The Chicago Sky are the best sports team in the city right now. Full stop.
After a trade deadline at which catcher Willson Contreras and outfielder Ian Happ were expected to be dealt but remained with the team, the Cubs — who are without postseason expectations — have had some streaky fun.
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The White Sox made a swift exit from last year’s postseason, and while the fate of their season is yet to be determined, it likely will end similarly to the previous one — with a lot of questions.
Then there’s the Bears. They’re not expected to be very good, but critics can’t seem to agree on whether they will be very bad or just OK. Chicago fans have been reliving that Super Bowl XX win for almost my entire life.
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The Blackhawks, to keep it cute, are kind of a mess and most likely not even on anyone’s radar at the moment. Even the most die-hard Hawks fan is probably face-palming at the idea of this season’s team.
The Bulls made their first playoff appearance since 2017 in April, and though they managed to win one game, they were quickly sent packing by the Milwaukee Bucks.
But then you have the Sky. They were nearly selling out Wintrust Arena on a regular basis in the regular season. James Wade, their coach and general manager who was the 2019 Coach of the Year, is now the 2022 WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year. The Sky had four All Stars this year and hosted WNBA All-Star weekend in July.
The WNBA enjoyed its most-watched regular season this year since 2008 with viewership up 16%. The 2022 All-Star Game set an all-time record for merchandise sold. And Candace Parker has been having an incredible season.
The Sky play the New York Liberty in a first-round series-deciding Game 3 on Tuesday in New York, and it seems like, outside of the WNBA community, there isn’t much buzz.
I’ve lived in Chicago for more than 20 years, and one of my favorite things about this city is its sports culture. I have been fully indoctrinated myself. Chicagoans go hard for Chicago. It’s admirable. It’s fun.
So I have to admit I’m a little disappointed the Sky aren’t getting the attention they rightly deserve. When the city hosted a parade for the 2021 WNBA champions, only the most faithful showed up.
Whenever someone posts or writes about women’s sports, there’s always someone in the replies saying some tired version of “nobody watches women’s sports” or calling the games uninteresting. But I’m here to tell you, it’s you — not them. The fact you read and respond to the posts, albeit negatively, says you’re actually paying attention. People are watching. And they should.
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The women’s game is some of the most efficient basketball I’ve ever seen. They mostly play clean and the refs, to the chagrin of some viewers, let them play through some fouls. If you look around the league, some of the best shooters are slept on by the general public. In fact, four-time 3-point shooting champion — the most of any player in either league — Allie Quigley plays for the Sky.
The Sky’s game is fundamentally sound and their fans are some of the most fervent around.
I can walk into any sports bar on any given night and see multiple televisions showing one of our local men’s professional teams losing. I’ve seen bars packed with fans ready and waiting to be disappointed by the perceived incompetence of the front office of (insert Chicago sports team here).
But not the Sky.
Maybe you’re waiting to see if they make it back to the WNBA Finals, but why wait? The Sky, and all women’s sports, deserve support. Not just when they’re winning but always.
The Sky are the defending WNBA champions. So at 8 p.m. Tuesday, turn on the damn game, Chicago!
