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Amy Hamm: WNBA's Sophie Cunningham should embrace her culture warrior status

She's an icon for both her athletic talent and her enormous appeal as a defender of women’s sports

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The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has never been more popular than it is right now. Somewhat regrettably, this sudden WNBA craze has less to do with basketball than it does with a fresh culture war icon: Sophie Cunningham.

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It started when Cunningham, that gorgeous Amazonian blonde and player for Indiana Fever, cheekily pointed her finger at an opposing player — for 22 long seconds, while maintaining eye contact — after her teammate was fouled. It was the stuff memes are made of. And it was indeed an immediate meme; even U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House staff shared a version of it on X. The WNBA then forbade brands and licensed merchandising partners from monetizing “the point” in any fashion, due to a rule about not cashing in on player conflict.

Amy Hamm: WNBA's Sophie Cunningham should embrace her culture warrior status Back to video

For weeks, Cunningham’s pointer finger was all over the algorithms, reminiscent of another blonde bombshell, Sydney Sweeney,........

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