By Jasmine Brown
For the first time ever, a WNBA game was cancelled on Friday night.
The Aces were in the nation’s capital, but they refused to play the game due to traveling woes. There were many, many takes on this issue, including the fact that teams need chartered planes. Some thought this should fall on the WNBA, while others thought that since they at least made it to D.C, they were deemed able to play.
The Aces sent out a release, stating that “Given the travel issues we faced over the past two days—25+ hours spent in airports and airplanes, in cramped quarters and have not slept in a bed since Wednesday night— and after consulting with Players Association leadership and medical professionals, we concluded that tonight’s game would put us at too great a risk for injury.”
The truth of the matter is that because of how the cancellation went down, there will be some type of meetings regarding team travel in the future.
Mystics head coach Mike Thibault talked about the situation and gave no cut cards about it. He explained a similar type of situation that he and his team faced while on the way to a game against the New York Liberty. “We (took a bus) back to Connecticut from Cleveland, Ohio on a Friday. We got in 2 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Got another bus in the morning to New York and showed up 52 minutes before game time to make sure we played the game, so I have zero sympathy for anybody right now.
“Our players this year, we played in Seattle after playing in LA the day before. We got in our hotel at four in the morning and played that afternoon.”
This game is huge in terms of playoff implications. The Aces, who were a game and a half out of the eighth spot, could have been closer with a win. When asked how it changes the landscape of the game, Thibault said it plain and simple with a slight chuckle. “I’m assuming that we won”
Not all was lost, however, as the Mystics players took the remaining time of the game to sign autographs for the fans. Most of them seemed to be in good spirits about the situation, but the moment had to be awkward for them. They also lost money in this whole thing, including ticket refunds and issuing free tickets to another game.
