By Alexis Shoats
I’ve been waiting for this day to come since purchasing the tickets. Over the past few years, I’ve become a huge WNBA fan like many people and I finally got my hands on tickets to a sold-out game. The Atlanta Dream vs. Indiana Fever was sure to be a fun match-up between top picks Rhyne Howard (Atlanta Dream), Caitlin Clark (Indiana Fever), and Aliyah Boston (Indiana Fever). Unfortunately, Rhyne Howard was injured in the previous game against the Minnesota Lynx and was declared out for the rest of the season. Imagine the pain we Dream fans felt about this injury, however, we’ve got a lot of talent on our team. Between Tina Charles, Alisha Gray, Aerial Powers, Haley Jones, and so many other players my hopes were still high going into the game.
I originally planned to take the train but decided to drive last minute because we were running behind. It was only a 10-minute walk from where we parked to State Farm Arena. This isn’t where the Dream typically plays, the Gateway Center Arena houses the team on the Southside of Atlanta. Like many WNBA games this season, due to demand, the team decided to move it to State Farm Arena to accommodate more fans. Unprecedented, and with the league expanding we can expect to see this happen more often. Once we arrived at State Farm Arena, we were greeted with lines everywhere, but shockingly, they were moving quickly. We were in the building within 5 minutes of getting in line. I immediately noticed how many people were either in merch or flocking to the merch store for last-minute pick-ups. Luckily earlier in the day I found a few pieces of merch at Dick’s Sporting Goods, but it wasn’t the best selection so I too went into the store to find more for future games. It was refreshing to see a good number of people purchasing Dream gear. As we took our seats before the game started, I spoke with my boyfriend about the number of people with Caitlin Clark merch. I'm a fan of hers, but I'm also a fan of Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell, Nalyssa Smith, and Temi Fagbenle who are all teammates of hers. It would have been nice to see real Indiana fans wearing their gear as well, or screaming out these player's names. The one person I heard in my section happened to be a teenage black girl, she proudly knew all of the players' names.
Halftime came quickly. The Atlanta Dream were down, and I needed them to turn this around in the next half. I decided to stay put throughout the halftime show, and it was a lot of fun. Between Big Tigga and the Atlanta Drum Academy, I was entertained. Once the third quarter started the game became more physical and higher intensity. The Atlanta Dream tried their hardest to close the gap. We finally had a breakthrough and made it a 10-point game. I was on the edge of my seat at this point. We couldn’t get ahead though, and we lost the game, Indiana Fever 91 to Atlanta Dream 79. Disappointing but one hell of an experience. From the crowds that greeted us, to seeing all the little girls in awe of their idols, and whether fans were there to witness Caitlin Clark shoot from the logo or to cheer for Atlanta Dream favorites, everyone watches women's sports.
Excellent article!