Only 20 people showed up to Brittney Griner’s “Welcome Home” party at a church in her collegiate town. The first widely known public event organized in support of Griner in Waco was a flop.
Liberal-leaning ESPN has an interesting article about the disconnect between Brittney Griner, Baylor University, and the city of Waco.
People sometimes call University Baptist Church “easy church” because the vibe is jeans and guitars instead of fire and brimstone, and the congregation can eat donuts during the service, which starts a few minutes past 10:45 a.m. to accommodate the stragglers. Robert Griffin III attended during his 2011 Heisman Trophy season at Baylor, sliding into a seat in the back so he wouldn’t be a distraction.
Brittney Griner, an equally iconic Baylor alumnus, did not attend the church when she was in college, but she was front of mind for Sharyl West Loeung, who walked on stage and grabbed a microphone on a Sunday morning in mid-December.
“As many as you know, Brittney Griner is on Texas soil today,” she said. “That is something we’re celebrating and spinning it as a week of joy.”
She told the churchgoers that there would be a service of celebration for Griner. Organizers began planning the event while Griner was in prison, thinking of it as a vigil, but then Russia released Griner during a prisoner swap Dec. 8. West Loeung said they would use the celebration, which was held Monday night, to also pray for Paul Whelan and other detainees.
They’d grieve “over the way the world is,” she said.
Griner’s legendary status on campus is due to her leading the 2012 Lady Bears to a 40-0 record and a national championship. She won Olympic gold medals with Team USA in 2016. When she was arrested in Moscow on drug charges, her most vocal supporter in Waco was Baylor women’s basketball coach Nicki Collen. Collen didn’t coach her and she wasn’t a part of the staff that decided against retiring Griner’s jersey. Under Collen’s leadership, the Lady Bears wore BG patches on their uniforms before Brittney was sent to a Russian penal colony in November.
Some in Waco are speaking out against the lack of public support shown for Griner.
“I will say this: Baylor’s women’s coach has used her own personal platform to … give support and love for Brittney,” West Loeung said in an interview after the Sunday morning church service. “But otherwise, from an administrative point of view, that hasn’t happened. For myself, coming from a graduate of the seminary and having worked there and [knowing] how much they confess being this Christian organization, I really wanted to see more. So the opportunity to do something, to say, ‘OK, Waco still loves you. Baylor affiliates still care a lot about you.’
“Something’s got to come out of this town, even if Baylor’s not going to do it.”
After Griner left Waco, though, and found success in the WNBA, she did some things that are offensive to many Americans. For example, in 2020 she called for the removal of the National Anthem from the WNBA. She was protesting the death of Breonna Taylor and she refused to be on the court when the anthem was played.
Many Americans were bothered by the fact that Griner was a part of a prisoner swap that included Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms dealer, known as the ‘Merchant of Death.’ He has the blood of Americans on his hands.
Baylor denies it remained silent during Brittney’s imprisonment in Russia.
Following an inquiry from ESPN on Baylor’s messaging regarding Griner, a school spokesperson sent an email with a timeline of 15 social media posts and school statements between March 5 and Dec. 8 — including a joint statement that university president Linda Livingstone and athletic director Mack Rhoades made upon learning of Griner’s release. Ten of the Twitter posts were from Collen, and another was from the Baylor women’s basketball account.
“Baylor University operates under a ‘one brand’ approach,” Lori Fogleman, assistant vice president of media and public relations, said in an email. “There is no separation between the University and Athletics. We share the same logo, colors and, most importantly, the Baylor name.
“Baylor’s women’s basketball team is wearing ‘BG’ patches on their uniforms this season. This was done with the full support of the University.”
The church where only 20 people showed up to celebrate Brittney’s release isn’t on campus and Brittney was never a member of the congregation during her time in Waco. I don’t think it’s a big deal. It is in sharp contrast to the reception she received in San Antonio on the military base. There was a barbecue and a Christmas tree and she played basketball. She announced her intentions to return to her WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury this season. The WNBA paid her entire 2022 salary while she was incarcerated.
Meanwhile, when Brittney was released from Russian prison, she vowed to help other Americans who are detained in Russia and other countries. She is asking her fans to write to Paul Whelan, a former Marine who has been in a Russian prison for almost four years and rumored to be a part of the prisoner swap until he wasn’t. She asks that her supporters ‘advocate for’ other wrongly detained Americans.
‘Your letters were also bigger than uplifting me. They showed me the power of collective hands. Together we can do hard things,’ she said in the letter, which was posted to Instagram.
‘I’m living proof of that. My family’s whole and now, thanks to you, we are fortunate to get to spend the holidays together. However, there remain too many families with loved ones wrongfully detained.
‘Those families stood alongside you and all who supported the #WeAreBG campaign to bring me home, and it’s our turn to support them.
‘I hope you’ll join me in writing to Paul Whelan and continuing to advocate for other Americans to be rescued and returned to their families.’
Maybe she’s learned a lesson of gratitude for being an American after being detained in Russia. Unpatriotic actions like calling for a ban of the National Anthem don’t play well in many communities, especially those known to be more conservative communities. And, trading a professional basketball player for an international arms dealer while leaving behind a former Marine and a school teacher (Marc Fogel) shows the incompetence of the Biden administration’s deal-making skills.
