{"id":12870,"date":"2025-07-21T12:07:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T12:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/12870\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T12:07:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T12:07:06","slug":"wnba-all-star-weekend-is-what-it-looks-like-when-a-sports-league-is-unapologetically-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/12870\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA All-Star Weekend Is What It Looks Like When a Sports League is Unapologetically Itself"},"content":{"rendered":"

To be a sports fan<\/a> in 2025 is to be increasingly reminded of what used to be. So many things that were once institutions in their respective sports\u2014the battering ram fullback in football, the baseball pitcher who regularly throws complete games<\/a>, etc.\u2014have either gone extinct or are at the stage of life where it\u2019s time to get their affairs in order.<\/p>\n

Beyond the games themselves, there\u2019s the fact that athletes with outward, gregarious personalities have all but vanished. Look back to the \u201980s and you\u2019ll find rip-roaring MLB players doing blow<\/a> and fighting cops<\/a>, global soccer icon Diego Maradona doing even more blow<\/a>, and the explosion of professional wrestling, a sport that\u2019s not technically a sport but was completely personality-driven. The \u201990s brought Michael Jordan and his cult of personality, Charles Barkley\u2019s savagery\u2014imagine how horrific and exhausting the discourse would be today if an NBA superstar threw an unruly fan through a plate glass window<\/a>\u2014and wild-boy figures like Michael Irvin, Eric Cantona, and John Daly. In the 2000s, hip-hop culture bled into the sports world, with Allen Iverson and Michael Vick as vanguards of the shift. But then things got \u2026 much tamer.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to blame social media for that\u2014every athlete with even a dollop of fame knows they could be posted every time they step outside\u2014but there\u2019s also a sports-wide flattening of individuality. This is why, when Anthony Edwards responds to virtually every question of his online fan Q&A<\/a> with an unapologetic \u201cHell nawl,\u201d a chorus of people clamor for him to be the face of the NBA. Sports needs this kind of attitude, the argument goes\u2014but most of the athletes today are too guarded, too protective of their brand, or simply too boring to make it happen.<\/p>\n

Unless they\u2019re attending the WNBA All-Star festivities.<\/p>\n

TikTok content<\/p>\n

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All weekend in Indianapolis\u2014a city that, let\u2019s be honest, is not on many people\u2019s travel list\u2014personality, elation, and self-expression oozed out of every corner. From the literal (massive Gatorade ads all over downtown showing WNBA players of past and present, splashed with text reading \u201cLet her cook\u201d) to the figurative (the impossible-to-replicate feeling that takes over a city whenever a capital-E event is in town), every inch of Indianapolis was dominated by the women\u2019s basketball-palooza. But inside of all the merriment, from the league-sanctioned orange carpet and other media availabilities to the after-hours parties that punctuated every night, an unrehearsed joy jumped out. WNBA players know that, by virtue of being a professional athlete in 2025, they are a brand. But crucially, they know that their brand can also be fun.<\/p>\n

Unlike many of their modern contemporaries, WNBA players are not shy about letting loose. Let\u2019s begin with the unquestioned winner of the weekend: Minnesota Lynx point guard Courtney Williams. The 31-year-old two-time All-Star and co-host of the Twitch show StudBudz with her Minnesota running mate Natisha Hiedeman was living her best life and then some. On Friday morning, sitting at a table in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, I approached Williams and asked how she was feeling. \u201cShitty,\u201d she responded. \u201cOh my goodness, bro. I did too much last night. But we had a ball!\u201d<\/p>\n