For This Hardcore NY Liberty Fan, the Wait is Finally Over

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As a kid in the Bronx, I was a huge sports fan. I loved my NY hometown teams with a passion. I latched on to the Knicks in 1968 when I was just 5 years old. When other kids were talking about their new toys, I was talking about the newest and current Knicks. I could tell you every stat by heart for each player. WHN was my mainstay as I listened to the Knicks win their first-ever NBA title. A few years later, the Knicks would win their last NBA title to date. Oh, we had the Ewing years where we came so close, but no cigar.

My wife, our oldest daughter, and I are HUGE women’s basketball fans. Our beloved Lady Vols of Tennessee have given us memories we will never forget. But one thing was always missing. A professional women’s basketball league.

On April 24, 1996, women’s basketball announced “We Got Next” as the NBA Board of Governors approved the concept of a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) to begin play in June 1997. The joy that erupted among the three of us was one of those moments of joy with the family that are special. Finally, we would get what we had dreamed of for so long. Or as the legendary Aretha Franklin said……… R…E…S…P…E…C…T.

I would be a Liberty fan, our daughter went with Tamika Catchings and the Fever, and my wife went with the Sparks. As you can see, I have been the only one of the three without a WNBA championship……….UNTIL NOW.

On October 30, New York was selected as one of eight charter members of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). Rebecca Lobo and Teresa Weatherspoon joined as the team’s first players and the franchise name and logo were introduced. I WAS HYPED. I got a team of women to root for. I was like that kid in a candy store where all the candy was free. Then, it happened for real.

The Liberty’s and WNBA’s first game was played on June 21 in Los Angeles. Led by head coach Nancy Darsch, the Liberty defeated the Los Angeles Sparks, 67-57, before a crowd of 14,284 at The Forum. The Liberty would make the Finals in four of the first six seasons only to lose each time. They would get there one more time in 2004 losing to the Connecticut Sun to go 0-5 in Finals appearances. And then, the wait would begin.

On January 23, 2019, the organization announced the sale of the New York Liberty to its current owner, Joe Tsai. They played at the Westchester County Center where they were lucky to get 1500 fans. In 2020, the Liberty would finish the season 2-20, but change was coming. Change in the form of the #1 pick in the 2020 draft in Sabrina Ionescu. The team would also get the #1 pick in the 2021 draft. A champion was being built.

Betnijah Laney, the 2020 WNBA Most Improved Player, signed with New York in free agency on February 2 to a multi-year deal. Sandy Brondello was named the ninth head coach in New York Liberty franchise history on January 7, 2022. In the 2022 WNBA Draft, New York selected Nyara Sabally (No. 5 overall). The team acquired the frontcourt duo of 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones and Kayla Thornton. The last piece of the puzzle came on February 8 when the New York Liberty signed two-time WNBA Champion and 2018 MVP, Breanna Stewart, alongside 2021 WNBA Champion Courtney Vandersloot, in free agency.

The team would make it to the 2023 WNBA Finals and face the defending champs, the Las Vegas Aces. They would lose the series to the Aces but it set the stage for what happened next.

The 2024 WNBA season saw Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Rickeah Jackson, and others drafted who would be the next generation of the league. The league would see growth it had never seen before with merch and attendance records being set on a daily basis.

On Sunday, October 6, the Liberty would defeat the two-time defending champion Aces 76-62 to take the series three games to one and move on to the WNBA Finals to meet the Minnesota Lynx. A Lynx team that surpassed all expectations for the regular season and was primed to give the Liberty a series.

Give the Liberty a series does not begin to describe what we witnessed in these Finals. Game 1 was in the bag from the start. I could feel the energy in the building and see it on the team and there was nothing that was going to stop us from going up 1-0. Remember the saying” Never underestimate the heart of a champion?” The Lynx embodied just that coming back from down 18 led by their MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier. In case you didn’t get the message, Phee can hoop. The 95-93 overtime win put the Lynx in the driver’s seat.

In game 2, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton knew it was gut-check time and she put her bad knee to the side and scored a career-playoff-high 20 points. Her play inspired the rest of her team and NY cruised to an 80-66 win. Game 3 saw Breanna Stewart do what she came to NY to do. She scored 30 points and had 11 rebounds to go along with 4 blocks. But it would take a miracle 28-foot three-pointer from Ionescu to put the Liberty up 2-1. The Lynx would tie the series and send the teams back to NY for a decisive Game 5. It would be title #5 for Minnesota or the first-ever title for NY.

If you missed this series, you missed some of the best basketball that has been played, men or women, in recent memory. The intensity, fire, desire, heart, and electricity in both buildings could not be measured. It was a heavyweight fight in all five games.

I took a seat at home before game 5 realizing that on this night, one of my dreams could actually come true. 48 minutes to a title and all we needed was for the team to play its best. For the second straight game, Ionescu and Stewart were nowhere to be found. My stomach turned with every missed shot by our two leaders. I had a bad feeling about this one but each time I lost a little hope, Nyara Sabally was making a play. She scored, she rebounded, she fought like it was the last game of her life. It ended up being the best game of her life and one of the best nights of my life.

As overtime wound down, I could feel it. I could feel a title and the tears of joy, my tears of true fandom, fell without anything to hold them back. I looked up to the skies and I thanked the likes of Kym Hampton, Teresa Witherspoon, Sue Wicks, Rebecca Lobo, and my favorite WNBA player of all time, Becky Hammon for all the work they put in to give a fan like me this moment.

The moment when a 62-year-old man screamed at the top of his lungs” WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS OF THE WNBA.” Finally, the wait was over. The celebrations could begin for the team and all their fans.

For this old man, it was the last of my sports wish list come true. I have titles with my Knicks, football Giants, Mets, Islanders, and even the teams I adopted as a kid like the Miami Hurricanes. But I lacked one more before God called me home. I just didn’t want to leave this place without a Liberty championship. As I sit here finishing this piece off the words keep playing in my head over and over sounding like the greatest song ever played” My NY Liberty are FINALLY Champions of the WNBA.”

I wanna live forever, but if God calls me today, I can say I am good to go. Now, time to get some NY Liberty championship gear.