What happened: Brittney Griner, the left-wing activist who spent 10 months in a Russian prison for drug smuggling, is 0-2 to start the WNBA season.
• The 6'9" center for the Phoenix Mercury put up stat-padding individual performances in her first regular season games since President Joe Biden secured her release in exchange for Viktor Bout, aka the "Merchant of Death," in a shameful prisoner swap.
• Alas, basketball is a team sport. The Mercury were trounced 71-94 by the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday before falling 69-75 to the Chicago Sky over the weekend.
By the numbers: Griner, a notorious ball hog, recorded just three assists across both losing efforts.
• Roughly 10,000 people attended the Sparks-Mercury game at Crypto.com Arena for Griner's regular season debut. That is slightly more than 50 percent of the stadium's capacity of 19,068.
What they're saying: "It was great but, like, honestly, come on [Los Angeles]," Mercury coach Vanessa Nygaard said following her team's blowout loss to the Sparks. "Like, we didn't sell out the arena for [Brittney Griner]? Like, I expected more. You know, let's be honest, right? Like, it was great, it was loud, but how was it not a sell out?" (Answer: Because WNBA games aren't very fun to watch.)
• Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, met privately with Griner and her second wife, Cherelle Griner, before the sparsely attended game in Los Angeles. Harris also delivered a pep talk in the Mercury locker room, telling the players (without evidence) that in her conversations with world leaders, "one of the things that does come up is the WNBA." Griner's team would go on to lose by 23 points.
Context: Viktor Bout, the weapons dealer Biden set free to secure Griner's release, was convicted of conspiring to murder American citizens. Not included in the prisoner swap with Russia was Paul Whelan, a former Marine arrested in 2018 on trumped-up charges of espionage.
Why it matters: The mainstream media and liberal establishment want to force the general public to care about the WNBA as much as they (pretend to) care about the WNBA in the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Bottom line: It's never going to happen.
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