DALLAS — Not even three hours after the final LSU women’s basketball player left the court Sunday night as a national champion, the court itself had already disappeared. The chill of the Dallas Stars’ ice hockey rink, which was underneath the basketball court the whole time, had overtaken the vast expanse in American Airlines Center, and the only lingering clue that a championship basketball game had been played there hours earlier was the confetti strewn across the floor.
This quick turnaround isn’t unusual in sports, but it’s always jarring. The sports world moves on, and so do we.
But elsewhere in the sports world, this same whiplash happened, too. A game that drew record numbers in TV viewership and attendance somehow morphed into The Discourse ™. Because of course it did. Because this is women’s sports.
One woman, in particular — LSU’s Angel Reese — had the audacity to show some emotion and talk some trash. As it became clear the Tigers were closing in on their first national championship, she looked at Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, waved her hand in front of her face (the same John Cena “You Can’t See Me” wave Clark had done earlier in the tournament) and pointed to her ring finger.
With that, how could anyone allow themselves to dwell on the unexpected…
