After the Chicago Sky won the Women’s National Basketball Association Championship, the city sponsored a parade Tuesday for the WNBA champs. Video of the event, though, shows that few Chicagoans took notice of the procession.
The Sky beat the Phoenix Mercury 80-74 Sunday at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena to become the first Chicago-based team ever to become WNBA champs and the first team in the city to take the big win since the Cubs won the World Series in 2016.
The Associated Press tried to present the WNBA rally in the best light claiming that ” Chicago turned out Tuesday” and “Fans lined Michigan Avenue to cheer on the Sky.”
But one particular video of the four open busses filled with Sky players, staffers, and family members followed by a half dozen cars showed the vehicles slowly rolling down near-empty streets as the players waved to who knows who.
WATCH:
The empty streets caught the eyes of many Twitter users who jumped to make fun of the parade:
Columnist Jesse Kelly posted the photo but insisted that he didn’t want to “dunk” on the WNBA champs:
Those replying to his tweet were not as reticent:
I wonder how many bake sales they had to organize to finance this “parade”.
— Tim (@Thereal_TimmyD) October 20, 2021
Were those people there for the parade or were they waiting to cross the road?
— RB (@superglassy) October 20, 2021
Twitter user Wisty joked that the scene was “crazy” on the streets of Chicago:
The empty streets equally amused many other commenters:
Barely restrained crowds !
— Gutsy (@gutsy9) October 20, 2021
Pretty cool they can all greet the fans individually
— Dr. J.J. by the Bay (@flagg_colonel) October 20, 2021
Honestly I’m impressed with how the parade featured the team, the coaching staff, all of the season ticket holders, the league staff, and the first 50 to randomly call the radio station.
— Norm Alkris (@AlkrisNorm) October 20, 2021
The visceral excitement of the assembled dozens was palpable https://t.co/6wbMiumlA4
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 20, 2021
Great social distancing
— Meerkat (not a cat) Esq! (@meerkatEsq) October 20, 2021
We’ve seen this excitement before . . . pic.twitter.com/v63mtkXMkk
— Tom Benneche (@TomBenneche) October 20, 2021
Still, despite the guffaws, there were some larger crowds once the parade reached Chicago’s downtown Millennium Park at noon.
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