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Who doesn’t love a parade? On Thursday morning, a delirious New York Liberty team, their coaches, front office, and beloved mascot climbed aboard decked-out buses and cruised down Broadway, marking the franchise’s first ever championship parade. Onlookers scaled everything in sight to lay eyes on Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionescu, and the rest of the history-making Liberty. It was the first ticker tape parade for a New York team since the Giants won the Super Bowl in 2012, and the city came out in droves to experience it firsthand.
A huge percentage of the crowd was young girls—jubilant about missing school—accompanied by fathers who didn’t think twice about taking them into the city. Multiplication tables and social studies would have to wait another day. “Don’t get us in trouble with the school system,” one parent pleaded. On Thursday, it was all about the Liberty. For the second season in a row, the Libs put up a sparkling 32-8 record in the regular season, but unlike last year, this time they finished the deal. A clean sweep of the Atlanta Dream in the first round set up a rematch with the Las Vegas Aces, who beat New York for the trophy in 2023, in the semifinals. Behind a complete team effort, the Liberty overcame their demons in the desert and got through the Aces in four games.
The last stage—an instant classic five-game death match against the Minnesota Lynx—proved to be a taller task than most fans anticipated. But when the buzzer sounded at the end of a do-or-die Game 5, confetti fell from the Barclays Center rafters and the Liberty had officially done it. A group of three preteen sisters gleefully told me that they were allowed to stay up past their bedtime to watch the Liberty bring it home while their father proudly looked on. “Sports, I think, brings out the best in everybody,” Dad said. “We’re fortunate that they enjoy playing sports. It’s great seeing women, and positive role models for the girls.”
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