Browsing: Sports

“I think it’s a benchmark of women’s basketball for sure. I think most importantly it speaks to visibility and how important it is and how important the WNBA is,” Parker said. “Everyone is looking at it that it’s impacting little girls, but it’s also impacting little boys and young men and young women and men and women. I think our game is different than the NBA, now it’s embracing that fact. Now more than ever, fans want to follow the athlete. Through social media, through video games, it’s adding and benefitting the WNBA.”

“We were able to take some more risks, and at this point, I’m not so sure about whether we’re going to sign everybody that we selected (Tuesday),” Kantrovitz said. “But just based on how the draft rules work, there’s probably some players that we were able to take a risk on and kind of shoot for the stars and hope, and then some others where we have a little bit more cost certainty that they’re going to sign.”

Hynes’ teammates refer to him as “Skip,” as in “Skipper,” a joking reference to the colloquial name for the captain of a baseball team. During his first at-bat in a recent league game, which ended in a base hit, a friend cheered him on and called him “Big Cat,” a nickname from high school. He hadn’t been called that in years, he said, and his high school coach at St. Ignatius in University Village gave the nickname to him. He was a catcher in high school, and catchers are supposed to have quick, catlike reflexes. But Hynes didn’t, he said, so it was another lighthearted quip.

A reunion for Hall of Fame inductees will be held at the Hall of Fame site in Forest Park on July 18, according to the Hall of Fame website. There are over 300 living Hall of Famers, according to Maag, and he hopes between 150 and 200 will come to the reunion. Chicago singer John Vincent will be there to sing “the national anthem and a couple of other Chicago songs to entertain that day,” Maag said. The reunion is for both inductees and fans, according to a flyer for the event.

No classic birds-on-a-bat design for the St. Louis Cardinals at Coors Field, no sweet script for the Los Angeles Dodgers. No brown pinstripes on the shirts for the San Diego Padres, no recognizable “NY” logo prominently on the hat for the New York Yankees.