Sports Writer Has Controversial Suggestion For WNBA Team Names

08/05/2024 21:21

Ethan Strauss of The Athletic has found himself in some hot water for his recent comments on "The Bill Simmons Podcast."

Sitting down with The Ringer CEO and founder, Strauss attempted to make the argument that WNBA teams shouldn't have their own nicknames and should just go by the "W" version of whatever NBA team already represents their city.

The one thing they should've done — and maybe there's time to do that they didn't do from the outset — is just use the same team names. Like why force people to learn about the 'Fever.' Like why not just have the 'W Pacers?' I think that makes it so much easier to just resinate and cut across.

Here's what fans had to say about it on social media:

"I'm all for welcoming new fans to women's sports but the guys who wanna change names, lower rims & relate everything to men's sports can kick rocks," said Sarah Spain. "Women's sports are their own awesome thing (with their own team names!). Get on board or don't, just don't get in the way."

"Can we stop having ESS as a basketball media presence?" a user asked.

"its 12 teams," another person pointed out.

"Renaming lots of the Minor League Baseball teams and G-League teams 'would make it so much easier to just resonate...' Do you see how stupid this sounds now?" Amie Just asked.

Where do you fall on Strauss' comments?