Some months ago I took part in a panel discussion on sports fandom led by Doug Hill, creator of The Sports Fan Project. (Among other things–Doug’s the only person on Earth I say with certain has more hobbies and side hustles than I do.)

Two of the topics Doug raised that day, unrelated, were women’s sports and the increasing costs of being a sports fan.

Unfortunately I have found the nexus of those phenomena, the intersection of those Venn diagrams, if you will, were we in my Geometry class.

Talk around the DMV today is not baseball or football but the WNBA, and the first home playoff game for our local team. (That would be the Washington Mystics.) The Mystics are hosting the heavily-favored Atlanta Dream, who beat the Mystics by 15 a few days ago in Atlanta. Perhaps we’re the ones with a dream.

There was a moment or two in which I fancied myself a spectator at this game; after all, tickets had to be cheaper than a Wizards or Caps game, right? The story I’d told on Doug’s podcast was that when I moved to town I actually went to a Mystics game before a Wizards game–took a whole group of students one time the tickets were so reasonably priced.

Fast forward a decade and the WBNA, for better or worse, is now super hip. Yeah, it’s like, cool to see the games and root for the home team. Victims of our own success, I suppose, as the prices of these things have increased dramatically. The cheapest single ticket right now on StubHub is $188… nosebleed seats. Easily a few hundred bucks if you want to sit closer, and if you want two together you’re looking at a number with a comma. Is Frank Sinatra the halftime entertainment? Am I leaving with a gold watch? I guess good for them for being able to command such prices but come on, you take away the thing this league had going for it!

Guess I’m going to be watching this one on “TV” tonight… if I can just figure out how to stream it.