The Chicago Sky owe Teresa Weatherspoon more grace than the team gave her
This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, folks! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate your time.
In today’s news that wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card, the Chicago Sky fired first-year head coach Teresa Weatherspoon late Thursday night while no one was paying attention.
Chances are, some of you probably didn’t even know this happened. The Chicago Sun Times’ Annie Costabile broke the news at 9:47 p.m. ET. Judging from the reactions online, it doesn’t seem anyone expected this.
That includes Angel Reese, who said she was “heartbroken” by the organization’s decision to fire her first head coach.
And that’s why this decision is so mind-numbingly confusing. Weatherspoon seemed to have such a deep connection with the star players in that locker room.
Angel Reese says Weatherspoon was the first person to believe in her in the WNBA. She’d also very clearly been able to connect with Chennedy Carter like no other coach had been able to to this point and unlocked the best of her because of it. She’d also protected Kamilla Cardoso despite the Sky’s freefall toward the end of the season.
Yes, we get it. The Sky missed the postseason for the first time since 2018 this year. The team ended the season on a five-game losing streak and only won two of its last 10 games.
But Weatherspoon deserved grace, and she very clearly wasn’t afforded it by the decision-makers in Chicago.
Carter went down for weeks due to an undisclosed illness that put her in health and safety protocols. Then, Reese injures her wrist and is down for the year shortly after Carter returns. Shortly after that, Cardoso re-injured her shoulder, which had been nagging her all season. Those three are undoubtedly Chicago’s best players and they weren’t available.
But, even without those injuries, Weatherspoon should’ve been given more runway to take off here.
She was handed an unequivocal mess from the Sky’s front office this season. Kahleah Copper demanded a trade after the Sky missed out on some big fish in free agency. The roster put together never quite made any sense. Offensively, so many pieces overlapped, including the two rookies Chicago drafted in the first round. Asking Weatherspoon to coach this team to the playoffs was asking her to make lemonade with limes.
She almost did it! Chicago was on the brink of the postseason until everything simply fell apart at the end of the season. Even still, she’d unlocked the best out of her best players. Angel Reese looks like a potential superstar. But it seems that wasn’t enough for Spoon to keep her job. What a shame.
I hope Chicago has a solid replacement in mind because they’ll have some big shoes to fill in that locker room.
The Cowboys win, but at what cost?
Good news, Cowboys fans! You got a win over the Giants. It was definitely a much-needed win. Falling to 1-3 after losing to Danny Dimes and the G-Men would’ve been devastating.
Bad news, Cowboys fans. Micah Parsons is probably going to be out for a minute. That defense looks pretty awful to start the year and now it’ll probably get much worse.
Parsons was carted off the field with an ankle injury. If it’s as serious as it looks, he could be out for at least a few weeks.
You never want to see an injury like this one, obviously. But the timing for Dallas isn’t as bad as it could be. Here’s the Cowboys’ upcoming schedule for the next few weeks:
- @ Steelers, October 6
- vs. Lions, October 13
- BYE WEEK
- @ 49ers, October 27
None of those games will be easy, but having a bye week in the middle of it helps a bit.
On the other side … the Giants.
The Giants arguably lost their best player on offense, too. Rookie receive Malik Nabers went down with a concussion just one play after Parsons exited with his ankle injury.
He didn’t leave before breaking an NFL record, though. He’s the first player in the NFL to record at least 30 catches in his first 4 games. That includes this one, where he probably could’ve scored.
My god this kid is sick pic.twitter.com/KOzbyfCFvB
— Anthony Rivardo (@Anthony_Rivardo) September 27, 2024
The Giants got another one, man. How do they keep doing this?
Photo Friday: So long, Oakland
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
The A’s might stink, but seeing this team leave Oakland is still sad. The team has been there for 57 years. Now, it’s over.
In five years, Oakland has lost the Raiders, Warriors, and, now, the A’s. Just devastating. I can’t imagine being a sports fan in that town right now. It’s got to be conflicting.
MORE ATHLETICS CONTENT: 11 heartbreaking signs fans brought to the A’s final game in Oakland.
Quick hits: Al Michaels is one of us? … The WNBA is too late … and more
— Al Michaels hates it when refs throw out too many flags, too. Here’s Cory Woodroof with more.
— Here’s Meg Hall on the WNBA’s dollar-short and day-late condemnation of fan misconduct and hatred against its players.
— Here’s Charles with an updated look at the AL and NL Wild Card races
— Aaron Gordon has a beef with Steve Kerr. Here’s Cory again with more.
— The saga of Shohei Ohtani’s 50-50 ball just keeps getting wilder. Andrew Joseph has more.
— Here’s Charles with an update on the College GameDay location for this weekend.
That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for locking in with us today. We appreciate you. Have an excellent weekend. Peace.
-Sykes