Baylor had one game canceled and two others postponed. Mulkey herself had tested positive for COVID-19 in January after having a holiday gathering. "Wouldn't it be a shame to keep COVID testing, and then you got kids that test positive or something, and they don't get to play in the Final Four? So you just need to forget the COVID tests and get the four teams playing in each Final Four and go battle it out." -Meredith Cash March 30, 2021 "They need to dump the COVID testing," she said in her postgame press conference. This took place before vaccines were readily available to the American public. And when the Bears lost a close game to the UConn Huskies in the Elite Eight, Mulkey sounded off about her belief that the NCAA should halt COVID-19 testing. The COVID-19 pandemic created yet another source of controversy for Mulkey, who expressed skepticism about the NCAA's health and safety precautions.Īfter the NCAA canceled 2020 March Madness due to the pandemic, it implemented a "bubble" style tournament to cap off the 2021 season. The WNBA's Minnesota Lynx did not receive an invitation in 2017, and the following year, the champion Seattle Storm made it clear they would not accept even if they were invited. The previous two women's national champions - South Carolina and Notre Dame - did not head to Washington, DC following their victories. "With politics aside, we should go to say we went to the White House." We'd be honored if Donald Trump invited us," she added. We were honored when Barack Obama was in the office. "We were honored when President Bush was in the office. It's an honor to go to the White House," Mulkey said, per Yahoo! Sports. She and her Baylor players became the first women's team to visit Trump in the White House on its own (several women's teams visited the Trump White House at the same time in 2017 when he honored the championships of some nonrevenue sports, such as soccer and rowing). Mulkey, however, answered Trump's call on behalf of the Bears. Some opted out in protest of the Trump administration's controversial policies, while others - including many of the women's teams - simply never received an invitation in the first place. Though championship teams traditionally visit the White House following their big wins, many college, professional, and even national teams skipped their meet-and-greets with then-President Donald Trump. Later, Fagan revealed that Mulkey threatened to get her fired from her job at ESPN for running the initial story about Griner's experience. Still, Mulkey did not help her star cope with the realities of life as a gay student on Baylor's campus, Griner wrote in "In My Skin." Instead, she enacted a makeshift "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Griner later elaborated on her experience hiding her sexuality throughout college in her autobiography, "In My Skin: My Life On and Off the Basketball Court." She didn't know that, at the time, Baylor University's student misconduct policy specifically forbade "homosexual acts." "The coaches thought if it seemed like they condoned it, people wouldn't let their kids play for Baylor." "It was a recruiting thing," Griner told Fagan. Mulkey assured her that it would not, Griner told Fagan, but once the future superstar arrived on campus, she quickly understood that she would not be permitted to publicize any of her relationships. In a bombshell report published in 2013 - shortly after the Phoenix Mercury drafted Griner - then-ESPN writer Kate Fagan detailed how Mulkey urged Griner to stay quiet about her sexuality during her four-year career at Baylor.Īfter committing to join the Bears, Griner came out to Mulkey and asked if her sexuality would put her scholarship at risk. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |