYU is getting slandered without evidence to support the bold claim.
And with Staley now canceling games, serious money is at stake.