Professional athletes have gotten absurdly political over the past five years.
Fans have been forced to endure lectures from privileged athletes.
But “woke” sports leagues stars made a stunning announcement about the Olympics.
It seems as though the WNBA has momentarily come to its senses.
Star players from the league who will be representing the United States in the Olympics said they will not continue their anti-American anthem protest.
From The Daily Wire:
WNBA players, who have been protesting racism all season by leaving the court during the national anthem, say they have decided not to continue their demonstration during the Olympics and will remain on the court during the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
Team captain Sue Bird, who is engaged to United States women’s soccer star — and woke icon — Megan Rapinoe, reportedly defended the decision to the media, claiming that the move was not “hypocritical” because she and her teammates were playing for Team USA, not individual cities.
Bird and other American WNBA players at least recognize that protesting at the Olympics when representing the country is a terrible look.
Unfortunately, Olympics hammer thrower Gwendolyn Berry didn’t have the same wisdom when she protested the Star-Spangled Banner at a qualifying event.
Sue Bird told The Associated Press:
“You are wearing USA jerseys, and it does change the conversation a little bit and what you’re representing…With that, I don’t feel like a hypocrite in any way…Everyone knows where we stand. I don’t think it contradicts anything since we’re actually doing the work.”
Ever since Colin Kaepernick kneeled for the anthem in 2016, the anti-American act has spread across the globe.
And the corporate press has encouraged the protests every step of the way.
Meanwhile, the press refuses to cover the left-wing protests that turn into violent riots.
The WNBA is one of the most “woke” professional sports leagues.
Not only have teams been protesting en masse, players for the Atlanta Dream openly campaigned for Georgia senator Raphael Warnock against their own team owner Kelly Loeffler.
The league even took shots at Loeffler for her political views.
Protesting the country at the Olympics would’ve been a terrible look for the WNBA; the league needs all of the support it can get.
The WNBA already loses $10 million per year and is subsidized by the NBA.
Yet there are some delusional WNBA players that carp about wage inequality with NBA players.
That delusion has taken western countries by storm, particularly in recent years.
It shouldn’t need to be explained why NBA players make orders of magnitude more than WNBA players, but leftists have abandoned all common sense.
Protesting against the anthem could’ve reduced the WNBA’s already-paltry fan base.
The NBA itself has suffered as a consequence of the over-the-top politicization.
Hopefully more professional athletes realize that antagonizing fans over partisan political issues is a bad strategy.
It also shows an incredible lack of gratitude.