WNBA -- A'JA WILSON THE WNBA OFFICIALS & BLACK PRIVILEGE

The Owl has now seen a more definitive video and admits mistakes in last night's post.  A'ja Wilson's conduct was much worse, her statements more outlandish, the WNBA's inaction more obviously dishonest and black privilege in live action.  That's a bushel full, so let's break it down by elements.

The incident regarding Wilson's conduct is governed by a specific rule, and this is the rule:

J. PLAYER CONDUCT—SPECTATORS Any coach, player, or trainer who deliberately enters the spectator stands during the game will be automatically ejected and the incident reported via e-mail to the Commissioner. Entering the stands to keep a ball in play by a player or the momentum which carries the player into the stands is not considered deliberate. The first row of seats is considered the beginning of the stands.

COMMENTS ON THE RULES, Section II, Basic Principles, (J), Player Conduct-Spectators p. 76.  II (J) is a basic principle of the WNBA rules.  A similar provision exists in every other professional team sport.  The Owl did not look at individual sports but, just guessing here, the PGA, the WTA and other individual professional athletic associations do not allow players to enter the stands and confront, intimidate or physically attack fans.

The following video is much more fulsome than the first cuts last night:

The first 32 seconds show the fan and Wilson's hysterical, abusive and dangerous reaction.  Then, listen carefully to Wilson's words in the rest of the video.  The Owl was spot on about Wilson's shifting, disingenuous explanation.  Now, the entire world can see (1) then man was not approaching the court, he merely stood up to the side of his chair; (2) the man did nothing but point his finger at Wilson, who pointed her finger back at him, and waives her finger point and finger wagging throughout her post-game interview; (3) the man was returning to his seat and in the sitting motion when Wilson left the court; (4) Wilson clearly moves past the first row of seats; and (5) Wilson is waving her arms in a offensive and uncontrolled manner.

Wilson's conduct is clearly a violation of the Basic Principles of the WNBA rules.  Wilson was not ejected, merely assessed a technical foul.  The WNBA has already shown that its officials will reward Wilson's violent and dirty play, like grabbing and throwing Sophie Cunningham as shown in the video. 

Indeed, the officiating last night followed the preposterous WNBA approved officiating in Game 1 of the Fever/Aces series.  Wilson did essentially the same thing to Lexie Hull in Game 1.  After Wilson was allowed to return to Game 2, the officials assessed Caitlin Clark her disqualifying sixth foul after Wilson wound up and elbow Clark directly in the face with sufficient force to knock Clark to the ground.  The following video of Game 1 shows the preposterous nature of the WNBA's approval of plainly dishonest officiating. 

  

One should recall Natasha Cloud twice left the court in two obscenity laced diatribes against Ennis Turk Freedom.  The WNBA ignored its own "Basic Principle" The failure to eject Wilson can only be remedied by a suspension and a very large fine.  Everyone knows that there will be no suspension and no fine.

The final subject is Black Privilege.  The readers should also recall A'ja Wilson's bizarre statement at the Met Gala that Wilson was attending as an "unapologetic black woman."  The Owl finds that comment bizarre because mere existence by a black woman, or women, is never offensive.  "Black woman" is a description, nothing more.  No person needs to apologize for merely existing in the body in which they were born and the Owl knows of no person that believes any person, except perhaps murderers, need to apologize for existing.  Of course, murder is an action not merely a state of existence.

Wilson's meaning is not subtle.  Wilson is merely reiterating the WOKE concept of black privilege.  The idea, like all WOKE ideas, is grounded in the principle that individual action is irrelevant, group identity determines rights and right vs. wrong.  Wilson demonstrated her belief that she is entitled to retaliate in a disproportionate manner to anything she determines is disrespectful.  The fan did not approach Wilson, she approached the fan.  The fan did not say anything beyond typical fan speech, as Wilson admitted.  Pointing at the person a fan thinks is actually guilty of an infraction is hardly offensive and certainly not justification for a professional athlete to violate a rule they probably learned in 7th grade, you cannot leave the court and confront the fans.

Wilson did not apologize for her behavior.  Wilson showed outrage at what we now know was nothing unusual-especially since Wilson's unhinged rage displayed an abundance of her finger pointing during and after the game.  The more serious problem is promoting this entitlement to excuse objectively bad behavior because of some perceived minor slight and a historical grievance.  This leads to Karmelo Anthony mentality and the morons that seek to excuse his murder.  Karmelo Anthony went into a group where he knew he was not invited and would not be welcome, a competing school's rally area.  Unsurprisingly Anthony was told to get out and probably in disrespectful terms.  Anthony then stabbed another teenager in retaliation.  Anthony has supporters, which seems insane-especially after learning that Anthony was actually a psychopath that wrote of his desire to stab someone and lick their blood days before the stabbing.  The same principle that justifies Wilson and Cloud's bad conduct justifies Karmelo Anthony's murderous actions.  Failure to punish Wilson and Cloud is just the latest example of a league that sends all the wrong messages to young people but particularly to young black people everywhere.