RON HART: The WNBA — Giving Prison Basketball A Bad Name

Capitalizing on the WNBA’s inability (or unwillingness) to define what a woman is, several ex-NBA players have declared for the WNBA draft. I like that; it takes balls.

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Could men in the WNBA be the final frontier of diversity, equity and inclusion?

In a development that has left the nation’s most progressive sports fans clutching their participation trophies and muttering about “lived experience,” several male athletes have declared their intention to enter the WNBA draft. The reaction has been everything one would expect from a culture that spent a decade insisting biology is a social construct—until biology started dunking in the paint.

The logic, we are told, is airtight. And if a man identifies as a woman, or merely feels that the women’s league offers a more welcoming competitive environment, who are we to stand in the way of his dreams? After all, the WNBA has long been marketed as a sanctuary of empowerment.

Caitlin Clark has put the WNBA on the map. I have never watched it until now, but if I had wanted to watch basketball where no one can dunk, I would go see an Emory University men’s team play. (RELATED: ‘It’s Ridiculous’: Caitlin Clark Fed Up After Referees Hit Her With Technical Foul For Clapping)

Caitlin upset the heavily represented lesbian and minority population of the WNBA with her arrival. Angry legacy WNBA lesbians are allowed to foul Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham with impunity.

There has not been a Caitlin so mutilated in sports since Caitlyn Jenner.

Clark achieved the first triple-double in the league with 10 chipped teeth, 12 contusions, and 15 elbows to the face in one game. Historic.

These two women lead the league in jersey sales and in elbows to the face. Neither is married, but when they do retire and perhaps wed, I hope it is not to men with short tempers, as they might have PTSD flashbacks to their days in the WNBA.

WNBA transgender player supporters say that the league is about empowerment. What could be more empowering than watching a 6-foot-9 former Division II power forward taking it to the hoop on a starting point guard who still has student loans to pay?

Do not get me wrong, I like lesbians. We share some of the same interests: women and playing golf from the up tees.

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Critics of the new policy have been told, with the usual moral certainty, that they are on the “wrong side of history.” This is always a reliable signal that history is about to do something deeply silly. The same voices that once insisted men and women are interchangeable now insist that interchangeability only travels in one direction. A woman who wants to play in the NBA is a pioneer. A man who wants to play in the WNBA is also a provocateur. The difference is that the provocateur can still dunk from the free-throw line. (RELATED: ESPN Analyst Says Caitlin Clark ‘Embellishes’ Contact After Video Shows Throat Punch)

One can already picture the press conferences. A young man named Tyler, previously known for averaging 4.2 points in the G League, will sit before microphones and declare that he has always felt more comfortable in women’s basketball. He will cite the shorter three-point line, the smaller ball, and the relative absence of 7-foot rim protectors as factors in his authentic self-discovery. When asked whether his presence might disadvantage actual women, he will smile and say the question itself is rooted in outdated binary thinking. The room will not know whether to clap or be mad, especially the ESPN crew trying to please their woke overlords at Disney.

The players themselves are already adapting. Veteran WNBA stars have begun issuing carefully worded statements about “respecting everyone’s journey” while privately updating their résumés for overseas leagues where the rules of biology still apply.

And the usual woke politicians are jumping onto this issue. Kamala Harris started attending WNBA games, and she took more shots in one game than Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark combined.

So stay tuned. The next big issue is who is transgender and who isn’t. Men, be careful if Lorena Bobbitt is your team’s doctor.

Women, trans, or men? Since there is no difference, how do you tell them apart? Just watch them in the locker room. If it takes three hours for someone to get dressed, that is a woman.

A libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author, Ron does commentary on radio and TV. He can be contacted at [email protected] or @RonaldHart on Twitter.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.

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