Amy Bass

Napheesa Collier’s recent public rebuke of WNBA leadership, which came after a hotly-debated no-call in the last minute of the Lynx’s semi-final game against the Mercury that left Collier with an ankle injury, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve with a one-game suspension and league-record $15,000 fine (and then two other coaches were fined $1000 each for agreeing with her!), and Phoenix forward Alyssa Thomas with the ball, has launched an abundance of conversations about the state of the league and, especially, its leadership.

The last few weeks of any college semester are manic and chaotic, exciting and emotional, and this spring has been no different. Amidst the rush to finish courses and calculate final grades, I have been toasting students at award ceremonies and banquets, cheering our baseball and lacrosse and softball teams across the playoffs, attending the senior recitals of our students in the performing arts, and saying “yes” to any student who stops by my office to offer a farewell hug. Indeed, some of the best moments of being a professor are right now.

This fall at Manhattanville University, I am launching a new course, an honors seminar entitled THE GOAT DEBATE. For several months, in my spare time, I have been moving things around on the draft syllabus, thinking about conversations that move thematically through sport, art, music, film, literature, television, and, well, humanity writ large.

In the midst of the madness that is March, meaning so many eyes are on college basketball, including mine, I want to talk about soccer. But I don’t want to talk about the US mens’ national team’s historically dismal loss to Panama in the Nations League semi-final because seriously: how many times can we call something a so-called much needed wake up call?

So I want to talk about Mikaela Shiffrin. But before I can do that, I feel the need to talk about one of my favorite things about sport, about athletes: redemption.

I’m a big fan of lists. I write a “to do” list just about every day, including things I know I’m going to do, like shower; things hope I’m going to do, like go to the gym; and things I have to do, which mostly revolve around work but also tend to center on the dog and, occasionally, my family.

In 2019, a Nike ad featuring Serena Williams told us all to “dream crazier.” The campaign looked to throw a spotlight on women who had broken barriers in sport, inspiring us to pursue our goals, but also go beyond them, to conquer the seemingly unimaginable. The ad inspired the hashtag “DreamCrazier” on what we used to call Twitter, enabling a company with a somewhat shaky reputation with some of its own stars -- I see you Alyson Felix -- to project a female-forward image.

I want to talk about the World Series, but not the catastrophic fifth inning that brought the Dodgers a championship in Game 5. No, I want to talk about Tuesday night’s game 4, and to do so, I am going to take off my Red Sox hat for a moment -- although I’m going to keep it nearby, just in case I need it.

Summer, I’m afraid, is officially over. Sigh. This summer felt exceptionally, well, summery — spent time at the beach, read a lot of really good books, grilled some good food, and watched a lot of sports.