Why does it feel so good to cheer for women’s basketball? It’s a question I asked myself at my first-ever W.N.B.A. game on Sunday night, which also happened to be the Game 5 championship final between the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx. The Liberty clinched the final in a 67-62 nail-biter in overtime, bringing New York City its first basketball championship in 48 years.
Even when the Liberty weren’t playing at their finest — they scored only 10 points in the first quarter — the fierce crowd watching at Barclays Center in Brooklyn were on their feet, dancing, screaming and yelling for some semblance of defense against the Lynx. I’d heard the buzz around Liberty games all season; the final certainly delivered.
It’s not just that the franchise has nailed the entertainment side of a basketball game — immaculate music selection; a mascot, Ellie the Elephant, who whips her braid during time outs; an over-40 dance troupe, the Timeless Torches, doing splits mid-game — it’s that the fans have built the team and reaped the W.N.B.A.’s recent success with them. This final garnered 2.15 million viewers on ESPN and this W.N.B.A. season was the most viewed one to date. Sunday’s victory didn’t feel like a win just for New York; it felt like a homecoming for women’s basketball.
The Liberty’s victory parade through the streets of Lower Manhattan on Thursday morning felt like the feel-good moment of the year for New York sports. Lining the Canyon of Heroes to cheer for our victors were New Yorkers of all stripes: little girls with their moms, women stopping with their laptop bags on their way to work and die-hard fans who waited hours to see the W.N.B.A.’s top players drinking champagne at 10 a.m.
As I stood among the crowd, I couldn’t help imagining what such a moment would look like if the Knicks could ever again deliver a championship (which they haven’t since I’ve been alive). There would be a bigger crowd, certainly, but I’m sure the fans would have a more aggressive vibe. Ever caught a Knicks fan on a bad day, let alone a good one?
Liberty fans are raucous, sure, but it’s the kind of raucous that makes a casual or curious bystander want to get up and join in the fun, not walk away quickly lest things take a turn for the worse. For a new fan like me, joining in feels easy and welcome. Maybe that’s why rooting for women’s basketball feels so undeniably good: It’s the pure adrenaline of sports, without the machismo. I can yell “woo” loudly for that.
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