BARACK OBAMA IS MY CHOICE TO REPLACE AN ATROCIOUS ENGELBERT AS WNBA BOSS
Credit Napheesa Collier for becoming the first pro athlete — maybe ever — to attack a sitting commissioner, and maybe Adam Silver and a deeply troubled league will search for a former U.S. President
As I wrote many months ago, Barack Obama likes basketball and has nothing else to do but avoid Michelle’s wrath. I would consider making him the WNBA commissioner before a sorry, disgraceful league falls apart. When I watch games, I either see coaches attacking referees, Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham toying with each other, or players capable of whacking or crippling each other.
Oh, and they might vanish in a labor impasse.
Who is running the Women’s National Basketball Association, anyway? Her name is Cathy Engelbert, who came from Deloitte, where she was the first female CEO for five years. She was hired by NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who took a long three-pointer and missed the rim badly. A new boss is needed.
Today.
Yesterday.
If the women have any chance of building the momentum of Caitlin Clark, who continues to be hated by many jealous and stupid players, hire Obama to save the league. The WNBA was intended to be the Next Great Colossus in sports, but it’s uglier than the roller derby. We will thank Napheesa Collier, of the Minnesota Lynx, for becoming the first athlete to call for a commissioner’s head in my sportswriting days. That happened Tuesday, when she said Engelbert — in a private chat — indicated Clark and other younger players “should be on their knees” and grateful for the ongoing infrastructure.
To be clear, Clark is the one who immediately should go on strike. She has been abused by opponents, many of whom are Black, and doesn’t need this nonsense when she returns next season from a groin sprain. For starters, dump Engelbert.
“Our leadership’s answer to being held accountable is to suppress everyone’s voices by handing out fines,” Collier said. “I’m not concerned about a fine, I’m concerned about the future of our sport. At some point, everyone deserves to hear the truth from someone who I hope has earned the benefit of the doubt to fight for what is right and fair for our athletes and our fans.
“We have the best players in the world. We have the best fans in the world, but right now we have the worst leadership in the world. If I didn’t know exactly what the job entailed, maybe I wouldn’t feel this way, but unfortunately for them, I do. We serve a league that has shown they think championship coaches and Hall of Fame players are dispensable and that’s fine. It’s professional sports, but I will not stand quietly by and allow different standards to be applied at the league level.”
One report indicated Engelbert will resign. Not true, she said. Once again, she put out a statement indicating she’s headed nowhere. The horrendous officiating problems, Collier said, are purposely created by the league. “Self-sabotage,” she said after colliding with Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas and missing a game in which the Lynx were eliminated. No wonder coach Cheryl Reeve needed to be hauled down as she was ejected.
“My focus remains on ensuring a bright future for the players and the WNBA, including collaborating on how we continue to elevate the game,” Engelbert said Tuesday night in a statement. “I am disheartened by how Napheesa characterized our conversations and league leadership, but even when our perspectives differ, my commitment to the players and to this work will not waver.”
The commissioner should read on. “This past February, I sat across from (Engelbert) and asked how she planned to address the officiating issues in our league,” Collier said. “Her response was, ‘Well, only the losers complain about the refs.’ I also asked how she planned to fix the fact that players like (Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers), who are clearly driving massive revenue for the league and are making so little for their first four years. Her response was, ‘(Clark) should be grateful. She makes $16 million off the court because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything.’ And in that same conversation, she told me, ‘Players should be on their knees, thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them.’ ’’
Unless Collier is lying, Silver should fire Engelbert.
Call Obama. He loves Clark. He loves the game. He loves women.
But to watch what remains of the league wastes our time.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.