OutKick readers blast WNBA players for hiding during Finals national anthem

Read the original at Fox News ↗
Cite

Kinsey, J. (2026, October 20). OutKick readers blast WNBA players for hiding during Finals national anthem. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/outkick-readers-blast-wnba-players-hiding-finals-national-anthem

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Fox News · collected 2026-10-20 · by Joe Kinsey

Quick Summary

OutKick readers are criticizing WNBA players for leaving the court during the national anthem at the Finals games in San Francisco. The article notes that this behavior has occurred over two consecutive games without any official response from the league, despite a rulebook provision requiring player presence during the anthem performance. Readers express strong opinions, ranging from calls for disqualification of teams involved to viewing the WNBA as a politically activist organization rather than one focused on women’s basketball.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-20, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries left the court before the national anthem during Games 1 and 2 of the WNBA Finals but returned immediately after it ended. The Atlanta Dream won Game 2, tying the series at 1-1 with a score of 79-65. Angel Reese scored 30 points and had 16 rebounds for the Dream in their victory over the Valkyries. Game 3 is scheduled for Thursday morning (AEDT) in Atlanta. The reasons for both teams' absence during the national anthem were not specified, but Atlanta has a history of protesting the anthem since 2020. The league and fans have reacted strongly to this ongoing situation.

Written for “WNBA Finals Valkyries Vs Dream” on 2026-10-20, grounded in this article and the 17 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans strongly right (beta estimate) Confidence high 1 quote(s) discarded as not found in the article
Leaning: leans strongly right for article 94238 (high confidence, 3 verified quotes) · logged 2026-10-20

Story

📰 WNBA Finals Valkyries Vs Dream
Sports · 18 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly right and hedges 3% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
New York Post · 0.85 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 9% hedged 1 of 11 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles describe the exact same incident of the Valkyries and Dream players leaving the court before Alanis Morissette sang the National Anthem for Game 2 of the WNBA Finals, then returning immediately after.”
Fox News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 18 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the exact same incident where the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries left the court before the national anthem during Game 1 of the WNBA Finals in San Francisco on October 17, 2026.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 7% hedged 1 of 14 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles describe the identical incident where the Valkyries and Dream left for their locker rooms during the national anthem before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on October 18, 2026.”
New York Post
⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 10% hedged 1 of 10 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles describe the same incident of players from the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries leaving the court during the national anthem at Game 2 of the WNBA Finals on October 19, 2026.”
Fox News
⚖️ Leans right further left than this 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 19 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the exact same incident of the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries skipping the national anthem before Game 2 of the WNBA Finals on Monday night.”
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this 🔴 6% hedged 4 of 63 📰 publisher trust 69
“The articles describe different incidents: one focuses on fan reactions during a game at Wilka’s Sports Bar, while the other discusses WNBA players stepping off the court before the national anthem.”
Fox News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 4% hedged 2 of 49 📰 publisher trust 67
“The articles discuss different aspects of the WNBA Finals games but do not describe the same specific incident or moment.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 22 📰 publisher trust 66
“Article A discusses predictions and outcomes of Game 2, while Article B focuses on players' actions during the national anthem in a different game.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
66
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
3%
2 of 66 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
67/100
Fox News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
18
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-20 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Fox News · 4830 article(s) · 9 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 9 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Joe Kinsey
26 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners.
🔮 I miss the days in the SEC when you could give a $20 handshake to get into big college football games...not that I would've ever done that with my father Now we have guys like Blake Bible going to extremes to get into mid-season games with playoff implications.
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🔮 Uh, you might want to burn some of that money on coaches, Jer.
🔮 Some may say that's harsh, but, you have to give Craig credit for saying what we're all thinking.
🔮 Cig could at least schedule a semi-hard game at least once in four years.
🔮 Herbert's six interceptions is only surpassed by Drake Maye's pitiful start to the season.
Also by Joe Kinsey
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 26 articles by Joe Kinsey →

Topics

Atlanta Dream Golden State Valkyries San Francisco WNBA the WNBA Finals

Subjects

WNBA ORG · 11× Alanis Morissette PERSON · 1× Atlanta Dream ORG · 1× Canadian NORP · 1× FOX ORG · 1× FOX News ORG · 1× Golden State Valkyries ORG · 1× Richard C. PERSON · 1× San Francisco GPE · 1× UNLV ORG · 1×

Narrative

Monday night in San Francisco, for the second consecutive game of the WNBA Finals, the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries stepped off the court before the national anthem and then immediately returned to the court after Canadian-born Alanis Morissette finished her performance.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-20
🔮 This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners.

Claims (66 extracted, 2 hedged)

Monday night in San Francisco, for the second consecutive game of the WNBA Finals, the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries stepped off the court before the national anthem and then immediately returned to the court after Canadian-born Alanis Morissette finished her performance. asserted
Morissette → step → performance
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. uncertain
page → contain → partners
If you sign up or place a wager, FOX News may be compensated. uncertain
News → sign → wager
This content was created by a team that works independently from the FOX newsroom. asserted
that → create → newsroom
The spineless league hasn't said a word despite the women continuing to break an anthem rulebook provision that requires them to attend the performance. asserted
that → say → performance
Now that we've reported, it's time for you guys to react and share your feelings on this drama that isn't going away. asserted
that → report → drama
Let's do this. asserted
's → let → this
OutKick readers weigh in on how the anthem situation should be handled: asserted
situation → weigh → ?
UNLV Doc has some deep thoughts to share: asserted
Doc → have → thoughts
WNBA types and political sycophants probably think they're rebels, and they are. asserted
they → think → ?
But they are rebelling against order and creation in favor of chaos, which is always the easy way to mindlessly effect change, and what the selfish have always done. asserted
selfish → rebel → what
Honorable rebels take a stand, work, and sacrifice, even against self-interest to bravely bring about something other than the chaos that naturally exists without applied effort to create something good. asserted
that → take → something
I'm looking forward to seeing such leaders emerge from the WNBA mob; I know they're in there somewhere. asserted
they → look → mob
• Richard C. sent in this great take: How about a double disqualification and no champion recognized this year. asserted
C. → send → take
• Carmen has hit a breaking point: I love Daily Outkick and I hate the WNBA and everyday it's just funny to read and move on. asserted
it → hit → WNBA
The WNBA has failed women. asserted
WNBA → fail → women
As a female coach, I do my best to build strong, confident, capable, athletes who happen to be females. asserted
who → do → athletes
They are held to a standard that doesn't include entitlement, excuses, or any agenda other than TEAM. asserted
that → hold → TEAM
The WNBA is about anything but sport, and that is inexcusable for so many young women pursuing professional sports. asserted
that → pursue → sports
It's embarrassing that this is women's professional basketball when so few hold themselves to that level. asserted
few → hold → level
It's a soap opera that deserves zero attention. asserted
that → deserve → attention
As an organization that is supposed to promote the best in women's sport, it's become laughable. asserted
it → suppose → sport
It's a joke that has a played out punchline. asserted
that → have → punchline
You have failed those you are supposed to be a trailblazer for. asserted
you → fail → those
When athletic performance is secondary to everything else, you have failed as a league. asserted
you → fail → league
• Pops makes a good point: The WNBA proves once again they are a political activist organization not a women’s basketball organization. asserted
they → make → point
They decide what rules they want to enforce and what rules they will not enforce. asserted
they → decide → rules
• Kenneth is fed up: Well I have an answer. asserted
I → feed → answer
If the WNBA had any balls (which they don’t) both teams would be banned from playing the game and all players suspended indefinitely. asserted
players → have → game
If you can’t attend and stand for the national anthem of the country that has given you everything then you have no business being here. asserted
you → attend → business
• Mark S. sends a message to WNBA executives: What a crock. asserted
S. → send → executives
Enough of the lesbian leaque and who wnba management listen to. asserted
management → listen → who
Mike Mc. says: The WNBA is a sideshow of awkward misfits playing a child's game poorly. asserted
WNBA → say → game
It's no surprise that they do dumb things, but it is surprising that any discerning "fan" pays attention to this collection of grumpy malcontents. asserted
fan → do → malcontents
On second thought, if you had any discernment, you wouldn't be a fan. asserted
you → have → discernment
Problem solved. asserted
Problem → solve → ?
• Joe B. wants the WNBA to take a hike: Remove the entire league from USA arenas. asserted
WNBA → want → arenas
Who needs these disrespectful ingrates playing here? asserted
Who → need → ingrates
• Don says enough is enough: Why are we continually putting up with the WNBA? asserted
we → say → WNBA
They have proven they are a league that continually cares only about themselves and no one or nothing else. asserted
that → prove → themselves
…and 26 more, not listed.
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