Parachute Journalism, Gatekeeping, and Incel Behavior Form Anti-WNBA Alliance

By Evan F. Moore One of my first assignments as a freelance sports reporter early in my career was to cover the 2014 NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship Game between Stanford and Loyola.& Outside of casual viewing during the Olympic Games over time and seeing folks play at the beach, I couldn’t tell you much about competitive volleyball. I wasn’t going to tell the editors that, though.& Beforehand, I studied the sport regarding the key players, key teams, team histories, storylines and what others wrote who were closer to volleyball than I was.& I knew I was parachuting into a space I wasn’t familiar with. However, the finished product reads as a story from someone who successfully conveyed to the readers what had taken place the day before. One of the major themes in the discourse surrounding the WNBA is the general unawareness of the game, storylines, teams, players, history, struggle for decent wages, branding and the arrival of several new players who aim to elevate the league, namely Fever guard and newly-minted college basketball legend Caitlin Clark.& Also, when discussing the WNBA, overwhelming historical empirical evidence shows that the hatred, which includes racism, homophobia, misogyny and misogynoir, stems from a...