{"id":183940,"date":"2025-10-02T01:49:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T01:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/183940\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T01:49:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T01:49:07","slug":"monica-mcnutts-reactions-to-chris-russos-wnba-takes-are-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/183940\/","title":{"rendered":"Monica McNutt&#8217;s reactions to Chris Russo&#8217;s WNBA takes are gold"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Monica McNutt\u2019s facial expressions said more about listening to Christopher \u201cMad Dog\u201d Russo\u2019s WNBA takes than words ever could have.<\/p>\n<p>In the wake of WNBA star Napheesa Collier <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/wnba\/napheesa-collier-worst-leadership.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">publicly criticizing<\/a> commissioner Cathy Engelbert\u2019s leadership and league officials, Stephen A. Smith began Wednesday\u2019s First Take by <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/wnba\/stephen-a-smith-cathy-engelbert-resign.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">calling for the oft-criticized commissioner to resign<\/a>. Joining the conversation was McNutt, who covers the NBA and WNBA intently. But first, it was Russo\u2019s turn.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Come for Dog\u2019s WNBA takes after admitting \u201cI don\u2019t follow this this carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stay for Monica McNutt\u2019s facial expressions <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/l0DPJmvfnF\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/l0DPJmvfnF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/awfulannouncing\/status\/1973447527782666370?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">October 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t follow this this carefully, but I watched it today,\u201d Russo began.<\/p>\n<p>Despite not following this this carefully, Russo proceeded to defend the WNBA\u2019s officiating and blame all of the criticism directed at Engelbert on CBA negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>However, if you watch the clip, good luck absorbing anything other than McNutt\u2019s genuine reactions to everything Dog was arguing. Hands on her chin, hands on her face, hands covering her eyes, eyes widened, jaw dropped, McNutt gave a master class in the five stages of listening to Dog rant about the WNBA.<\/p>\n<p>Credit Russo for being honest before embarking on a rant that attempted to prove all commissioners are hated during CBA negotiations. But the WNBA is at a pivotal moment in its young history right now. With popularity skyrocketing and a commissioner who seemingly fails to recognize the value of the league\u2019s players, the WNBA is at a crossroads when it should be embracing growth. And WNBA fans tuning to the Worldwide Leader in Sports got to hear someone who doesn\u2019t follow the league rant about the state of the league.<\/p>\n<p>This is sports entertainment at its core. You don\u2019t need to be knowledgeable in what you\u2019re talking about; just be entertaining. Of course, that can put those who actually cover the sport, such as analysts or journalists, in a tough spot when they\u2019re trying to have informed conversations and provide real insight.<\/p>\n<p>ESPN did, however, get one thing right with this debate. They kept McNutt on the screen even when she wasn\u2019t talking.<\/p>\n<p>\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monica McNutt\u2019s facial expressions said more about listening to Christopher \u201cMad Dog\u201d Russo\u2019s WNBA takes than words ever&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,92664,92665,82,35518,630],"class_list":["post-183940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chris-russo","tag-monica-mcnutt","tag-sports","tag-stephen-a-smith","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}