The discourse surrounding A’ja Wilson’s unsportsmanlike actions in Game 2 in Indiana, where she received no repercussions from the league, even though she entered the seating area and confronted a male Fever fan for simply pointing at her after a controversial foul, has sparked countless inflammatory comments.
Las Vegas Aces’ fans have condemned the man and, at times, the entire fan base. The media has overwhelming taken Wilson’s side, even after the man was proven innocent, and players like Chicago Sky’s Natasha Cloud claimed the fan may be a domestic abuser. Even A’ja Wilson’s mom jumped on the bandwagon in her own special way following the Aces’ series-clinching win in Vegas Thursday night.
After the game, where Wilson dominated yet again, leading all scorers with 36 points, along with 10 rebounds, Wilson was seen hugging team owner Mark Davis, as well as friends, and her mother, Eva Rakes Wilson. Following congratulating her daughter, Eva began waving a pink, heart-shaped sign that said “Love Beats Hate.” It seemed to imply the baseless claim & unfounded talking point we’ve heard for years now – especially after Wilson’s confrontation with the fan in Indiana – that Fever fans are hateful bigots. Some fans I interviewed outside the arena told me outright, and unashamedly, that they believe Fever fans are “racist.” But without asking Eva personally about her sign, I wouldn’t know for sure what she was implying. Luckily, I was provided that opportunity minutes later.
Eva began walking the circumference of the court, parading the sign across the arena with Aces fans cheering her on. I told myself I would ask her to explain her sign if she made it back my way.
As she was walking in the pathway behind the courtside seats, still proudly displaying the sign, looking for more validation from fans, I asked her calmly and respectfully, “Can you tell me what your sign means?”
Eva responded sternly to my question with a question: “What do you think it means?” A nearby supporter yelled at me saying, “Read it!”
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I told her and the fan, “I’m reading it, but I’m interested what it means.”
She continued to deflect, asking me: “What do you think it means?”
I asked again, which she responded saying, “It means exactly what the sign says.”
At this point, you could see how incredibly frustrated she was as I calmly attempted to get her to explain what statement she is making exactly. “Listen to me!” she exclaimed as she stepped back towards me.
At this point I needed to get to the bottom of this and ask the question we were all thinking. “Do you believe Indiana Fever fans are hateful?” That really struck a cord as she started stepping towards me again and pointing in my face. (Oh the irony of A’ja Wilson’s mom pointing and stepping toward me. I thought that was one of the worst things a person could do courtside.)
“I mean exactly what the sign says,” she yelled again, pacing back and forth, clearly ticked off that I would even dare question her.
She then pointed in my face again and said, “Keep it (the camera) rolling!” followed by putting the sign in my face. I then responded with, “That seems like a lot of hate,” referencing the way she was acting toward my questioning and my understanding of the accusations she was leveling at Fever fans.
A female fan nearby then laughably claimed that I was “provoking her,” which I refuted stating, “I’m simply asking. I’m legitimately asking do you believe Indiana Fever fans [are hateful].” Eva than snapped again, aggressively pointing in my face yelling, “What do you think it means?!”
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The female Aces fan then claimed I was “instigating” in my interaction with Eva, which I refuted, saying, “I’m the calm one here simply asking her what that sign means.”
That’s where Eva walked away.
If this proves anything, it’s that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. If you wanted to understand why A’ja Wilson would get so rageful because a Fever fan simply pointed at her and said, “It (the foul) is on you,” it may be because she has a mother that loses her mind about someone daring to question the narrative that the Aces vs. Fever match-up was essentially good vs. evil.
If you’re willing to parade around an arena making a statement with a sign, you should at least be able to defend your stance, not resort to fits of rage, while refusing to answer simple questions.
For someone that claims to be on the side of love, I really wasn’t feeling it here.
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Let this be a lesson that we cannot allow irrational people like Eva Wilson, and her defenders, to insinuate that Fever or Caitlin Clark fans are the hateful, divisive ones. Don’t allow them to gaslight you into believing you’re the problem. This kind of rhetoric is why many sports fans don’t care to support A’ja Wilson, and many other WNBA players, who have either implied, or overtly stated, that Fever fans are hateful.
To be honest, I have never seen a fanbase more vilified and slandered than Fever and Caitlin Clark fans. Matt Calkins’ piece, which he authored on Thursday, titled “Players and media hate Fever fans for one simple reason: They think they’re conservative,” is spot on. This is all political to them. Though they have been begging for eyeballs on their league for years, they can’t stand those viewers they’ve been praying for, who may be on the opposite side of the political aisle than them. They see any pushback or lack of conformity to their left-wing activism as a threat that must be labeled as “hateful.”
Again, I can only speculate about the specific meaning of Eva’s sign, because she refused to answer my questions, but I don’t think it could be any more clear than what I laid out in this piece. It would suggest that she might believe Fever fans are hateful and the Aces fanbase, as well as her daughter, represent love.
I didn’t feel the love in this interaction, and neither did that fan, who was verbally berated by A’ja Wilson for doing nothing more than pointing at her from over 20 feet away.
