A Run Around Green Lake Doesn't Make the Storm Controversy Go Away

There is nothing wrong with Seattle Storm players getting out into the community.

Running around Green Lake, meeting fans and promoting fitness is exactly the kind of positive community activity professional athletes should be doing.

But timing matters.

Just weeks after a Seattle Storm co-owner was accused of verbally berating two teenage girls at a home game, Storm players were back in the spotlight at Green Lake, participating in a community run that attracted hundreds of people.

It was a feel-good story.

And perhaps that is exactly what the Storm needed.

Because the team's image had taken a serious hit.

During the Storm's July 28 game against the Indiana Fever, two teenage fans were holding signs supporting Fever player Sophie Cunningham and her position on protecting women's sports. According to reporting on the incident, Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted the girls and used profanity toward them. The Storm subsequently apologized, and the WNBA suspended Keaton from attending the team's next five home games and fined her.

One of the teenagers said the confrontation left her in tears.

Think about that for a moment.

These weren't rival team owners negotiating a business deal. They weren't professional athletes trash-talking each other on the court.

They were teenage fans at a basketball game.

Whatever someone's position on transgender athletes, women's sports or Sophie Cunningham's opinions, there is a basic standard that should apply: Adults — particularly team owners — should know how to conduct themselves around teenagers.

The WNBA apparently agreed that the incident crossed a line. A five-game suspension is not exactly a minor slap on the wrist.

And yet the public-relations machine moves on.

Now we have smiling athletes running around Green Lake, meeting fans and generating positive headlines.

Again, there is nothing wrong with the run itself. Natisha Hiedeman organized the Run Budz event, and other Storm players including Sonia Raman, Jordan Horston, Ezi Magbegor, Katie Lou Samuelson and Taylor Thierry participated. Hundreds of people reportedly showed up.

But community events don't erase accountability.

A team can promote inclusion while still having to answer uncomfortable questions about how its own leadership treats people who disagree with it.

A team can celebrate community while acknowledging that some of its fans may feel unwelcome.

And players can participate in charitable and community activities without being expected to become a public-relations shield for their employer.

That's the part I think Seattle sports fans should be paying attention to.

Don't let a feel-good event distract from the underlying issue.

The controversy wasn't about whether Storm players should run around Green Lake.

It was about whether two teenage girls should have been subjected to an angry confrontation from a team owner because of a political or cultural opinion they expressed at a basketball game.

Those are two very different questions.

The Storm has apologized. The WNBA has disciplined Keaton. Those steps matter.

But accountability shouldn't end when the cameras move to Green Lake.

If the Storm genuinely wants to be an organization where "everyone who attends a Storm game deserves to feel welcome," as majority owner Ginny Gilder said after the incident, then that principle has to apply even when the fan in question holds an opinion the organization doesn't like.

That's what inclusion actually means.

It can't mean "everyone is welcome, as long as you agree with us."

Seattle doesn't need another carefully staged feel-good moment.

It needs honesty.

And the Storm should be able to do both: run around Green Lake and answer hard questions.