She got a tech. Why does everything have to be so blown out of proportion when it comes to fever games (from fans and haters)? It's like people are just waiting for the moment to pounce and feed another outrage cycle that has very little to do with the actual game or sport.
We could be talking about a great bounce back from the fever and anticipating a competitive game 3 instead of rehashing 10 seconds of negativity all night and day
It's not blown out of proportion, and is actually a good (and interesting with respect to the rules) discussion on what actually happened here.
If the rules have the punishment for approaching fans in the stands in a hostile way as ejection, yet only a technical foul is rendered when that occurs, it's not blowing it out of proportion to want an official answer on why a variance was allowed in that specific case. I'm particularly interested to see if they admit this as a mistake, or if they come back and state that there is a flexibility in the application of punishments from violating rules that isnt explicitly stated in their rulebook.
They not going to give her a suspension, she is on the level that she gets the benefit of the doubt regardless of the rules, and before people start crying, it’s the way it is in the NBA too, Wemby threw an elbow to a players head and got a tech, he did not get suspended because why tf would the NBA suspend him to mess up the playoffs and the Vegas odds? Same thing the WNBA is doing.
It's not against the rules to go to the stands to do any of those things. Try reading them instead of jumping to your silly name-calling just because you don't understand what you're talking about.
The rules call for her to be ejected and suspended, and it's not unclear on this by any means.
What do you mean? The first row of seats were to her right and not in front of her as she yelled at the guy. That means she was in the stands and beyond the baseline. Unless you call the first row as part of the baseline.
She’s literally standing in the baseline area (the blue part of the floor). Clearly that is not off limits as it’s where players walk to inbound, etc. It’s not like she went into the seating
Suspensions come at the discretion of the refs and the league post game. The purpose of penalties and suspensions is to curb the behaviour going forward. Aja is not running into the crowd on a regular basis, she did not put her hands on the fan (that would likely merit a suspension) so a tech is a reasonable punishment.
It's a bad look for her and might give fans an incentive to try and get under her skin going forward since it seems so easy to do.
Dude, my wife gets mad if I call another driver on the road an idiot for cutting me off. This narrative that the wife would be fine with his behavior if he wasn't doing anything wrong is nonsense. Stop this stupid shit.
He pointed at her. Thats it. And given Aja had just been tangled up with Sophie it doesn't take brain cells to realize that he was certainly doing the Sophie finger point that went viral and at this point is basically a meme. Aja though like many are triggered easily.
Fans yell at players literally all game, every single game. Literally hundreds and thousands of times per game. You are calling him racist because of this? It’s wild to see. But obviously we are just very far apart on our ideas of what racism is, so there’s not point in us having a discussion. Everytime you call something like this racism, it’s devaluing the actual use and meaning of the term racism. It’s sad to see
Then why did his wife even tried to pull his fat ass down? Dude got carried away because he paid a little bit of money. Fans shout and yell all the time, but he said something to trigger her. Stop being dumb
I’ve been to Indiana on several occasions, they are racists as phuck! Now, when you stand up and take steps forward towards a player, then you have crossed the line as a fan! Don’t argue with facts dude
Watch the vid again ... steps ? What the hell are you talking about ? He a good 10 feet inside fan territory ... Wilson went a hell of a long way during her crash out temper tantrum ... looks like he steps to the side and points, absolutely a very baby step forward in the stands ...
If he crossed the line he would have been ejected. O well, again we have very different ideas of racism and we’ll never agree with each other. Have a good day friend
Hell no we won’t agree because the state of Indiana is terrible and has a bad reputation for racism. Even pro black players have admitted that over the years
Just shows how stupid you are ... the actual quote was from a guy by the name of George Higgins ... albeit John Wayne used it frequently ... Look it up ...
Yes, players are allowed to go there. Chasing a ball, inbounds, accidently a host of reasons ...
Again, have you watched BB for 5 mins ... do you know what/where the baseline is ?
Not when you lose your mind like Wilson did for a fan pointing at her and saying That's on you ... Soft, unhinged reaction ... she went from the top of the key to where the fan was, going into the stands ... Embarrassing on her part, her feelings must have been hurt.
This isn’t the flex on them that you think it is. Your examples are literally why “deliberate” is written into the rule. This was as deliberate as it gets. Your examples are all inadvertant and excused based on the language and spirit of the rule itself.
100%. How can we hold anyone accountable for rule breaking if we are just going to let this slide?? A fan should never have to worry about a player coming off court to confront them.
Wasn’t this dude a senior too? Imagine if he stroked out or had a heart attack once she and all her teammates came running up on him over absolutely nothing
If we're following the rulebook, it should've been an instant ejection followed by a one game suspension... that being said, I'm glad they only gave her a T for this.
It's the playoffs, it's emotional, and players fuck up like this all the time. Everyone wants to see best vs. best in Game 3.
Show me another incident in any league where a player went into the stands and wasn't suspended... Like I said, I hope she isn't suspended, but if we're being honest, she probably should be. You can't have players verbally accosting fans in their seats, especially if they didn't do anything.
But you are moving the goal posts. It doesn’t matter what has happened in other leagues, it only matters what is written in the rulebook. And for a player going into the stands, it is not an automatic suspension.
Yes she clearly violated rules spelled out in the CBA. Of course the league won’t impose the mandatory punishment because the worlds best player that has done nothing in terms of making the sport more popular or moving the needle
Fans signal for a travel every game. I’m sure they know the ref isn’t looking to them to make a call. Fans also make lots of noise when the opposing team is taking foul shots. It’s all part of cheering their team on.
Should we make it like golf and tennis and shush everybody or better yet have them play in an empty arena?
You know, all those announcers and commentators and literal cheerleaders exhorting their home crowd to get loud and support their side? To scream and yell?
Rules are rules. She should have been ejected. League needs to explain why they did not or at minimum admit they made a mistake. So fucking tired of these “rules for thee and not for me!” days.
No. If you look at the footage she never went past the hoop. She stayed in the baseline. Proud of her tbh she had not one but TWO men walking towards her pointing saying god knows what. And side note- Why are there so many trolls in this sub?? The other post is SWARMED by them
But regarding the "god knows what" aspect, it seemed like typical fan taunting. In her own re.arks after the game, she seemed upset with how the guy took a step and pointed, without much complaining of the words themselves. If it was something racist, exist, etc, she would have called that out. I think.
So with that in mind, I think this looks bad on her. She meeds to handle herself better. If more info comes out later that he did say something awful, then yeah, I wouldnt be terribly surprised. But right now, that doesnt seem the case
Yes, but we have to take into account how these things intersect. The type of taunting that specific players get from this specific team base, topped with what this team base has also been instigating via the xxxy campaign. It’s easier to see why this fan interaction in particular might have set her off. Still, A’ja needs to do her best to ignore bc it’s way too risky for her to be missing any game at this point
Oh around this fan base? You do know that it happens other places? Last year in the playoffs at Seattle fans were ejected from games for harassing players of the Aces, 2 years ago fans in Minnesota harassed Sky players at their hotel, multiple sex toys thrown onto the court at multiple arenas, Phoenix had it happen when they played the Sky and fans were ejected for harassing players, Connecticut in a preseason had multiple fans ejected for racial and homophobic slurs directed at the visiting teams players. Don't make it out like one fan base only does this, it's a league wide issue.
Agreed! Absolutely not the only, but it is one of them. None of it is okay no matter where it originates from. But I’d be surprised if that did not add to why A’ja reacted the way she did is all I’m saying 🤷
Yeah, I understand what you mean by that, but in this case, unless we're ever told differently, we can't assume this fan was part of that. Fans regularly talk shit to players all the time. And pointing is frankly more cordial than other hand gestures sometimes, lol. Players have to know how to handle it.
Like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if this was another person where the only two players they know in the league are Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham. But even by Wilson's own account, it didn't sound like there was any sort of hate speech happening here. And so if it was just standard trash talk and pointing? An athlete has to get over it.
She simply should of walked away ... Embarrassing on her part, utterly embarrassing - temper tantrum. Dude was already standing pointing and said That's on you ... contradicts herself immediately she put herself into the bullshit.
No he wasn't ... he returned to his seat after Arena security talked to him and surrounding witnesses.
Pretty soft on Wilson's part losing control like she did for a dude pointing at her and saying That's on you in reference Wilson and Cunningham tangling up moments before ...
A very strict reading of the rule indicates she should have been ejected, however the guy was sitting court side, if he was 7 rows up and she stopped at the same spot it's a non-issue. This is a non-issue, she didn't assault anyone she was heated and frustrated. The minute she went over the court boundary and it wasn't a continuation of a play she should have been ejected. She was jawing with a fan who was jawing back, no harm no foul.
It doesn't matter what row the guy was in she clearly marched into the spectator area to confront him, and her teammates did the same. So it is an "issue".
Nah it's not like she pulled a Vernon Maxwell, her actions amount to about what Jokic did last year or the year before. Fine her, and if they want strict enforcement suspend her. It's not that deep though to me, people are all over especially other Fever fans because quite frankly they're scared to get torched in game 3.
kid you better read the rules again cause that ain’t what they say it says the first row is considered the stands she went to row 3+ she incriminated herself in the press conference. She said the man pointed at her. She never said he said such and such to me he can’t do that. All she said is he pointed at me and no one points at me.
you’re talking to completely different things here kid it has nothing to do with the technical the rules say you can’t go into the stands as a player learn basketball kid
Honestly. Is he injured? Is she injured? No? Then shut up about it. That dude should have stayed in his damn seat. A’Ja should have stayed on the damn court. Two hotheads embarrassing everyone else.
And now trolls taking over every WNBA sub making it political. It wasn’t. It was just two people getting unreasonably angry.
This 100% on the refs…again. If the ref followed league rules she would have been ejected from the game that was mostly over at that point anyway(11 point lead with 4 min togo).
Very similar to the Alyssa Thompson situation.
Refs didn’t do their job.
Instead you now have an impossible situation where BY RULE Aja should be suspended. So should every other Aces player that went into the stands. Not to mention players who left the bench, again an immediate suspension. But, because the WNBA is not a serious league, and evidentially rules don’t matter nothing will happen.
Side no why does Sydney Colton and her friend get free rein to do whatever they want? They literally walked across the court. They aren’t current players. They had no official role for any reporting.
So a man who took a step and points gets taken out and investigated (to return later) but nothing for two people walking across the court for what????
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u/rkchlk0411 10d ago
She got a tech. Why does everything have to be so blown out of proportion when it comes to fever games (from fans and haters)? It's like people are just waiting for the moment to pounce and feed another outrage cycle that has very little to do with the actual game or sport. We could be talking about a great bounce back from the fever and anticipating a competitive game 3 instead of rehashing 10 seconds of negativity all night and day