NYC! Join us for a fun and informative @medillschool.bsky.social WISE evening. events.ard.northwestern.edu/en/Dn8g9BS7/...
Christine Brennan
@cbrennansports.bsky.social
ON HER GAME: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports. An Instant New York Times bestseller. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/On-Her-Game/Christine-Brennan/9781668090190
Thanks to the Forum for Cultural Engagement for a great event.
Since the A’ja Wilson incident and Kelsey Mitchell’s exit interview, the always-tense racial discourse in the WNBA is intensifying. I want to share what the great Dr. Harry Edwards said to me in an interview for On Her Game more than two years ago:
Kelsey Mitchell last year, in the paperback edition of On Her Game: “You bring in Caitlin who changed the world, changed the dynamic of basketball. As a friend, as a player, you better appreciate her because certain doors have opened because she’s come to the Fever.”
No matter how critical I’ve been of Cathy Engelbert’s repeated & erroneous attempts to favorably compare Angel Reese to Caitlin Clark’s drawing power, this is a surprise: Curtains up because only 9,745 came to NY-ATL playoff. But two Clark regular-season games? 17,044 both times.
Muhammad Ali, Janet Evans and one of the most magical moments in Olympic history — taking over the Sports Section in the USA Today weekend print edition. @usatodaysports
This is big news for the WNBA. I can confirm that the NBA has hired the executive search arm of Caitlin Clark’s agency to find the next WNBA commissioner. Perhaps the ridiculous minimization of Clark’s impact, led by Cathy Engelbert, is coming to an end.
There’s joy among anti-CC WNBA fans but no joy among TV execs and sponsors. Sad reality hits the W with Fever now out: based on three seasons of viewership data, when Caitlin Clark leaves, half of W’s TV audience leaves as well. Maybe this month is different? From my book, On Her Game:
As LA28 announces a 50-state torch relay, I revisit one of the most breathtaking and surprising moments in Olympic history — Muhammad Ali lighting the cauldron in Atlanta in 1996 — with Janet Evans and Lonnie Ali. www.usatoday.com/story/sports...
Muhammad Ali was the Olympics' best-kept secret. 30 years later, the women who knew remember the gasp
Olympic swimming legend Janet Evans and Muhammad Ali’s widow, Lonnie Ali, reunite and remember that Olympic moment as if it happened only a few hours ago.
usatoday.com
O’Hare this morning: the Chicago skyline at sunrise and @barbarasbookstore.bsky.social ready for the WNBA playoffs.
A beautiful day in DC; a terrible tragedy remembered — the midair collision at DCA January 2025. Scenes from a press conference today highlighting the airline safety work of the families of Flight 5342, which included 28 members of the U.S. figure skating community.
Remembering Jeremy Glick, one of the heroes of United 93:
While there is another transgender controversy, this time at a women’s sports bar, The Sports Bra, in Portland, every player at the FIBA Women’s World Cup is playing under an “only biological females” policy, and no one is complaining. My column. (No paywall.) www.usatoday.com/story/sports...
WNBA's transgender-athlete battle goes silent at FIBA World Cup | Opinion
The greatest women’s basketball players in the world are in Berlin for the FIBA Women’s World Cup, an event played under policies that do not allow transgender women, columnist Christine Brennan write...
usatoday.com
I’m pleased to announce Scribner has gone back to press for a fourth printing of On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports, my NYT bestseller. Bookstores and online sellers will have plenty of copies as you follow Clark and the WNBA. Thanks for the support!
Something to consider in the WNBA transgender controversy: the IOC, USOPC, FIBA and USA Basketball all now have policies not allowing transgender women to play. Twelve great WNBA players will go to the World Cup next month and play under those rules. I’ve asked the players’ union for comment.
Breaking: There’s no snub this time. Caitlin Clark has been named to the US FIBA Women’s World Cup team. Five players on the 2024 US Olympic team are not on this team: Brittney Griner, Sabrina Ionescu, Jewell Loyd, Alyssa Thomas and Diana Taurasi, who is retired.
When you give your latest book to your classmates at your high school reunion and an impromptu signing breaks out.
