Getting mentioned on broadcasts in other sports is usually a good sign for any sports league. But I’m not sure the WNBA is going to love the context in which Angel Reese got airtime during Tuesday night’s Phillies game.
The Phillies were in Chicago Tuesday night, beating up on the White Sox, as most teams do. When Phillies play-by-play man Tom McCarthy decided to break away from the relatively boring 6-0 game to wish his friend and former high school basketball teammate Bob Wyskowski a happy birthday.
“He was a heck of a basketball player,” McCarthy said. “Played at Rider and Monmouth. It’s all because I missed a lot of shots and he cleaned them up.”
Little did McCarthy know at the time that he had just thrown his broadcast partner, Phillies legend John Kruk, a high-hanging curve that he would absolutely know what to do with.
“I don’t want to say anything, but there’s someone here in Chicago that does that a lot,” Kruk said.
“That is true, she gets her points,” McCarthy replied diplomatically.
“She gets her rebounds, too,” Kruk responded.
The interaction between the two broadcasters represented the latest in what has become a frequent discussion about Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese’s stat line: Mebounds.
What is a mebound?
A mebound is the rather witty internet-inspired term used to describe Reese’s unorthodox method of grabbing historic numbers of rebounds. While most players accumulate rebounds by gathering the missed shots of their teammates and opponents, Reese has snagged a high percentage of her boards by repeatedly rebounding her own missed layups, frequently within three feet of the rim.
In fact, she was doing precisely this on Tuesday when Kruk delivered his shot at her.
Reese, who was in the middle of her own game when Kruk’s comments were made, seemingly responded to the slight on X.
“Clout is one helluva DRUG. like it really gets to a point,” she wrote. She further doubled down on TikTok, saying, “To anybody that’s been mean to me, and you’re having a hard time in life, good.”
It’s not clear that Kruk is having a hard life. It is clear, however, that the Chicago Sky are having a very tough time indeed. The team is twelfth in a 13-team league and, despite Reese’s 22 points and 13 rebounds Tuesday night, got beaten decisively by the Washington Mystics, 103-86.
Maybe if more of Reese’s rebounds led to scoring opportunities instead of more missed shots, things would be going better for the Sky?
