This series will cover the WNBA’s 21st season with at least one story on the league weekly from the season’s May 13 opening to its closing on September 3 and through the 2017 playoffs. He has only been away for a few months, but when Jim Peterson casually walked into the locker room after a […]
Lynx/WNBA
Sports: a space for local and national sports news, with emphasis on stories pertaining to African Americans.
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WNBA expands its fandom to social media, fantasy gamers
This series will cover the WNBA’s 21st season with at least one story on the league weekly from the season’s May 13 opening to its closing on September 3 and through the 2017 playoffs. Now in her second year at the helm, WNBA President Lisa Borders believes one of her initial goals in moving the […]
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New Black women head coaches relish the challenge
This series will cover the WNBA’s 21st season with at least one story on the league weekly from the season’s May 13 opening to its closing on September 3 and through the 2017 playoffs. During the last off-season, an overlooked historic fact rarely seen in sports at any level took place in the WNBA. All […]
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First month was a good one for star rookie
Most rookies must go through the process of transitioning their game — their status from college star to starting all over again as a pro freshman. This isn’t some initiation process but the natural progression in pro sports. San Antonio Head Coach Vickie Johnson, a 12th overall pick in the 1997 W Draft, played a […]
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Lynx center Fowles happy to join college teammate Augustus
This series will cover the WNBA’s 21st season with at least one story on the league weekly from the season’s May 13 opening to its closing on September 3 and through the 2017 playoffs Her third year on the team thus far seems to be the charm for Sylvia Fowles, the 6’-6” Minnesota Lynx center, […]
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Foreign play seasons some W players, wears on others
This series will cover the WNBA’s 21st season with at least one story on the league weekly from the season’s May 13 opening to its closing on September 3 and through the 2017 playoffs. Most WNBA hoopsters typically have “The Friends of Distinction” experiences — they just go in circles, playing basketball virtually all year […]
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Lynx asst. coach admires players’ attention to detail
This series will cover the WNBA’s 21st season with at least one story on the league weekly from the season’s May 13 opening to its closing on September 3 and through the 2017 playoffs. One can only imagine the dinner conversations at the Wade house between the husband, a former college and pro basketball player, […]
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WNBA athletes trapped in unfair comparisons with men
This series will cover the WNBA’s 21st season with at least one story on the league weekly from the season’s May 13 opening to its closing on September 3 and through the 2017 playoffs. Comparing women and men basketball players is like comparing apples to oranges. Yet among “uneducated” male fans, media, and television broadcasters, […]
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2017 WNBA season begins without much ado
The NBA annually uses Christmas Day — the league’s ‘unofficial’ start of the season — as its television kick-off platform. But their female counterpart instead gets a Saturday in May, a day normally reserved for baseball, golf and maybe a horse races, to do something similar. The 2017 WNBA season officially starts Saturday — six of […]
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Impact of relocation on Lynx play uncertain as season begins
This series will cover the WNBA’s 21st season with at least one story on the league weekly from the season’s May 13 opening to its closing on September 3 and through the 2017 playoffs. The Minnesota Lynx begins its 2017 season Sunday. After a two-game “test drive” during last year’s playoffs, the Lynx this season […]
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Nia Coffey goes pro with San Antonio Stars
This column continues the Only One series in which this reporter shares his experiences as the only African American journalist on the scene. Her original intent was to stay cool. But that went out of the window once Nia Coffey heard her name called. “I don’t think I was that nervous or anxious until they […]
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Post-W Draft reflections
There weren’t many, if any, surprises in last week’s WNBA Draft. Kelsey Plum was selected first overall by San Antonio, but unlike some who predicted otherwise, she did not get traded after being picked. Only once in league draft history (Lindsay Harding in 2007) has a top overall pick been traded right after she was […]
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2017 W Draft prospects — heavy on ‘depth’
Minneapolis native Nia Coffey, who played at Northwestern; Baylor’s Alexis Jones and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough of Maryland, are among 10 invited prospects who will be “in the heart of New York City” for Thursday’s WNBA Draft, one month before the 2017 regular season tips off May 13. Coffey, Jones and Walker-Kimbrough are likely first-rounders in a […]
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Wiggins’ allegations play to stereotypes of the WNBA
Candice Wiggins’ recent allegations that a bullying culture existed in the WNBA during her eight seasons, and that the majority of the players are not heterosexual was, as expected, met with criticism from present and former players alike. “I was stunned and disappointed” after reading her published comments, said WNBA President Lisa Borders last week […]
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Wiggins drops ’98 percent’ bomb on WNBA
Former Minnesota Lynx player Candice Wiggins last week dropped a bomb on the WNBA, and the Lynx organization took a direct hit as a result. Wiggins, the Lynx’s 2008 top draft choice and third overall, played here five seasons before she was traded to Tulsa in 2013 and retired in 2016 after eight seasons. She […]
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Ode to Obama, big WNBA fan
The WNBA’s number-one fan is leaving the White House later this week after an historic eight-year presidency. President Barack Obama was perhaps the first U.S. president who treated the WNBA no differently than other pro leagues and was often seen at games as a fan, and not for political or publicity purposes. This may not […]
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2016 a busy year for our unique sports coverage
Once again this year, both our columns “Another View” and “Sports Odds and Ends” each week provided unabashed and often unprecedented coverage of women sports, Black coaches, Black players and Black people, staying true to our primary mission to provide readers news and information they can’t or won’t find anywhere else. “When are we going […]
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WNBA Season Roundup | League must clean up subpar officiating
On the surface, the 2016 WNBA Finals can be classified as a classic. The dramatic final three minutes of the final game alone, with neither team conceding, along with two-buzzer beaters, easily gave it the necessary qualifications. “I hope that we gained a lot of fans from around the world, around this country, and they […]
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WNBA Finals | Lynx, one point shy of making history, fall to Sparks
Minnesota came one defensive stop short of history. Nneka Ogwumike’s conversion of her missed jumper with two seconds left gave Los Angeles their first WNBA championship since 2002, a 77-76 win. And the Lynx once again lost a chance to repeat as champions in an Olympic year — Minnesota lost to Indiana in 2012 after winning in […]
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Looking ahead, WNBA league pres says, ‘The work is not over.’
For 20 weeks, to commemorate the WNBA’s 20th season (the MSR having covered each season), the MSR sports section will feature a column or article on the W in our “20 in 20” series. This week: the next 20 years. History was made earlier this year when for the first time a Black individual pro […]