WNBA media turns Stephanie White's rehearsed rant into an 'important' attack on league critics

Fever head coach Stephanie White opened her pregame press conference Tuesday night before Indiana’s game against the New York Liberty by reading a lengthy prepared statement about the "hate," "fear mongering" and "divisiveness" that she believes is trying to "hijack" the WNBA.

The statement included profanity, White literally banging on the table in front of her and even ended with what appeared to be a staged walk out of the press conference room without taking any questions.

That's why the reaction from the WNBA's media cheerleaders was so fascinating.

Within minutes, reporters and outlets began describing White's remarks as "passionate," "important," "impassioned" and "scathing." ESPN took the framing even further, with analysts praising White's vulnerability, honesty and commitment to love while suggesting that some of the people criticizing her are "fueled by hatred."

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And we're just getting started.

White was heavily criticized for her reaction to DiJonai Carrington's hard foul on Fever guard Sophie Cunningham during Indiana's game against Chicago on Saturday. It seemed, to many, that White spent more energy defending an opponent who had committed a flagrant foul against her player than her own player who was left with a bloody mouth.

White explained Tuesday that she didn't see the play in real time and went directly to her postgame press conference. White said she thought the officials got the call right and said she didn't believe Carrington intentionally went for Cunningham's neck . The Fever coach said that after she watched the replay, she changed her assessment.

"Was it egregious? Absolutely," White said. "When you have a chance to watch that over and over and over on replay, you can see that. I didn't have that in real time."

It's reasonable to believe that White didn't have access to multiple replays of the play during the game and didn't see them until after she spoke to the media. Explaining that on Tuesday night made perfect sense.

But she didn't leave it there.

White said she took any suggestion that she does not have her players’ backs personally before pivoting into a broader attack on an "online community" that she accused of creating false narratives about who she is and what she represents.

"The hate, the fear mongering, the divisiveness, the stuff that's trying to hijack our league will not win," White said. "It won't win. We are united. We are connected. We will not be divided."

White then borrowed Michelle Obama's famous "when they go low, we go high" line and declared that "love," "grace," "humility" and "kindness" would prevail. She followed all those calls for kindness by saying, "Everybody else can go to hell."

We could spend an entire column on the irony of that juxtaposition, but let's continue because watching the video added another layer.

White wasn't speaking extemporaneously or reacting emotionally to a question. She was clearly reading a prepared statement, repeatedly looking down at her remarks and, to my eye, trying to inject the appropriate emotion into different portions of the speech.

I didn't find her speech particularly convincing. It came across as rehearsed and performative, especially when the emotional delivery didn't seem to match the words she was reading. That's subjective, though. Anyone can watch the video and reach a different conclusion.

That's why it's borderline comical that the WNBA media ecosystem seemed to reach the exact opposite conclusion.

Underdog WNBA called White's statement "passionate." Chicago Sun-Times reporter Annie Costabile labeled it an "Important statement from Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White." ESPN's Alexa Philippou went with "impassioned," as did The Sporting News, while Meghan Hall described White's remarks as "scathing."

Individually, none of those descriptions is especially noteworthy. Taken together, though, they establish a remarkably consistent framing: White hadn't simply read a prepared statement. She had delivered something important, emotional and powerful.

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That didn't change during ESPN's pregame coverage on "WNBA Countdown." It only became more clear that the media cheerleaders had their narrative and they were ready to roll.

Chiney Ogwumike said she saw White as someone operating under "immense pressure" and talked about how frightening it can be to show vulnerability when everyone is watching. She praised White for continuing to "speak your truth" and said the Fever coach was making an "impassioned plea" to get back to basketball and "center it around love."

That's an incredibly charitable reading of what happened. White read a prepared statement accusing unnamed people of spreading hate, fear and division, then told those people they could go to hell. ESPN turned that into a courageous display of vulnerability centered around love.

Andraya Carter then went further by questioning whether people calling for White's job had even watched enough Fever basketball to fairly judge her performance as a coach. That's a legitimate question. Social media routinely takes one clip, strips away context and turns it into a referendum on someone's entire career.

But Carter didn't stop with questioning whether the criticism was informed.

"Are you calling for her job because you watched one clip and you're piling on and you are fueled by hatred?" Carter asked.

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White had complained broadly about hate infiltrating the league without identifying the people she meant. Carter effectively filled in the blank, suggesting that at least some of White's critics weren't merely wrong, uninformed or overly emotional, but possibly "fueled by hatred."

What evidence established that? None was offered during the segment.

And, b...

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