Nothing wrong with trash talk in women’s sports

The WNBA always has had rivalries. But this season seemed different.

On Sunday night, I went to popular Chicago baseball bar Nisei Lounge with an out-of-town guest, and the bar was relatively quiet, save for us and a few regulars. TVs were tuned to either the “Sunday Night Football” game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins or the all-Texas American League Championship Series between the Rangers and Astros.

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As we sat and sipped, a woman at the bar started telling us about a WNBA segment on the Peacock series “Brother From Another.”

“I didn’t realize there was all this drama behind the scenes in the WNBA!” she exclaimed. “I mean, I watched the games but I didn’t know all that was going on.”

In the segment she referred to, host Natalie, culture commentator Dawn Montgomery, Fox Sports Radio’s Kelsey Nicole Nelson and Grow the Game founder Subria Whitaker discussed the trash talking in this year’s WNBA Finals between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty.

The four women recalled previous instances of trash talk from the Liberty and detailed how the teams’ rivalry was “personal.”

Last week the Aces became the WNBA’s first repeat champions in 21 years. In the celebration that followed their 70-69 victory in the decisive Game 4, Aces superstar A’ja Wilson was overcome with emotion while sitting on the court.

For the entire season, Wilson and the Aces had been on what felt like a collision course with the Liberty. New York held a 3-2 edge in the regular-season series, including the in-season Commissioner’s Cup tournament, and the Finals matchup was one of the most highly anticipated in league history.

Liberty star Breanna Stewart was named the regular-season MVP in what most saw as a three-person race between Stewart, Wilson and Connecticut Sun triple-double queen Alyssa Thomas. Wilson received a single fourth-place vote; otherwise, they were the top three on every ballot. Thomas received the most first-place votes, but Stewart won the award on the weight of 23 second-place votes.

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So the stage was set for the Finals and the beginning of a rivalry I hope we’re talking about for a lifetime.

The Aces won the first two games and were looking for a sweep when the series moved to Brooklyn for Game 3 — but the Liberty said not so fast. In what felt like a last-ditch effort to do something, anything, at home, Stewart, former Chicago Sky veteran Courtney Vandersloot and 2015 Sky draft pick Betnijah Laney helped the Liberty beat the Aces to force another game.

At the end…