Where would Brittney Griner be right now if the press hadn’t steadily focused on her situation from the moment of her arrest and imprisonment last February? Which in turn made the Biden administration pay more attention and make her a prisoner swap priority, etc. If the press had ignored or under-reported her situation all along there’s a decent chance she’d still in the clink, right?

If I were in Griner’s size 17 shoes I’d be saying the following to myself: “Damn, all I want to do is hug and kiss my wife and live my normal life again. I just want to relax and be the person I was before the hash-oil arrest. I want to work out and dribble a basketball and eat my favorite foods…shit like that. But I’m a big international story right now, and for all I know I might still be in jail if the press hadn’t made me into an international focus of attention. And so I need to thank the press and give them interviews and sit for a press conference and so on. I have to play the game because it’s my duty, in a way. History is calling and I need to pick up the phone. I’m like an astronaut who’s just come back from the moon. I need to face the cameras and the questions — it’s the decent thing to do.”

Since arriving in San Antonio two mornings ago Griner has been out of sight, maintaining her privacy, sleeping, etc. If it was me I’d have done the press conference Friday afternoon or at the very latest Saturday morning. She’d do well to “open up” on Monday morning…just sayin’.