Unappreciative pampered female athletes getting a wake up call when fans actually start watching...

Listening to Kelsey Mitchell's exit interview, I couldn't help but laugh a little. Not because what she's describing isn't difficult. I'm sure it is. But I continue to believe that one of the biggest adjustments happening in the WNBA right now is that these women are learning what it's like to play in a genuinely relevant, heavily scrutinized professional sports league. KM talked about how hard it is being a Fever player. About waking up every day and giving your best, only for your best to not be enough for some people. And my lifelong sports-fan reaction was basically: Well...yeah. 😅 Ask an NFL kicker who misses a 38-yarder to lose a playoff game how many fans appreciate that he "gave his best." Ask an NBA point guard who goes 3-for-17 in Game 7. Ask an Iowa QB after three straight three-and-outs. 😅 She talked about how hard it is "showing up every day to compete for fans that may or may not like you." Kelsey... Sports fans have disliked players ON THEIR OWN TEAM since approximately 15 minutes after sports were invented. 😂 Iowa fans can love the Hawkeyes with every molecule in their bodies while simultaneously demanding that somebody be benched, fired, or launched directly into the sun. That's SPORTS. 😅 And I've never seen a professional sports league collectively so consumed by social media discourse. Players talk about tweets. Coaches talk about tweets. Reporters ask players about tweets. Other players respond to those comments. ESPN discusses the response. Then somebody's podcast discusses ESPN discussing the response to the response. 😂 Caitlin Clark didn't invent obnoxious sports fans. She brought an enormous number of mainstream sports fans into a league that had never experienced this level of attention and scrutiny before. And THAT'S the distinction. What they're experiencing may genuinely be new for the WNBA. It is absolutely NOT new for professional sports. Fans second-guess you. Fans criticize you. Fans irrationally blame you for losses. Fans love the superstar more than they love you. Fans scream that you should pass her the damn ball. Fans demand trades. Fans say stupid shit on the internet. Welcome to big-time sports! You've made it! 😅 For decades the WNBA wanted more attention. Bigger audiences. Packed arenas. Better TV ratings. More money. More relevance. Well... Mainstream sports relevance comes with mainstream sports bullshit. 😂

— 💛🖤 KINNICK NORTH🖤💛 (@KinnickNorth23) October 4, 2026