Is "Baller" Trademarked Yet?

After a fun and exciting season, the WNBA Playoffs have arrived!  In this post, I predict how I think the playoffs will go; for each series, I have an x-factor, who is a role player on the winning team that I think could have a major impact on the series.   First Round 1 New York Liberty vs. 8 Atlanta Dream I don’t have a ton of analysis on this series other than New York should steamroll Atlanta.   Atlanta struggled due to injuries, inconsistencies, and a horrible offense, while New York was excellent all season.   Sometimes you don’t have to dive into something closer than that to realize that Atlanta probably won’t win a game. X-Factor :   What is Courtney Vandersloot’s role at this point?   The fit was clear last season when Sabrina Ionescu could have a little less pressure on her by playing off-ball, but she’s been dominant on the ball this year.   On top of that Vandersloot has struggled with her jumper and has regressed a bit defensive...

Now that the last couple weeks are winding down in the WNBA, we are left with an interesting question that feels unique for the league after the last few seasons:  who is contending for a title?  After a few years where it was clear who the best 2-3 teams typically were (with the exception of 2021), there are 5 teams that I think have a genuine chance at a title.  While there are two teams that I consider the frontrunners, including one that I think is an easy frontrunner to win, it is exciting to see that even late in the season, nearly half of the 12 teams in the league have a chance to compete (while this isn’t necessarily a clean transition to leagues with many more teams, it is a wild fact to consider).  In this post, I will discuss each of these 5 teams and my analysis of them. Before going into the teams that I think are legitimate contenders, I want to briefly acknowledge why I don’t think 7 teams are going to contend.   L.A. and Washington have both b...