HBag retweeted
🚨 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF AMERICA, THE MOMENT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!
The @WNBA has officially responded!
IS THE #WNBA TRANSPHOBIC?
Apparently, the WNBA still can’t define what a WOMAN is, but they’re absolutely certain they know what a MAN is!
How convenient!
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has declared that I am a man.
Who gave her the authority to decide who I am?
Who gets to define my identity?
And how can the WNBA determine who is a man without explaining what qualifies someone as a woman?
Is the WNBA denying people the right to define their own gender identity?
You can’t have it both ways!
America, read this letter for yourselves.
THE WNBA HAS SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!
HBag retweeted
The sad truth is that we will likely never see aggravated statutory rape charges filed by the Norfolk County DA's office against Mathew Farwell. As federal prosecutors question investigators assigned to DA Michael Morrissey's office, the public is learning the shocking extent of the evidence overlooked and the investigative steps never taken in Sandra Birchmore's death.
Yet equally indefensible was the decision not to prosecute Matthew Farwell for statutory rape. Prosecutors publicly, (and unbelievably) justified that decision by publicly claiming the case would be “difficult to prove because the main witness, Birchmore, was dead.”
Think about the enormity of that statement. Dead victims cannot testify in murder trials either. Their deaths do not absolve prosecutors of their responsibility to pursue justice.
Sandra's death should have intensified the search for corroborating evidence, including Farwell's own admissions in text messages, not become the convenient justification for failing to prosecute.
When Michael Morrissey leaves office, his legacy will be forever stained by the death of Sandra Birchmore.
That is the legacy Morrissey will leave behind: an office that failed to protect a sexually exploited child, failed to deliver justice after her death, and failed to hold accountable the very men who had sworn to uphold the law.
Sandra Birchmore deserved justice. Instead, she became the face of an institution that failed her in life and in death.
HBag retweeted
I guess I don't understand why every single reporter in Massachusetts isn't lined up at @maura_healey's office every single hour of every single day until she answers for her corrupt @MassStatePolice. Every passing day in the Farwell trial makes their behavior more vile.
HBag retweeted
Dear Honorable Judge Gildea,
Karen Read fought for her freedom (twice) against a corrupt government.
It took THREE plus years but she WON.
After she was found innocent, she immediately sued them to hold them accountable for what THEY did to HER.
Their response: sorry…you waited too long, the statute expired during your criminal trial(s).
FYI- this woman needs to be made whole again (if that’s even possible).
People need to be held accountable so we can regain trust in our system.
Sincerely,
The Citizens of Massachusetts
HBag retweeted
🚨 THE A’JA WILSON WHISTLE NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED!
369 career games including playoffs. A physical center who blocks shots, battles in the paint, and sets screens somehow averages fewer than 1.3 fouls per regular-season game?
And she’s had EIGHT playoff games with ZERO fouls?!!!!
Are we watching flawless defense, or are the referees giving A’ja Wilson a different rulebook?
STOP PRETENDING SHE NEVER FOULS! 🤡
#WNBA #AjaWilson
HBag retweeted
FINAL THOUGHTS ON THIS PAST WEEK:
I've been a Hawkeye fan for more than 40 years, and I'm sitting in my garage close to midnight on Saturday with a drink, watching Caitlin Clark highlights on YouTube and feeling proud as hell.
Which is kind of strange when you think about it.
Caitlin and the Fever were eliminated from the playoffs this week.
Iowa just got rolled by Ohio State.
Normally, that sounds like a pretty miserable few days to be an Iowa fan.
But somehow, it doesn't feel that way.
College GameDay came back to Iowa City.
Nike turned Caitlin's shoe launch into an event on the Pentacrest, building a temporary basketball court right next to the GameDay stage.
Caitlin came home and was the guest picker.
She picked Iowa, of course. 😅
And then came the Wave.
After the first quarter, 70,000 people inside Kinnick turned toward the children's hospital.
The cameras went up to the windows, where the kids and their families were waving down at the stadium.
And standing up there with them, waving back at Kinnick, was Caitlin Clark.
Maybe the most famous athlete the University of Iowa has ever produced.
One of the most recognizable athletes in the world.
And somehow, in that moment, she wasn't a global superstar making an appearance.
She was a Hawkeye who came home.
One of ours.
That's what I've been thinking about tonight.
At Iowa, we're probably never going to measure our fandom by a trophy case full of national championships.
That doesn't mean winning doesn't matter.
Of course it fucking matters. 😂
I wanted the Fever to keep playing.
I wanted Iowa to beat the hell out of Ohio State.
Losses hurt. Bad seasons piss us off. We bitch about coaches, officials, play calling, recruiting and everything else sports fans bitch about.
But the older I get, the more I realize that being a Hawkeye has never really been dependent on any of those things.
It's deeper than wins and losses.
I've never been part of another collegiate fan base, so maybe others feel the same way about theirs.
But Hawkeye fandom has always felt like a family to me.
In Iowa City, it's everywhere. You can feel it walking down the street.
But I live in Minnesota.
And I can't tell you how many times I've been walking through a store wearing an Iowa shirt and heard some complete stranger yell:
"LET'S GO HAWKS!"
And immediately, you know.
You're one of us.
A 6'4"-6'5" kid commits to Iowa women's basketball, someone I've never met and probably never will, and my first thought isn't just, "Great pickup."
It's:
WELCOME TO THE FAMILY.
That's what being a Hawkeye feels like.
Players come and go.
Coaches come and go.
Seasons come and go.
There are incredible wins we'll talk about for the rest of our lives, and absolutely brutal losses we'd prefer to erase from our memories.
But the Tigerhawk remains.
The people remain.
The family remains.
Wins are something Hawkeyes celebrate together.
Losses are something Hawkeyes suffer together.
But being a Hawkeye?
That doesn't change.
So yeah.
The Fever lost.
The Hawks got rolled.
And somehow I'm sitting here tonight feeling more proud than ever to say:
I'm an Iowa Hawkeye.
Always have been.
Always will be.
💛🖤
GO HAWKS. – at Byron, MN
HBag retweeted
Favorite Duo: Sophie & Caitlin ❤️🔥🏀
The chemistry, the energy, the loyalty… this duo is something special. 🔥
HBag retweeted
The racial hatred against white fans by some of these players is intense
People need to stop sugar coating this hate on display
HBag retweeted
Stephen Jackson explains how the WNBA announcers don’t hold the players accountable:
“How come the women announcers not holding these WNBA players accountable when they do something?…Yall want to be treated like NBA players but yall don’t want to be accountable”
HBag retweeted
Now that I am back home and have had time to reflect, I can easily say that watching Caitlin Clark play basketball at Gainbridge is a spiritual experience
She really is the most entertaining player in this league without a doubt.
Welcome to the Jungle fever fans
HBag retweeted
Justice for Gainbridge and Indiana. I’m not going to sit by and let outsiders who don’t like fans being fans spew BS narratives about the fans and city. This is my video from the game. Context matters. CC just shot a three over A’ja. The Aces were losing. The fans were lit.
HBag retweeted
Apparently the @WNBA is trying to take down all instances of this video. People are getting their accounts suspended. This is from a fan at the game, so there is nothing they can do.
@_ajawilson22 A'ja Wilson attacking a fan over him pointing and saying that is on you.
HBag retweeted
Can we please have this woman run for anything so that we can elect her and ultimately make her POTUS?
HBag retweeted
🚨 HEY, FEVER FANS... IT'S TIME TO GROW UP. 🚨
For everyone who spent the entire season telling Sports Patriot to stop being negative, stop questioning everything, stop feeding the delusional part of the fanbase, and just KEEP IT ABOUT BASKETBALL...
How's that reality looking this morning?
I genuinely appreciate the excitement surrounding Caitlin Clark's new shoes, cereal drops, podcasts, merchandise, social media content, and all the other things that make being an Indiana Fever fan fun.
I enjoy them, too.
But somewhere along the way, a significant portion of this fanbase became so consumed with celebrating everything surrounding Caitlin Clark that they stopped paying attention to what was actually happening TO Caitlin Clark.
And anyone who dared to question it was labeled toxic, negative, obsessed, or a conspiracy theorist.
We were told the WNBA was changing. Everything was getting better. The coaching staff knew what it was doing. The organization had everything under control.
Just be patient. Trust the process. Stop creating problems.
BULLSHIT.
For months, we've been questioning Stephanie White's coaching decisions, the qualifications of her staff, Caitlin Clark's injury management, the salary cap, roster construction, defensive schemes, inconsistent rotations, player treatment, officiating, media access, and the increasingly bizarre award narratives surrounding this team.
And what did we hear?
KEEP IT ABOUT BASKETBALL!
Well, here's some basketball for you.
Tuesday, the Indiana Fever nearly surrendered a 29-point lead to Minnesota's RESERVES.
Thursday, Minnesota embarrassed Indiana 86-66, after leading 62-32 AT HALFTIME.
The same offensive movement we watched disappear on Tuesday was virtually nonexistent Thursday. The defensive confusion continued. The rotations remained difficult to understand. And now Indiana enters the playoffs facing additional injury concerns.
Caitlin Clark had a terrible shooting night. She deserves accountability for her performance, just like every other player.
But one bad game from Caitlin doesn't magically absolve the people responsible for preparing, managing, and developing this team.
And it certainly doesn't erase the questions we've been asking all season.
Remember when we questioned the bizarre implementation of Caitlin Clark's minutes restrictions?
Remember when we questioned why Makayla Timpson could dominate stretches of basketball and then disappear from the offense?
Remember when we questioned Sophie's inconsistent playing time and the impact of fragmented rotations on her shooting rhythm?
Then Sophie Cunningham and Drew Hanlen sat down on their podcast and discussed those very issues. The ball movement. The inconsistent defensive help. The difficulty of finding rhythm during choppy minutes. The importance of preserving combinations that are actually working.
We weren't imagining those basketball problems.
And those were only the problems ON THE COURT.
What about the repeated public confrontations involving Briann January and Caitlin Clark?
What about the front-office decisions, salary-cap commitments, and roster construction?
What about injury transparency and the controversy surrounding the revocation of a veteran Fever reporter's credentials?
What about the officiating, player protection, and the league's response to dangerous contact?
What about the journalists entrusted with deciding individual awards while presenting incomplete analyses of Caitlin Clark's offensive production?
What about the financial interests, media access, and organizational relationships that deserve examination in any serious professional sports league?
Those questions existed long before Thursday's loss.
And the fact that some of you didn't want to hear them doesn't make them conspiracy theories.
Here's something that apparently needs to be explained to the people who have spent the entire season telling everyone else how to be a fan.
THE GAME DOESN'T EXIST IN A VACUUM.
The basketball you watch is the product of the people making decisions behind the scenes.
Coaching appointments affect the basketball.
Salary-cap decisions affect the basketball.
Roster construction affects the basketball.
Injury management affects the basketball.
Player development, organizational culture, leadership, communication, and accountability ALL affect the basketball.
You cannot intelligently evaluate the product on the floor while insisting that everything responsible for producing that product is off-limits for discussion.
And you damn sure cannot spend an entire season dismissing those questions, then act surprised when the same problems are still staring you in the face on the eve of the playoffs.
Now, for those who keep insisting everything is improving and that change takes time...
WE KNOW.
Nobody expected every problem to disappear overnight.
But progress requires identifying the problems, understanding their causes, and holding the people responsible accountable.
Blindly defending every decision because you love the team is not loyalty. It's an abandonment of accountability.
And questioning those decisions is not an attack on Caitlin Clark, the Indiana Fever, or women's basketball.
Some of us have spent decades playing, coaching, studying, and teaching this game. We recognize the difference between a bad shooting night and a structural problem. We understand the difference between an individual defensive mistake and five players operating without dependable coverage rules.
We also understand that one loss doesn't establish anyone's motives or prove some elaborate conspiracy.
But repeated, observable problems deserve investigation, regardless of how uncomfortable those questions make the people running the organization or the fans who would rather pretend everything is wonderful.
So to everyone who spent months telling us to stop feeding the delusional fanbase and start speaking to reality...
HERE'S YOUR FREAKING REALITY.
The Fever have a generational talent, a roster capable of extraordinary offensive production, and a franchise experiencing unprecedented attention.
And we're entering the postseason STILL discussing many of the same coaching, personnel, defensive, and organizational problems we identified months ago.
You can keep celebrating the merchandise. Keep enjoying the podcasts. Keep posting the highlight reels.
I will, too.
But perhaps it's time to stop attacking the people asking difficult questions and start directing some of that energy toward the people responsible for answering them.
You wanted us to keep it about basketball?
WE HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THE BASKETBALL ALL YEAR.
You just didn't want to discuss what was happening behind the scenes to produce it.
And now that the problems are becoming impossible to ignore, perhaps it's time for some of you to take your own advice.
STOP FEEDING THE DELUSION.
START SPEAKING TO REALITY.
GROW THE HELL UP.
