Sophie Cunningham was waiting for Colin Cowherd to describe her in a very specific way. Where he ended up going was certainly a choice.<\/p>\n
Cunningham appeared on\u00a0The Colin Cowherd Podcast to discuss, in part, the rebranding of her podcast from Show Me Something to No Hesitation, which also includes a co-host swap. Cunningham scoffed at the notion<\/a> that the change was related to her comments about transgender athletes<\/a>, something former co-host West Wilson publicly disagreed with her about<\/a>.<\/p>\n In that conversation, Cowherd had a different line of thought for the WNBA player, who has become a lightning rod since those comments and who some have used to turn the women\u2019s basketball league into a narrative factory. At one point, he started lining up a question for Cunningham, though it wasn\u2019t the one she might have been expecting.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are kind of viewed as the leagues\u2026ummm\u201d @colincowherd<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cJust say it\u201d @sophaller<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSex symbol\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat is way better, I thought you were gonna go somewhere completely different\u201d pic.twitter.com\/4AknRkHWR2<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) September 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cYou are kind of viewed a little bit as the league\u2019s\u2026ummm,\u201d Cowherd said, looking for the right words.<\/p>\n \u201cJust say it,\u201d Cunningham interrupted. \u201cI don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSex symbol,\u201d he responded. \u201cIs that fair?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat is way better,\u201d said Cunningham. \u201cI thought you were gonna go somewhere completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re tough. You\u2019ll fight anybody. You\u2019ll taunt anybody. But you\u2019ll make sure coming into the arena, \u2018I look good, and I want you to know I look good.’\u201d<\/p>\n More than a few people wished 62-year-old Colin Cowherd had pumped the brakes a little on this one, especially since Cunningham\u2019s podcast is part of his network, which made it even cringier.<\/p>\n All of which is fine, except that the conversation feels strange and out-of-touch when you realize Cowherd could have been describing so many other WNBA players that way<\/a>.<\/p>\n Strong, tough women\u2019s basketball players have worn stylish, striking fashion<\/a> before games for years<\/a>, with many of them doubling as models.<\/p>\n A\u2019ja Wilson, Skylar Diggins-Smith, DiJonai Carrington, Angel Reese, Rickea Jackson, and Cameron Brink, just to name a few, have all become well-known for how tough they are on the court and how fashionable they are off it<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cunningham leaned into Cowherd\u2019s assessment, saying, \u201cFor some reason, our society, if you play basketball, you can\u2019t dress that way, or you can\u2019t be girly. No one\u2019s ever said it, but it\u2019s like, they kind of feel that you can\u2019t be both. Screw all that. Yes, you can. You can be girly, and you can go out and kick someone\u2019s ass.\u201d<\/p>\n Again, that\u2019s a good sentiment, but it\u2019s not as though WNBA players haven\u2019t been pushing back against that stigma for years<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before Cowherd referred to Cunningham as a sex symbol, she presumed that he was going to call her something else. And one is left to wonder whether that presumption<\/a> correlates with why the blonde-haired role player is being presented here as the WNBA\u2019s superiorly attractive player.<\/p>\n \t