The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!
The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!

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Disgraceful: WNBA finalists defy rulebook, walk off—and return when the national anthem ends

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THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?

SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do).

  • The Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries stayed off the court for Monday’s Game 2 anthem, repeating their absence from Saturday’s Finals opener.
  • Alanis Morissette performed at Chase Center; the players returned shortly after the song ended.
  • The WNBA’s official rulebook calls for players, coaches and trainers to stand and line up during the anthem. The league had not answered questions about the absences.

LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time).

The WNBA Finals have produced a remarkably consistent pregame formation: everybody off the floor when the national anthem starts.

The Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries were absent again Monday night as Alanis Morissette performed before Game 2 at San Francisco’s Chase Center. Both teams returned shortly after the song finished, repeating the disappearing act from Saturday’s opener.

Apparently, finding the court isn’t the problem. Timing is everything.

There’s a particularly inconvenient detail for the league: Its own 2026 rulebook addresses this very moment.

Under player/team conduct and dress, players, coaches and trainers are instructed to “stand and line up in a dignified posture along the sidelines or on the foul line” during the national anthem.

That’s an interesting instruction to keep in a book while both championship contenders are somewhere else.

OutKick asked the league and both teams to explain the absences and reported receiving no response. Sports columnist Karen Crouse, writing in The Daily Wire, separately reported seeking comment from representatives of both teams and receiving no response.

So the players have somewhere else to be, and the people running things apparently have nothing to say.

Neither team had publicly explained its Finals absences. Staying off the court during the anthem has been a practice among WNBA players since the racial-justice protests of 2020; the argument now includes whether the rule applies to people who leave the floor.

Sports media personality Emily Austin wasn’t impressed by the Game 1 exit: “Walking out during the national anthem is disgraceful. If you hate this country so much, you’re free to leave.” Former NBA guard Ron Harper defended the players, responding that it was “the team choice not yours.”

Atlanta won Monday’s game 79–65, leaving the series tied 1–1. Game 3 is Wednesday in Atlanta.

The basketball championship remains up for grabs. Both teams already have the anthem exit down cold.

DBS WIRE SOURCES (I’ve got all day).

1 Comment

  1. Rudy Malmgren on October 22, 2026 at 6:14 pm

    If the Tean chooses to not to honor the Nation that gave them the right to play they should go somewhere else to play, like Afganistan or Iran where they will throw most of them off a roof.

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