“Don’t be afraid”? ", "That's what the women of this league are made of," she added. Long before they chose to support Biden and Harris, the team has been using their platform to ask everyone to vote this November. ", Fellow owner Dawn Trudeau wrote that "there is no doubt who we support in this election" and implored fans to vote "For ourselves. And when victory was complete, the Storm players donned T-shirts with one simple word: vote. They demanded justice for the late Louisville EMT, honored Sandra Bland, and raised awareness for other Black women like them through a partnership with the "Say Her Name" campaign. #Force4Change https://t.co/waOa80FY7r. Also read | US Election 2020: Presidential debate format to be changed following Trump-Joe Biden spat, There is no doubt who we support in this election. The Seattle Storm has endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Most times, players or owners from a pro sports team individually choose to promote or support one candidate before the national elections. Sue Bird won her fourth WNBA championship with the Seattle Storm this year. Subscriber “The truth is, we need less—not more politics in sports. While talking to the Seattle Storm, Gilder stated that "any women's professional sports league lives at the corner of business, sport, and social change by virtue of the huge amount of sexism that exists in this country with respect to women and sport". “This year has been a lot for me,” Loyd told Rowe while fighting back tears. Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), currently in a tight race to hold on to her seat, is one of the owners of the Atlanta Dream and was critical of both the Black Lives Matter movement and the league’s embrace of it. Kloppenburg chose the season, and as ESPN flashed a picture on the screen of his daughter, in her white wedding dress, being hugged by her new husband moments after their wedding vows had been exchanged, Rowe explained that the family planned to reenact the ceremony, complete with wedding gown, when Kloppenburg was able to finally return home.

For our family and friends. They spoke about Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old woman shot and killed in Louisville, Kentucky, by police officers who had entered her apartment while she was sleeping. Vote early. “It’s actually really hurtful to see her true colors. For our business. But this game, which gave Stewart and Sue Bird—two former University of Connecticut legends who played more than a decade apart for the Huskies—their second championship in two years, was a definite feel-good moment: the basketball sublime; the joy on the player’s faces totally infectious as the game entered its final seconds. Loyd is one of many players who grew up idolizing the former Los Angeles Lakers player, who, largely after becoming a father to three daughters, had become a very public booster of women’s basketball. For our family and friends. WNBA players on the Las Vegas Aces encourage fans to vote prior to a game. Associated Press Television News On Tuesday night, the 26-year-old superstar led the Seattle Storm in completing their three-game sweep of the Las Vegas Aces to clinch the 2020 WNBA title. Also read | US Presidential Debate 2020: Joe Biden attacks Trump for legitimising North Korea, Register to vote. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Julio Aguilar/Getty Images. Social enterprise entrepreneur and two-time Olympian Ginny Gilder said she was "proud" to endorse Biden and Harris alongside her co-owners and added that "we don't typically endorse candidates, but these are NOT typical times.

For our future.

Stewart's 28.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game through the series made her the easy — and, ultimately, unanimous — choice for this year's WNBA Finals MVP, and the 6-foot-4 champion celebrated accordingly. And after Seattle completed its three-game sweep of the Las Vegas Aces in the 2020 WNBA Finals, Storm star Alysha Clark perfectly encapsulated the season during her postgame media availability. Looking for smart ways to get more from life? Like what you see here? The move, while widely applauded, did not come without some controversy. For our business. The legendary point guard said this title was "not quite as fun" as her past three because she and her Storm teammates were in the Wubble and could not celebrate with Seattle fans. In an unprecedented move, the Seattle Storm chose to completely align with Biden and Harris. For our future.". The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. “I can’t believe I ever stepped foot in Kelly’s house and shared a meal with her,” Clarendon tweeted. final between the Seattle Storm and the Las Vegas Aces, was still recovering from cancer and deemed not safe to enter the Bradenton bubble, video that Donald Trump had posted on his Twitter feed the day before. For our country. The WNBA has never been afraid to get political, but the Seattle Storm used their platform in unprecedented fashion this week. We are built to stand up for what is right in this world, and we are going to continue to do that.". since. She added: “I adamantly oppose the Black Lives Matter political movement, which has advocated for the defunding of police, called for the removal of Jesus from churches and the disruption of the nuclear family structure, harbored anti-Semitic views, and promoted violence and destruction across the country.”, That action prompted a tweet from the Liberty’s Clarendon, a former player for the Dream. The Seattle franchise owners — who comprise one of the only majority-woman ownership groups in major U.S. professional sports — took to Twitter to explain their decision to issue an official endorsement on behalf of the team. Aquí nos gustaría mostrarte una descripción, pero el sitio web que estás mirando no lo permite. Professional sports teams rarely — if ever — explicitly support political candidates in elections. A season that began in honor of Breonna Taylor and Black Lives Matter ended with a championship by the Seattle Storm, led by Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart, and an … Sue Bird, who also won her won WNBA title, has been a candid voice this season, speaking up for social justice and condemning the thought of just sticking to sports. On Tuesday, an emotional Loyd dedicated her second WNBA title to Bryant and his daughter Gianna, who were killed in a helicopter crash in January. “This is for Kobe, Gigi, the Bryant family, and for Breonna Taylor. We had a lot of emotions coming into this game.”. What unbelievable cruelty was contained in that moment.

shirt while chatting with her Seattle Storm teammates during Game 3 of the 2020 WNBA Finals. While receiving criticism, the WNBA dedicated their season to Breonna Taylor and even speaking up against Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler. From the beginning of the season, moments before the first two teams took the court in late July, you knew this was going to be a WNBA season like no other. As the game entered its final minutes, and the Storm closed in on their second championship in three years, the ESPN announcers threw to the on-court reporter, Holly Rowe, to ask her about the personal sacrifices the players and coaches had made this season, living in a bubble in Bradenton, Florida, since July, and unable to have contact with the outside world or to see friends and family members.

"We are built to fight. She added that the WNBA is powered by their players, who have grown extremely vocal who no longer what "just stick to sports". Atatiana Jefferson.

dedicated her second WNBA title to Bryant and his daughter Gianna, wrote in a letter to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert. © 2020 Condé Nast. We are also dedicating this season to [the] Say Her Name campaign, a campaign committed to saying the names and fighting for justice for Black women, Black women who are so often forgotten in this fight for justice, who do not have people marching in the streets for them. In a time when polarizing politics is as divisive as ever, sports has the power to be a unifying antidote,” Loeffler wrote in a letter to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

She explained that Kloppenburg, filling in as the Storm’s coach because the actual head coach, Dan Hughes, was still recovering from cancer and deemed not safe to enter the Bradenton bubble, had to choose: the season or the wedding. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Vote for Biden/Harris. They spoke with former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer. "And we are ready for it. Earlier, she was right at the centre of the players move to support Reverand Raphael Warnock, a Senate candidate fighting against Loeffler – who was against the teams supporting BLM and social justice at the WNBA Wubble. Account active #force4change @seattlestorm pic.twitter.com/QaZyWushHu. For ourselves. In an unprecedented move, the Seattle Storm chose to completely align with Biden and Harris. Seattle Storm official Facebook page | Four-time WNBA champions For tickets, visit us at www.StormBasketball.com. There was another moment of genuine emotion after the game was decided, when Rowe interviewed the talented young player Jewell Lloyd about winning her second WNBA title and what this season meant to her. We will be a voice for the voiceless.”, Then Stewart called for a 26-second moment of silence, representing “the age [Taylor] was when she was killed.”, A few weeks earlier, before it was known that the WNBA season would go ahead in a truncated form, Stewart told The New York Times that she and other players were determined to use their sport to to make their voices known. Fans supported the team's decision, while also speaking about how 2020 is the year where something so rare could have happened. They devoted their season to demanding justice for Breonna Taylor and other female victims of police brutality, wearing Breonna Taylor's name on the back of their jerseys throughout their 2020 campaign. For our country. But Loyd was more than just a fan; she was a protégé of Bryant, who had worked closely with Loyd on her game and even gave her a nickname—the “Gold Mamba”—an echo of his famous “Black Mamba” moniker. Minutes before the first game was played on July 25 between the New York Liberty and the Seattle Storm, players for both teams walked off the court together prior to the playing of the national anthem in a moment of protest tied to the league’s vow to dedicate its season to social justice issues.