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Sports Tears
🕑 Added 2024-10-28 18:59:13 +0000 UTCWhen I moved back to Brooklyn last year, I decided a couple of things: 1) I wanted to live in a great neighborhood; and 2) I wanted to get season tickets to the New York Liberty (WNBA team).
I found a great apartment in Park Slope and I got a single season ticket to every Liberty home game. I had never watched the Liberty before this year’s home opener, not even on television. But I knew I loved basketball, so I was certain I’d have a fun time. I was not wrong.
The Liberty finished with the best record in the league this year and won their first ever WNBA Championship last week over the Minnesota Lynx. I was at Game 5 of the Finals (in the WNBA, the Finals are a best-out-of-five series; so this was winner-take-all). The game went into goddamned overtime. You really can’t ask for a more exciting finish to a season.
I have followed sports my whole life, and I have sat through some incredible championship runs with my favorite teams. The Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars won in 2011 and 1999, respectively. I’ve watched those two teams lose their finals series as well (Mavs in 2006 and 2023; Stars in 2000 and 2020). It’s gutwrenching to lose a title, far worse than not even making it to the playoffs. You’re so close. You want it so bad. And then it’s yanked away.
Sports are hard, and only one team gets to win each year. But when the Liberty finally put away game 5 in overtime to win their first title in their 27-year history (same age as the WNBA), I cried. Waterworks. More than I cried for Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks in ’11. More than I cried for Mike Modano and the Stars in ’99. I think a lot of this had to do with the fact that I was witnessing this victory live.
But I also think that the WNBA (or at least the NY Liberty) showed me a different side of the sports fan experience. The NFL, NBA, NHL, etc all have great fans, true lovers of their teams who aren’t here to fight or argue or belittle anyone else. But the Liberty experience was… idk quite how to explain it… It wasn’t gentler than men’s pro sports, but it felt less vitriolic.
There’s sniping on social media amongst fanbases, to be sure, but the main focus in the arena each night was Our Team. “We All We Got / We All We Need” came the chants late in Game 5, and I felt a togetherness beyond just love of our team. I felt a connection to my city and my neighbors. I felt welcome and wanted. And I think that’s the general vibe of the Liberty (and I’m presuming the rest of the WNBA teams as well).
I don’t want to be New York guy telling you how great New York is (it is, of course, but that’s me speaking on a personal level; everyone should have their own opinion). But in nearly 50 years of only really following men’s team sports, I’m so baffled (and thrilled) by the completely new deluge of feelings I got from this WNBA team.
Perhaps it’s seeing them so much in person. Perhaps it’s the welcoming vibe the team cultivates. Perhaps it’s just that the Liberty were really really good. But my guess is that the Liberty just have the greatest mascot in all of sports.
Jeffrey Cranor
October 28, 2024
Comments
Grenah
I used to watch the occasional women's basketball before but due to other circumstances I started to follow them. Women's basketball does not engage in some of the stupid showman stuff that the men do. They are not hanging on the baskets and things like that. They also play defense. It is a much more enjoyable, purer game. They also faired better than most, if not all, of the men's teams, including other sports.
Hunter Hayes
You and John Green are really gonna be the ones to finally get me into sports, huh? 🏆
Welcome to Night Vale
lol. i never thought i'd get clap-back from a sabres fan on the night vale patreon, and i have to tell you it feels great. (for the record: i was so excited we won the stanley cup, but that really was a shitty ending to an incredible finals for buffalo and non-dallas-affiliated fans of the sport) -jc
Kate S
This was a lovely essay however I must take exception to your assertions about the 1999 Dallas Stars. They were handed that cup. #nogoal
Meredith Tarr
Mohegan Sun has the whole casino thing going on, which is either a plus or minus depending on your viewpoint. :} But hey, free parking & lots of pre/post game food options!!
Welcome to Night Vale
thank you! i really want to make it up to CT for a Sun game. i'm so curious about other arena experiences
Kristen Allen-Vogel
I've been an Indiana Fever fan for the last five years but up until this year, that hasn't been very useful in the playoffs, so I consider the Liberty my emergency backup team. Excited that they won and happy to learn you're a fan.
Meredith Tarr
I've been a Connecticut Sun fan since they started, but I was happy to see the Liberty finally win. (Maybe that's a good omen for the Sun next year. :) They definitely have the best fan base in the league. Sun games are fun too, but the experience is never *that* electric. I'm glad you got to be there for Game 5!
Welcome to Night Vale
right??? -jc
Welcome to Night Vale
oooh i just might do that! -jc
Allyson Salisbury
Come across the river (two rivers technically) to come watch lady hockey at the Prudential center this winter with the NY Sirens! The games are also a lot of fun
Jamie V
Wow, that is an amazing mascot 😁
Journey Brown-Saintel
New York IS great (and so are women’s sports teams! 🏀🏈⚾️⚽️)
