Commissioner Cathy Engelbert in hot seat over CNBC comments

[Ice Man]

I agree with you.

But I also wonder if the players prefer money over the social platform.

Some will, some won't. That I think is a matter to discussed by them internally, through the players' union.

All that said, it also should be acknowledged that the league is growing quickly and salaries will be rising, even with the social platform. So the issue is not no growth vs. growth. It is instead large growth vs. potentially larger growth.

[MrDollarBills]

I'm also interested to see how certain "fans" react to CC supporting Taylor Swift's choice for the US Presidency. We don't need to delve into that, but I felt it was worth mentioning.

I have a feeling the bad intentioned folks who co opt CC's name against her will for their political agenda simply because she's a white girl from Iowa who is really f'n good at hoops will turn on her before it's all said and done.

[jc23]

I'm also interested to see how certain "fans" react to CC supporting Taylor Swift's choice for the US Presidency. We don't need to delve into that, but I felt it was worth mentioning.

I have a feeling the bad intentioned folks who co opt CC's name against her will for their political agenda simply because she's a white girl from Iowa who is really f'n good at hoops will turn on her before it's all said and done.

She gave a great answer on the issue. No matter what tweet she liked or who she endorsed, venom was going to go her way. She continues to say all the right things while being the most under the microscope female athlete of all time imo.

[Ice Man]

She continues to say all the right things while being the most under the microscope female athlete of all time imo.

Yes on the first part and perhaps also yes on the second. (Although she has some competition there, as with Martina/Serena.) To that I would add that she might be the most scrutinized rookie ever, of either sex. I can't think of another rookie who was also expected to carry a league, and in during the social-media era at that, where the glare is much brighter than in the past.

For example, LeBron had a TON of attention, but nobody expected him to be the face of the NBA when he was a rookie.

[MrDollarBills]

She continues to say all the right things while being the most under the microscope female athlete of all time imo.

Yes on the first part and perhaps also yes on the second. (Although she has some competition there, as with Martina/Serena.) To that I would add that she might be the most scrutinized rookie ever, of either sex. I can't think of another rookie who was also expected to carry a league, and in during the social-media era at that, where the glare is much brighter than in the past.

For example, LeBron had a TON of attention, but nobody expected him to be the face of the NBA when he was a rookie.

Yeah when LeBron arrived, Kobe and the rest of the late 90s/early 00s old guard were still around. This is a huge difference.

[Ice Man]

Yeah when LeBron arrived, Kobe and the rest of the late 90s/early 00s old guard were still around. This is a huge difference.

Similarly, Wemby is a greatly hyped rookie -- but Luka, Embiid, Doncic, Tatum etc. are the biggest NBA stories, not Wemby. Also, the Spurs won 22 games the year before Wemby arrived, and 22 games this past season too. Nobody cared. But they sure as bleep would care if the Fever had not won more games with Clark's arrival.

[DOT]

I'm also interested to see how certain "fans" react to CC supporting Taylor Swift's choice for the US Presidency. We don't need to delve into that, but I felt it was worth mentioning.

I have a feeling the bad intentioned folks who co opt CC's name against her will for their political agenda simply because she's a white girl from Iowa who is really f'n good at hoops will turn on her before it's all said and done.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1ff3lw6/all_from_liking_one_post/

You know, it's kinda funny

I remember when 4Chan was convinced Taylor Swift was one of them, they used to call her their "Aryan Princess" (yuck) because she just never said anything even remotely political (and started as a country singer, I think people don't remember that bit, and fair enough she was only like 16 at the time)

Two takeaways, one a lot of people are just deranged, two if you're famous and don't say anything, people will project their values onto you. That's why once you have an audience, you have a responsibility. With great ability comes great accountability and all that.

[MrDollarBills]

I'm also interested to see how certain "fans" react to CC supporting Taylor Swift's choice for the US Presidency. We don't need to delve into that, but I felt it was worth mentioning.

I have a feeling the bad intentioned folks who co opt CC's name against her will for their political agenda simply because she's a white girl from Iowa who is really f'n good at hoops will turn on her before it's all said and done.

She gave a great answer on the issue. No matter what tweet she liked or who she endorsed, venom was going to go her way. She continues to say all the right things while being the most under the microscope female athlete of all time imo.

Here is the venom, by the way:



I said this months ago: these people who were her "fans" never gave a damn about her at all. They just wanted to use her for the weirdness and hatred. This was so transparent.

She did absolutely nothing but like an instagram post

Good riddance. Her true fans are here because of her and hoops, not hatred.

[MrDollarBills]

Yeah when LeBron arrived, Kobe and the rest of the late 90s/early 00s old guard were still around. This is a huge difference.

Similarly, Wemby is a greatly hyped rookie -- but Luka, Embiid, Doncic, Tatum etc. are the biggest NBA stories, not Wemby. Also, the Spurs won 22 games the year before Wemby arrived, and 22 games this past season too. Nobody cared. But they sure as bleep would care if the Fever had not won more games with Clark's arrival.

If the Fever were a bottom 2 team, I can't imagine what would be said.

Thankfully, they aren't and we get to watch CC hoop a few extra games

[MrDollarBills]

I'm also interested to see how certain "fans" react to CC supporting Taylor Swift's choice for the US Presidency. We don't need to delve into that, but I felt it was worth mentioning.

I have a feeling the bad intentioned folks who co opt CC's name against her will for their political agenda simply because she's a white girl from Iowa who is really f'n good at hoops will turn on her before it's all said and done.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1ff3lw6/all_from_liking_one_post/

You know, it's kinda funny

I remember when 4Chan was convinced Taylor Swift was one of them, they used to call her their "Aryan Princess" (yuck) because she just never said anything even remotely political (and started as a country singer, I think people don't remember that bit, and fair enough she was only like 16 at the time)

Two takeaways, one a lot of people are just deranged, two if you're famous and don't say anything, people will project their values onto you. That's why once you have an audience, you have a responsibility. With great ability comes great accountability and all that.

Lmao good timing, I saw Kev's (he is a great follow on Instagram by the way. Dude is funny as hell and he likes anime, you gotta see his reaction to the end of JJK Season 2 ) post pop up on my TL.

I don't remember the Taylor stuff, but that sh*t is disgusting especially if they were doing that when she was a kid. Now they call her a childless cat lady. Too funny. I have no issue with Taylor, maybe cut out the private jet usage a bit.

The funny part is, Clark actually -did- tell these weirdos to not use her name for their weird agendas. They didn't listen. Now look at them. Triggered and spiraling over an IG like.

Maybe now that the weirdos are upset the focus can go back to basketball and not racism every other day when someone fouls her because it's a shame that what she's doing is being overshadowed by their garbage.

[DOT]

I have no issue with Taylor, maybe cut out the private jet usage a bit.

Not to make this a Taylor Swift thread, but I feel like she could be doing more

She feels like the definition of corporate progressivism, she won't support something unless it won't cost her money

Then there's the stuff with Matty Healy, and her reaction being "no, I have a black friend, look here's a collab with Ice Spice!" just really rubbed me the wrong way

At the end of the day, I just don't like anyone who's a billionaire on principle. Yeah, most the others are way worse, but especially with the rumors she keeps re-releasing her music because she's trying to keep other female artists like Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter down, I'm just not a fan

And that's not even getting into the private jet stuff.

[jc23]

I'm also interested to see how certain "fans" react to CC supporting Taylor Swift's choice for the US Presidency. We don't need to delve into that, but I felt it was worth mentioning.

I have a feeling the bad intentioned folks who co opt CC's name against her will for their political agenda simply because she's a white girl from Iowa who is really f'n good at hoops will turn on her before it's all said and done.

She gave a great answer on the issue. No matter what tweet she liked or who she endorsed, venom was going to go her way. She continues to say all the right things while being the most under the microscope female athlete of all time imo.

Here is the venom, by the way:



I said this months ago: these people who were her "fans" never gave a damn about her at all. They just wanted to use her for the weirdness and hatred. This was so transparent.

She did absolutely nothing but like an instagram post

Good riddance. Her true fans are here because of her and hoops, not hatred.

people really enjoy being angry about **** and will look for reasons to bask in the emotion. Which i sorta get to a degree. But for "some" if your opinions dont aligning perfectly with theirs you will be treated like a war criminal. people got no chill anymore.

There is a recent study Andrew Huberman brought up about how people were given a choice of an emotion that they could feel and Anger won out lol. Cant find it online tho.

[KembaWalker]

Pretty dumb, I dislike that people act like parties doing nothing wrong have a responsibility to disavow bad things just because some unrelated internet trolls. AR getting death threats is bad, but she’s not getting death threats at WNBA games, she’s getting them from internet trolls on anonymous social media accounts that probably are foreign actors with dubious motivations or political wackjobs, not basketball fans.

Disavowing this stuff is giving it more attention than it deserves, it would be like RealGMers having to disavow racism and homophobia because some guys with questionable motivations like to try and bait people. This stuff is not worth acknowledging or apologizing for and doing so is giving them what they want, that’s what they are trolling for

[CIN-C-STAR]

I thought it was a good answer to a question that would be more properly directed at Elon Musk or a politician that could regulate social media, not the Commissioner of the WNBA.
Don't remember Adam Silver having to answer for posts on Twitter directed at NBA players.
She kept the focus on the product, as she should, because her job is to grow revenue for players and owners, not to police the internet which she has zero authority to do.
It's like people are just finding out that social media is toxic and filled with trolls, agent provocateurs, foreign agents and bots. Really people should stop paying attention to it, and that would do more good than constantly talking about it like it's important when it really isn't.
I'm glad she didn't take the bait. Why do people want the league and players associated with this stuff anyway? You realize that will only encourage more people to use the WNBA to get attention for themselves in all the wrong ways, right? Keeping it in the news cycle and giving it a lot of attention is exactly what these useful idiots on social media want.

[Wingy]

I thought it was a good answer to a question that would be more properly directed at Elon Musk or a politician that could regulate social media, not the Commissioner of the WNBA.
Don't remember Adam Silver having to answer for posts on Twitter directed at NBA players.
She kept the focus on the product, as she should, because her job is to grow revenue for players and owners, not to police the internet which she has zero authority to do.
It's like people are just finding out that social media is toxic and filled with trolls, agent provocateurs, foreign agents and bots. Really people should stop paying attention to it, and that would do more good than constantly talking about it like it's important when it really isn't.
I'm glad she didn't take the bait. Why do people want the league and players associated with this stuff anyway? You realize that will only encourage more people to use the WNBA to get attention for themselves in all the wrong ways, right? Keeping it in the news cycle and giving it a lot of attention is exactly what these useful idiots on social media want.

It’s really simple to condemn racism and all
the bad isms in a single sentence. That’s the lowest of low bars anyone needs to clear, much less the leader of an org representing a lot of minorities, black, and LGBTQ people.

I’ve never used Twitter and never will. Nor Instagram, Snap, etc. Ok, maybe I should never say never (eg- younger family may use it someday), but think you get the point. I avoid it like the plague.

But I, and perhaps you, am the old man yelling at cloud. I have the awareness that this stuff’s just part of younger generations’ lives. There’s saturation, it’s ingrained, and it’s expected as normal. Sadly. But it is what it is…for better, but mostly (IMO) worse. You saying just ignore it, and stop paying attention is completely out of touch with reality and our society now.

[CIN-C-STAR]

I thought it was a good answer to a question that would be more properly directed at Elon Musk or a politician that could regulate social media, not the Commissioner of the WNBA.
Don't remember Adam Silver having to answer for posts on Twitter directed at NBA players.
She kept the focus on the product, as she should, because her job is to grow revenue for players and owners, not to police the internet which she has zero authority to do.
It's like people are just finding out that social media is toxic and filled with trolls, agent provocateurs, foreign agents and bots. Really people should stop paying attention to it, and that would do more good than constantly talking about it like it's important when it really isn't.
I'm glad she didn't take the bait. Why do people want the league and players associated with this stuff anyway? You realize that will only encourage more people to use the WNBA to get attention for themselves in all the wrong ways, right? Keeping it in the news cycle and giving it a lot of attention is exactly what these useful idiots on social media want.

It’s really simple to condemn racism and all
the bad isms in a single sentence. That’s the lowest of low bars anyone needs to clear, much less the leader of an org representing a lot of minorities, black, and LGBTQ people.

I’ve never used Twitter and never will. Nor Instagram, Snap, etc. Ok, maybe I should never say never (eg- younger family may use it someday), but think you get the point. I avoid it like the plague.

But I, and perhaps you, am the old man yelling at cloud. I have the awareness that this stuff’s just part of younger generations’ lives. There’s saturation, it’s ingrained, and it’s expected as normal. Sadly. But it is what it is…for better, but mostly (IMO) worse. You saying just ignore it, and stop paying attention is completely out of touch with reality and our society now.

Add Serena Williams to the list of old men yelling at clouds, I guess.
Her recent comments about Clark: "I just love that she tries to stay grounded and that she doesn't look at her social. I get it. I don't either."
I don't think it should be difficult for anyone to condemn racism, though that's not exactly what Engelbert was asked and if she were specifically asked how she feels about people using the WNBA to promote racism I'm sure her answer would be more in line with the one you're looking for.
But regardless, as has been said before, she has no authority to police the internet and her comments would have zero effect on the bots and trolls and spammers and wannabe influencers spouting toxic takes on Twitter in a desperate cry for attention.
And statistically way more teens use Tik Tok and Youtube than Twitter.
Twitter is a bot-filled, male-dominated platform that is rife with foreign actors and other disingenuous posters. Celebrities use it disproportionately to grow their fanbase and pump up their revenue, and media members use it disproportionately, too, which I think serves as a form of media bias in which it gets a disproportionate amount of attention that gives the false impression that "everyone" is on Twitter and thinks it is important, when that's not really true statistically.
That's not to say that there isn't a story here, I'm just not sure it involves the Commissioner of the WNBA. Twitter uses algorithms that favor right-wing takes and has softened its stance on policing misinformation and hate speech since Musk took over. That's certainly worth covering.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59011271
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/technology/twitter-hate-speech.html

[KembaWalker]

I thought it was a good answer to a question that would be more properly directed at Elon Musk or a politician that could regulate social media, not the Commissioner of the WNBA.
Don't remember Adam Silver having to answer for posts on Twitter directed at NBA players.
She kept the focus on the product, as she should, because her job is to grow revenue for players and owners, not to police the internet which she has zero authority to do.
It's like people are just finding out that social media is toxic and filled with trolls, agent provocateurs, foreign agents and bots. Really people should stop paying attention to it, and that would do more good than constantly talking about it like it's important when it really isn't.
I'm glad she didn't take the bait. Why do people want the league and players associated with this stuff anyway? You realize that will only encourage more people to use the WNBA to get attention for themselves in all the wrong ways, right? Keeping it in the news cycle and giving it a lot of attention is exactly what these useful idiots on social media want.

It’s really simple to condemn racism and all
the bad isms in a single sentence.

Hence the pointlessness of doing so, and the obvious “gotcha” intent of trying to strongarm someone into doing so.

[Ice Man]

My personal inclination is not to attack non-racists for being quiet, but instead to attack racists for being loud.

[cdubbz]

Some Angel Reese tweets talking about the racism she faced during the season:

For the past 2 years, the media has benefited from my pain & me being villainized to create a narrative. They allowed this. This was beneficial to them. I sometimes share my experiences of things that have happened to me but I’ve also allowed this to happen to me for way too long and now other players in this league are dealing with & experiencing the same things. This isn’t ok at all. Anything beyond criticism about playing the game we love is wrong. I’m sorry to all the players that have/continue to experience the same things I have…. This is why I started my podcast. To take my voice back and create the narrative of who I really am. At the end of the day, I don’t want an apology nor do I think this will ever stop but something has to change…

I’ve never in my life had privilege but I definitely know the power I have through my platform. That didn’t come overnight. I grew that on my OWN. With that being said, I will continue to use my voice in the right way & say what’s right even though it has backfired on me to be this “villain”. I won’t stop!!

[Wingy]

I thought it was a good answer to a question that would be more properly directed at Elon Musk or a politician that could regulate social media, not the Commissioner of the WNBA.
Don't remember Adam Silver having to answer for posts on Twitter directed at NBA players.
She kept the focus on the product, as she should, because her job is to grow revenue for players and owners, not to police the internet which she has zero authority to do.
It's like people are just finding out that social media is toxic and filled with trolls, agent provocateurs, foreign agents and bots. Really people should stop paying attention to it, and that would do more good than constantly talking about it like it's important when it really isn't.
I'm glad she didn't take the bait. Why do people want the league and players associated with this stuff anyway? You realize that will only encourage more people to use the WNBA to get attention for themselves in all the wrong ways, right? Keeping it in the news cycle and giving it a lot of attention is exactly what these useful idiots on social media want.

It’s really simple to condemn racism and all
the bad isms in a single sentence.

Hence the pointlessness of doing so, and the obvious “gotcha” intent of trying to strongarm someone into doing so.

Hard disagree. These opinions saying the Commish did nothing wrong advocate for acceptance of racism, in a passive manner that doesn’t mean she or you are inherently racist, but also says there’s no problem with it existing. Simple doesn’t mean pointless.

No point debating this one further.