And no, I’m not talking about some movie from last century I had zero interest in seeing. I’m talking about the only Sophie who matters in the pitter-patter of my still beating (much to the dismay of many, including a few I’ll hear from after this column) heart.

And that would be the beautiful, funny, outspoken (their definition as well), incredible, female specimen known as Sophie Cunningham.

Yeah, I’m a little smitten about that kitten.

And it’s mainly for two reasons. The first being the noncontroversial, yet controversial, talking point about trans boys (or is it girls?) in women’s sports in her common sense way she talks about things, and the second is because I just really like her style, which makes her even more attractive to me. But I doubt the second thing surprises anyone who reads me regularly. All that just proves is folks still don’t understand me.

To that, and I’m pretty sure Sophie would agree, I just don’t care. Same way I think you should take my opinion on anything, unless it gets you thinking about something you do care about. In which case, I’ve done my job.

In this instance, I will say Sophie made a potentially grave error in judgment. She granted an interview to ESPN in the thought the network had an interest in the phenomenon she’s become. Sophie should have thought long and hard about the network that promoted the thinking styles of Keith Olberman, Ryan Clark and Jemele Hill before saying yes. But that’s the risk one takes in life thinking there’s good in much of the world.

Hey Sophie, while I luv ya, trust me on one thing: There’s little to no good on the “woke” left.

And as I am wont, I’ll dig into what I think the premise of this whole charade brought to you by the network who funds the fiscal loser known as the WNBA. ESPN did the whole thing to ask Sophie that one “gotcha” question. To bring this closer to home, think about the MSM outlet (you know which one) saying it wants an impartial interview with a local conservative. It’s all about the “gotcha” because the story was written before the interview.

Same with ESPN, only times infinity.

I’ll take this a step further. I don’t think this was about a “gotcha” on Sophie. The network knew (or at least heavily suspected) what her answer would be, and Sophie being Sophie gave ESPN exactly what it lusted for, which by the way was about as benign as an answer on the topic could be. But not for the woker-than-woke tyrants at what used to be a pretty good, fun, sports channel(s) to watch for fans who are about the actual sports, not hearing about every perceived societal ill ESPN is promoting that week.

So exactly who was ESPN trying to “get” with this whole (fake) kerfuffle? That’s right, the Indiana Fever. The one franchise the WNBA will not allow to win a championship as long as one player remains on its roster who the franchise had the nerve to select with the first pick in the 2024 WNBA draft. The one player who single-handedly brought the league out of its own self-imposed second-class status (OK, the NBA subsidies helped keep it alive as well). The one player who is arguably the only one on the planet more popular than Sophie.

And we all know who that player is. And the WNBA will take her down (and her team, and the league) if it means pushing its agenda above anything else, even when it should be promoting its product. I mean, there’s a lot of money making to be done if the people with cash like what you’re selling. And that’s a distinct problem for the WNBA. Then again, when you run your league like a high-school clique or sorority system of hate for the “regular people,” this is what you get.

It’s just the folks running the WNBA could not care less about its fans. Well, most of its fans.

Why else would they back the coaches with the non-answer “answers” to the “choice” they forced on Sophie, letting them get away with word salads that would make Kamala Harris blush? Why else would the league allow a coach to wear a shirt like the one the Lynx coach wore the other day but not allow the sign Riley Gaines held up? Why else hasn’t the league shut all of this down by saying, “Sophie is entitled to her opinion, and we support her right to it, and we defend that?”

Oh that’s right, because keeping this alive hurts the Indiana Fever. Most importantly, the league can continue to destroy Caitlin Clark with it. It can only be explained if that’s the league’s major goal. Popularity be damned for the league if Caitlin is popular. She’s not allowed to be popular, because she just wants to play basketball, not promote the woke agenda. Frankly, we don’t even know what Caitlin thinks for the most part, because she doesn’t talk about it.

Which is how it should be.

Last I checked, Caitlin is paid to play basketball and sell products, and she does a damned good job on both. And while Sophie might not be as good on the court as Caitlin, she is way better in front of a camera last I looked, which I do often when it comes to Sophie. That’s not a knock on any WNBA player, Caitlin included. After all, if it’s only about looks, there are none (IMHO) in the WNBA who can best Sophie. Same for popularity (to the league’s dismay) where only Caitlin bests Sophie.

No wonder the league can’t stand them.

This all got so bad, Congress (like the idiots they are) got involved. Of course, the league complained. Yet it said nothing when President Biden traded the world’s biggest arms dealer for pot-smokin’ Brittney back in the day.

And there’s your problem. A league that should be celebrating the accomplishments of all its women only wants to celebrate certain women, all while it can’t even tell you what a woman is. Confused yet?

Then again, I know Sophie is a woman. And an incredible one, in so many ways, at that.

In Truth and freedom.

Craig Hall is owner and publisher of The Business Times. Reach him at 424-5133 or publisher@thebusinesstimes.com