SI: Lindsay Whalen Embraces the Challenge of Life on the Court and the Sideline

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A great Sports Illustrated feature on Lindsay by fellow Minnesotan Steve Rushin (who always writes with wonderful passion about his home state).

The most Minnesota thing in the history of Minnesota is Lindsay Whalen crossing the Mississippi River beneath the landmark GRAIN BELT beer sign that greets drivers on the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, and saying, in a flat-voweled Minnesota accent that rhymes roof with hoof, “Maybe I’ll have a Grain Belt tonight.” It’s her 36th birthday, and she’s wearing her Golden Gophers jacket.

In Minnesota, Grain Belt beer, the Mississippi River and the Golden Gophers roll on, as does Whalen, who crosses the bridge every day en route from practice with the Minnesota Lynx—the four-time WNBA champions, for whom she plays point guard—to the University of Minnesota, where she is the women’s basketball coach, all because Whalen cannot or will not say no.

When Whalen—the winningest player in league history, on its greatest dynasty—thought about retiring in March, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve asked her to stay on. After four hours of conversation, Whalen told Reeve yes, she’d keep playing. Two weeks later Gophers coach Marlene Stollings left for Texas Tech and Whalen discussed that job offer with her husband, Ben Greve, who says, “Our conversation was, ‘How do you say no to that?’”


https://www.si.com/college-basketba...alen-minnesota-golden-gophers-coach-lynx-wnba
 

And this:

The inside of that office, which overlooks the Gophers’ practice court, resembles Citizen Kane’s warehouse, containing the bounty of Whalen’s basketball travels. Three of her four WNBA rings are here, in their velvet cases. So is the ball commemorating her 295th win, setting the WNBA record for individual victories; a photograph with Michelle Obama at the White House; four commemorative Wheaties boxes featuring the Lynx; and, on an end table next to the sofa, her gold medals from the 2012 and ’16 Olympics. These are the spoils of her heroics, and she hopes to return all of them to their storage locker soon.

She’d like the blank wall behind her desk to display a large mural of the sold-out Williams Arena from the night her Gophers played Penn State in 2004, or the opening tip of the ’04 Final Four game in New Orleans, where Minnesota lost to Auriemma’s Huskies. “My goal is to have all this eventually be pictures of Gopher women’s basketball,” says Whalen.

When Reeve came to Minnesota, having won two WNBA titles in four years as a Shock assistant, her Lynx office was festooned with photos and mementoes of those Shock celebrations. Whalen now tells her own players what Reeve told her then: Help us redecorate.
 

A great Sports Illustrated feature on Lindsay by fellow Minnesotan Steve Rushin (who always writes with wonderful passion about his home state).

The most Minnesota thing in the history of Minnesota is Lindsay Whalen crossing the Mississippi River beneath the landmark GRAIN BELT beer sign that greets drivers on the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, and saying, in a flat-voweled Minnesota accent that rhymes roof with hoof, “Maybe I’ll have a Grain Belt tonight.” It’s her 36th birthday, and she’s wearing her Golden Gophers jacket.

In Minnesota, Grain Belt beer, the Mississippi River and the Golden Gophers roll on, as does Whalen, who crosses the bridge every day en route from practice with the Minnesota Lynx—the four-time WNBA champions, for whom she plays point guard—to the University of Minnesota, where she is the women’s basketball coach, all because Whalen cannot or will not say no.

When Whalen—the winningest player in league history, on its greatest dynasty—thought about retiring in March, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve asked her to stay on. After four hours of conversation, Whalen told Reeve yes, she’d keep playing. Two weeks later Gophers coach Marlene Stollings left for Texas Tech and Whalen discussed that job offer with her husband, Ben Greve, who says, “Our conversation was, ‘How do you say no to that?’”


https://www.si.com/college-basketba...alen-minnesota-golden-gophers-coach-lynx-wnba
No announcement, but that certainly seems to indicate this is her last year in the WNBA.
 


Rushin always writes great stuff. Check out his "Stingray Afternoon" about his formative years in Minnesota. He has a many classic columns, including one about Flip Saunders and another one about his wife, Rebecca Lobo, and her induction in the women's basketball hall of fame with links below.

https://www.si.com/nba/2015/10/25/f...noring-minnesota-timberwolves-coach-president

https://www.si.com/wnba/2017/09/08/rebecca-lobo-journey-basketball-hall-fame

Two great reads!
 


I have a feeling there will be plenty of redecorating done in Whalen's office in the next few years.

She's a winner.
 




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