The Indiana Fever has understandably received far more attention since selecting Iowa standout Caitlin Clark in the 2024 WNBA Draft. That attention has also led to an increase in criticism of the organization, often over petty reasons, as people who didn’t used to pay much attention to women’s basketball suddenly chime in.
Just a few days after Ethan Strauss and Bill Simmons wondered why the WNBA didn’t just call all their teams the women’s version of their NBA counterparts, former ABC News correspondent and founder of FiveThirtyEight Nate Silver chimed in with his thoughts about WNBA team names.
Rather than critiquing anything of substance regarding the Fever’s 0-3 start to the 2024 WNBA season, Silver took to X (formerly Twitter), to pick apart the literal name of the team.
“As the WNBA gains more attention, it’s time to confront an uncomfortable reality,” wrote Silver. “It’s kind of weird to name a sports team (or anything really) the Fever?”
As the WNBA gains more attention, it’s time to confront an uncomfortable reality: It’s kind of weird to name a sports team (or anything really) the Fever?
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) May 18, 2024
It’s a strange critique particularly because every professional sports league has teams with names that don’t make a ton of sense when you think about it.
One fan pointed out on X that the MLB has multiple teams whose name is derived from an article of footwear (Red Sox, White Sox, and Reds).
Brother, there are three different baseball teams named after socks. https://t.co/hWqpbN3vcG
— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) May 18, 2024
Another referred to the fact that the NBA’s Boston Celtics are named that because the city of Boston happens to be an area where a ton of Irish immigrants came when entering the United States, which could have been said of many American cities during the mid-1800s.
My favorite team is the Boston Irish Guys https://t.co/Z4E81ECYJf
— the federalist stinks!!!! (@rajandelman) May 18, 2024
You can go on and on about team names not being overly significant whatsoever. The Oklahoma City Thunder are literally named after a weather event that happens everywhere. Arguably the most famous NBA team of all is named after lakes and plays in a city with very few of them. To say nothing of the Utah Jazz.
the biggest team in the nba is named after lakes https://t.co/1nkBliAeha
— Lindsay Gibbs (@linzsports) May 18, 2024
An incomplete list of the stupid things we name sports teams after: pants, earthquakes, hurricanes, multiple pairs of socks, boats, the lakes of a completely different state and the Great Chicago Fire.
I think we’ll be okay. https://t.co/AH9WRNSqAG
— Shehan Jeyarajah (@ShehanJeyarajah) May 18, 2024
There’s something familiar, yet annoyingly disappointing about seeing this genre of tweet — the nonsensical stream-of-consciousness half-baked take — infiltrate women’s sports, now that the W is mainstream. 🫠 https://t.co/DpHKUmBGI0
— Myles (@MylesEhrlich) May 18, 2024
The NBA has teams named after pants, equipment, a year, auto parts, lakes that have nothing to do with where they currently play, music that has nothing to do with where they play, and a movie that was popular when the team started. https://t.co/EYcn8yeZIi
— JP Kirby (@the506) May 18, 2024
There’s literally an NBA team named after a style of pants…
…2 teams named after sorcery…
…one after lakes and another after a style of music neither relevant to their city…
…and…the Heat
What’s weird about it? https://t.co/eSGyXSEEtw
— Ian Hest 🟦 (@IanHest) May 18, 2024
Silver certainly seems to be on an island with his take, which has 1.5 million views and counting, and nearly nobody on his side…
