They tell you that you’re not supposed to show bias or emotion as a journalist, because #factsoverfeelings. Well, they weren’t one of the 18,000 bodies that sold out Scotiabank Arena on May 13, 2023, to watch a WNBA game take place in Canada for the first time, the Lynx against the Sky. They didn’t see the young girls and boys rocking jerseys from well before their time, or the looks on the faces of the seasoned vets, in disbelief that they were witnessing this in their lifetime.
They weren’t there a year later when a giddy Kia Nurse yelled, “Hey hey, Canada, how you feeling?!” ahead of her pre-season debut with the Sparks versus the Storm in front of another sold-out crowd at the Rogers Centre in Edmonton. They didn’t have my postgame view as a sideline reporter with eyes on Nurse, who after taking the time to greet a group of never-ending fans, stopped halfway through the tunnel to her locker room, bent over and cried, overcome of seeing her legacy playing out in real time. If they had, they would know that with news like this, it’s impossible to report facts without feeling.
Sports reporter Kayla Grey working courtside. To answer Nurse’s question: everyone in that arena was feeling a lot of feelings, mostly the realization that this — this could really work. Not even three weeks passed before news broke that , with the franchise tipping off its inaugural season in 2026.
Then, those feelings quickly rolled down the spectrum to the side of, “Oh s—t, t.