Sophie Cunningham isn’t rejecting politics. She’s cashing in on them

Conservatives once demanded sports stay apolitical. Now they’ve embraced a new culture-war politics, and Sophie Cunningham has become one of its most valuable stars

Invoking a wounded innocence that their desire for sports to be simple, just like they used to be, conservatives for a decade and a half have dreaded the word “politics”. Now they cannot get enough.

Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has spent 40 years in the National Football League unknown except for his defensive schemes, but last week opened his press remarks mocking the congressional testimony of Dr Anthony Fauci, jokingly invoking the Fifth Amendment before taking questions. Apropos of nothing, President Trump publicly surmised that LeBron James might be a racist. Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham is now in the act, accepting the role as the right’s anti-Black, anti-transgender culture war ambassador, the role originally intended for Caitlin Clark.

Cunningham intentionally yanked Sheldon down by her neck and was hailed as a protector. A year later, the Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas put her fist to Clark’s throat – accidentally, Thomas says – and was excoriated as reckless and worse. The circumstances were different, but both were undeniable fouls that merited punishment from the league. One player – Cunningham, who is white – earned a flood of new endorsements in the aftermath. The other – Thomas, who is Black – a barrage of death threats.

It’s a truth that is as inescapable as it is difficult to grapple with. Cunningham prides herself on being an open book, but through her representative, declined to discuss the role race played in the public perception of her fight and rise. So, too, did a handful of current WNBA players.

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