The Toronto Tempo hosted the Indiana Fever at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Tuesday night. The Fever prevailed, 101-95, to win their fifth straight game, but of course, nobody wants to talk about that. Instead, the headline from the game is that Fever guard Sophie Cunningham was booed loudly — on the same night the Tempo unveiled their two new official mascots, Dez the Snapping Turtle and Dot the Arctic Hair.
The Tempo did not plan their mascot reveal around Sophie Cunningham's presence at Scotiabank, to be clear. But those two things are correlated because of Cunningham's recent comments about transgender athletes and the fact Dez the Snapping Turtle is non-binary. "Dez (she/they) is a Borealis Blue Snapping Turtle from Muskoka, Ontario," Toronto's official release reads.
"Their name is inspired by decibel, a nod to their love of music and role as the more measured half of the duo. Dez is calm, clever and always thinking a few steps ahead." The release additionally relays, "Together, Dez and Dot offer a new spin on one of the oldest pairings in storytelling: the tortoise and the hare. Instead of slow against fast, they are steady and swift – a reminder that knowing when to change pace can be just as important as the pace itself." Let's pause for a moment to recognize how absolutely lovely that is.
Now, what did Cunningham say about transgender athletes? "I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans," Cunningham said in an ESPN profile published July 21. "And I'm like, 'I never once said that.' I think that I am here to extend love.
But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men." As for getting booed in Toronto, Cunningham brushed it off during her postgame press conference. "The crowd was absolutely amazing," she said.
"I think that’s what sports is all about. You’re going to get boos and you’re going to get cheers, but just the fact that they're so passionate, they're loud, and they're putting on for the city, I think it's amazing."
Extract — continue reading at the source.
