Watch: 'Bob! Are You OK?' WNBA Half-Court Shot Contest Goes Embarrassingly Badly for 1 Unlucky Fan
How fitting that the world’s most unathletic man now serves as a metaphor for a women’s league subsidized by men.
During a break in the action of Sunday’s WNBA game between the Portland Fire and Los Angeles Sparks at the Moda Center in Portland, a fan named Bob attempted a half-court shot for a chance to win a new Toyota, as promised by the Fire’s website.
Alas, the attempt resulted not in a new vehicle, but rather a viral clip and an inquiry into Bob’s health.
It all began with so much promise. Bob rubbed his hands together in anticipation. Meanwhile, a microphone-wielding woman counted down from three to one as she handed him the undersized-yet-regulation women’s basketball.
From there, it was all Bob.
Dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans, Bob took a running start toward the half-court line. So far, so good, as he generated the required momentum.
Then, it all fell apart.
Rather than shoot the ball like, well, like a basketball player, Bob attempted a kind of two-handed shot put. Predictably, the ball fell harmlessly to the court just past the free-throw line.
Bob himself did not make it quite that far. Thanks to his pre-shot-put momentum, he, too, fell harmlessly to the court, albeit just shy of the three-point line. Although he collapsed face-first, he did manage to brace himself with his elbow before rolling onto his back.
“Oh, Bob!” the microphone-wielding woman yelled in a clip posted to the social media platform X. “Bob, are you OK?”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the clip had more than 1.8 million views.
WNBA fan’s half court shot attempt 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/edME7MaC6E
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) August 4, 2026
To his credit, Bob smiled and laughed at himself. No harm, no foul. All in good fun.
The incident does raise one question, however.
“Have you ever seen fans attempt a half court shot and think, ‘yeah, I can do that’? Now is your chance to prove it!” the Fire’s website reads.
In other words, fans must sign up for the chance to attempt the half-court shot. And that raises the question: What compelled Bob to think, “Yeah, I can do that”?
In any event, there is no cause to pile on Bob. By all appearances, he gave it his best shot.
We cannot say the same, however, for the WNBA.
Indeed, Bob’s tumble pales in comparison to that league’s collective face-plant, particularly in recent years as people began watching.
In 2024, rookie sensation Caitlin Clark brought unprecedented attention to a league whose players had toiled in anonymity for decades. Rather than embrace Clark, a white woman, the WNBA and various sports media figures viewed her popularity in racial terms. Clark’s collegiate rivalry with Angel Reese, a black woman, also carried over to the WNBA. That gave the race-mongers even more fodder. Meanwhile, WNBA veterans heard the chatter, observed the phenomenon, and barely concealed their jealousy.
Then, along came Sophie Cunningham, another white woman and Clark’s teammate on the Indiana Fever. At first, Cunningham behaved like a blonde-haired enforcer, watching Clark’s back and protecting the superstar from opponents’ cheap shots. Cunningham’s fearless play style and refusal to back down even resulted in a viral finger-pointing meme.
In an interview published last month, however, Cunningham took aim at one of the woke WNBA’s sacred cows. She argued, in short, that women’s sports should confine themselves to female competitors.
Now, of course, the WNBA’s woke players do not actually want to compete against men. If they did, they would invite NBA players onto their rosters. What the WNBA’s woke players really want is to be able to say that they would welcome men onto the court with them. After all, in the woke world, virtue consists in one’s views, not one’s actions.
In any event, Cunningham and her growing legion of fans have since faced outcries from the transgender mafia. The WNBA, it seems, only welcomes players and fans with a certain point of view.
Ironically, the WNBA enjoys that privilege in part because, like colleges and universities, it receives subsidies.
According to the New York Post, in 2024, the WNBA lost an estimated $40 million. Meanwhile, the NBA has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the women’s league since 1996.
“The WNBA owes the NBA so much we won’t see any windfall for years,” one NBA team executive said.
To understand the impact of the NBA’s subsidies on the woke WNBA mind, think of Dr. Ray Stantz, the character played by legendary actor and comedian Dan Aykroyd in 1984’s “Ghostbusters.”
“Personally, I like the university,” Stantz said to his colleague and fellow parapsychologist Dr. Peter Venkman, played by equally legendary actor and comedian Bill Murray, after Columbia University fired them.
“They gave us money and facilities,” Stantz continued. “We didn’t have to produce anything. You’ve never been out of college. You don’t know what it’s like out there. I’ve worked in the private sector. They expect results.”
Readers may enjoy that classic scene in the YouTube video below.
In fairness, some have argued that the NBA exaggerated its losses to avoid paying WNBA players more. Nonetheless, the debate always revolves around how much money the WNBA has hemorrhaged.
Regardless of the exact figure, the central point remains: The NBA, for all its own nauseating wokeness, cannot afford to alienate its fans in perpetuity. Market forces still have an impact on the men’s league.
The WNBA, on the other hand, relies on money from the NBA’s owners. Thus, the women apparently believe that they can get away with ostracizing Clark, Cunningham, and their fans. After all, the subsidies have always flowed.
If those women keep it up, and if the NBA money one day vanishes, we can turn to the WNBA’s players as they lick their self-inflicted wounds and ask, in unison:
“Bob, are you okay?”
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