Brittney Griner, the Women’s National Basketball Association superstar who ran afoul of Russian authorities when she was picked up at an airport carrying hash oil, made her first appearance for her team the Phoenix Mercury since being released after 10 months in a Russian prison.
She was part of a prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States that included Griner being released from a Russian prison in exchange for the release of the notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, also known as “The Merchant of Death,” from a U.S. prison.
Ms. Griner’s perspective on the United States has changed considerably since before her arrest and imprisonment. In July 2020, as protests were roiling the country, Griner said she didn’t feel that the anthem should be played during the season, adding that she didn’t mean any “disrespect to our country.”
“Hearing the national anthem, it definitely hit different,” Griner said. “It’s like when you go for the Olympics, you’re sitting there, about to get gold put on your neck, the flags are going up, and the anthem is playing, it just hits different.
“Being here today … it means a lot.”
“We looked at each other, and we just had chills,” Mercury coach Vanessa Nygaard said. “We were here last year for all of it. I’m getting emotional about it now. Just to see her back out there — it’s an absolute miracle. It was amazing. It’s giving me chills again.”
After the game, she told reporters how grateful she was to be there.
“I didn’t think I would be sitting right here,” Griner said, per ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss. “I didn’t think I would be playing basketball this quickly. Even coming back, I didn’t know how it was going to go getting back into it. I mean, I’m grateful to be here for sure. I’m not going to take today for granted, but it was a lot to take in.”
That’s a far cry from her attitude in 2020.
“I’m going to protest regardless. I’m not going to be out there for the National Anthem,” she said then. “If the league continues to want to play it, that’s fine. It will be all season long, I’ll not be out there. I feel like more are going to probably do the same thing. I can only speak for myself.”
Outkick’s Amber Harding wants an apology from Griner.
I’d have a whole lot more respect for her if she admitted she was wrong. If she took accountability for her words and confessed, hey, the United States — while not perfect — is actually pretty rad.
She lives in a country where she can vape without receiving a nine-year sentence in a prison camp. Where she can protest, advocate and speak up for whatever causes she wants to. A country where she’s welcome to criticize authority, travel freely, build wealth and live as she pleases.
And that same country surrendered a literal “merchant of death” just so she could have those freedoms back.
If I were Brittney Griner, I’d be shooting off fireworks and screaming the National Anthem from my rooftop.
But, you know, it just “hits different.”
Indeed.
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