Minnesota Lynx, the 2017 WNBA champions, have yet to be invited to the White House, their coach says
The Houston Astros won the World Series in November. They made the traditional White House visit in March.
The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl in February. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said last month that plans for the NFL champions’ visit with President Trump should be finalized soon.
Before any of that happened, the Minnesota Lynx won the WNBA championship, their fourth in seven years. But coach Cheryl Reeve said Wednesday that the team still has not received a White House invitation.
Following the championships in 2011, 2013 and 2015, Reeve said, the team almost immediately received a call from then-President Obama. But that didn’t happen this time — and hasn’t happened in the seven months since the Lynx defeated the Sparks in the WNBA finals in October.
“It’s certainly disappointing,” Reeve told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
“It was really special with the other WNBA championships that we won to be able to get the word that we were going to get a phone call from the White House. And the players that were still in town, we could gather and it was something special to share with our players to have the president of the United States calling us and congratulating us and then at the end of the call saying he’d like to have us at the White House to celebrate.”
The Sparks weren’t able to make it to the White House to be feted for their 2016 WNBA title, but Obama sent the team a congratulatory letter before he left office in January 2017.
A White House representative didn’t immediately respond to an Associated Press email on the matter.
“I feel like the the trend certainly is that women’s sports aren’t recognized in the same way that men’s sports are,” Reeve said. “That’s the unfortunate pattern. We don’t want to believe that that’s the case. It’s hard not to think that when the Astros have [won the World Series] and been there and we’ve gotten no communication.”
Twitter: @chewkiii
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