As the WNBA has continued to grow in terms of fans and viewership, online interest in and engagement with the league has continued to grow alongside it. That has been an enormously positive thing for the WNBA in so many ways. While the athletes and teams on the court are the most important component, fans are crucial to the experience: fans buy merch, fans buy tickets, and fans show up to and watch games.
But all of that fervor and interest can also lead to something like a parasocial experience for some of those same fans. That's clear online, where passionate arguments in favor of or against a specific team often unfurl rapidly; it often seems it's never been easier for one comment to spiral out of control and hurtle toward pockets of the internet that will only magnify it.
It's often seemed that many fans are under the impression players and coaches are reading and participating in these online conversations, too. That's despite the fact that many coaches, including Stephanie White and Becky Hammon, have noted this season they aren't paying attention to social media; many players also readily admit they don't look it that much, and they don't read a lot of the conversations that take place online.
While speaking to reporters at All-Star Weekend in Chicago, Hammon pointedly said, "I think the biggest mistake is maybe the people that talk the most know the least on some of these topics. They don’t have a good pulse on our league at times."
She also admitted that she doesn't "really pay attention so much to what everybody else is saying either" because she is "busy trying to win games."
That was echoed by the Dallas Wings' head coach Jose Fernandez ahead of the team's game against the Indiana Fever Thursday night. Fernandez told reporters he "shut my whole thing down" and doesn't look at social media unless someone he knows sends him a post, or mentions something they saw that they think he should see. And while that might surprise some fans, especially those who spend a tremendous time online, it's a pretty healthy way for Fernandez (and any coach) to approach the season.
The WNBA is fun for fans, but it's also a professional league, and it's work for the players, coaches, and teams. There are few jobs that include the possibility of the scrutiny of millions of people every single day. The ideas that players and coaches aren't reading most of what is on the internet is not only appropriate, it's healthy.
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