After winning their first-ever Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Championship on Sunday afternoon, the Chicago Sky will have a parade and a rally in downtown Chicago on Tuesday, October 19.
The parade will begin near Wintrust Arena, the home of the Chicago Sky, at 11 AM CST at the intersection of Roosevelt Road and Michigan Avenue. The parade will then progress northward on Michigan Avenue to Randolph Street and will end at Millennium Park. Then, the rally will begin at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at 12 PM CST. There will be a security screening at the park, so no bags will be allowed into the venue.
This championship run was even more exciting because the Sky was the lowest seed to ever win the WNBA trophy. The Sky had to deal with so many injuries during the season, which led to them having a .500 record in the 2021 regular season. However, the ladies regained their health after the season break which allowed for WNBA players to participate in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo because none of the Sky players were picked to be on the gold-medal winning US Women's Basketball team.
Sunday's win allowed for the Chicago Sky to clinch a 3-1 victory over the Phoenix Mercury in the Best-of-5 championship series. The Mercury was favored in this series because of their big three of center Brittney Griner and guards Diana Taurasi and Sklyar Diggins-Smith.
However, Sky power forward Candace Parker was on a mission this season. Her decision to return to the Chicago area via free agency brought optimism to the team and to this area because she was one of the best women's high school players in Illinois history (Naperville Central HS). Her legacy is now cemented as one of the best players in WNBA history.
Nevertheless, the Sky displayed a total team effort in winning this series. Sky guard Kahleah Copper ended up being the WNBA Playoffs Most Valuable Player by stepping up her offensive game while guarding the opposing team's best perimeter player. Guard Allie Quigley, who is also an Illinois native (Joliet Catholic HS), led the Sky comeback in Game 4 on Sunday with 26 points after being down by ten points in the third quarter.
Plus, the Chicago Sky had to overcome the WNBA's bias towards the Phoenix Mercury in the series. In the second quarter of Game 2, there was a little scuffle between Copper and Mercury guard Sophie Cunningham after they were going for a loose ball on the court. The WNBA referees were attempting to break up the melee when Taurasi comes over and pushes the ref.
Normally, putting hands on a referee in any sport is an immediate ejection from the game along with at least a one-game suspension. The refs allowed for her to stay in the game. Also, she was only fined and was allowed to play in Game 3. The ball doesn't lie though because the Sky won Game 3 of the series over the Mercury 86-50. That example of blatant bias sort of explains why the WNBA logo that is shown above sort of looks like Taurasi. The WNBA knows where their bread is buttered because she is still in the Top Ten in WNBA jersey sales after all of these years.
Another example of the WNBA bias towards the Phoenix Mercury is that the losing team decided not to do any post-game interviews after their Game 4 loss to the Chicago Sky. Plus, Taurasi broke the door to the visiting locker room in Chicago. The city of Chicago does not need any more violence within the Windy City.
Fortunately, the parade is happening now instead of later. Congratulations to the Chicago Sky on their first-ever WNBA Championship.
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