It only takes 25 years to become an overnight success
What the WNBA, AI, and NA have in common
As the clock ticked down on the New York Liberty’s first WNBA championship this week, it was easy to be distracted by Spike Lee’s sideline antics. But rather than wondering why he was sitting on the floor instead of in his courtside seat, I was thinking about what it signals when A-listers like him, Jason Sudeikis, Carmelo Anthony, and Aubrey Plaza are in the building.
It means you’ve made it. It means the transformation from “We Got Next” to “We Got Game” is complete. It means your stars are on par with the stars.
As the confetti rained down, instead of giving more airtime to these celebrities, ESPN producers made the editorial choice to train the camera on retired WNBA players like Sue Wicks and Theresa Weatherspoon. They both played for the inaugural Liberty team in 1997, and they were visibly emotional—for their friends and inheritors, and also for their league.
While most of us are familiar with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese by now, we wouldn’t know them nearly as well without Sue and Theresa, without Rebecca Lobo and Cheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Dawn Staley, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi.
I’m reminded of other industries having their moment in the past year or two like AI and non-alcoholic beer. Like the W, they didn’t enter the zeitgeist on the back of a few viral posts; there have been hardworking, underappreciated bricklayers for decades.
If we could predict the trio that will come of age in another 25 years, we’d be in pretty good shape come retirement. But these movements are usually grown in the dark—in front of a couple thousand people at the Westchester County Center, not a sold out Barclays Center.
That’s what Sue and Theresa were probably thinking about, the days when they played for the love of the game, for a few little girls who wanted to be just like them. They were planting the seeds, and now they’re in bloom.