Emma Baccellieri

Washington, D.C.

Staff Writer at Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated staff writer: Women's basketball, MLB, and more. // Say hi: [email protected]

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Articles

Why MLB Finally Invested in Professional Softball

1 week ago | si.com | Emma Baccellieri

The Athletes Unlimited Softball League will begin play in June with something that none of its predecessor leagues ever had. It will have the financial support of MLB. The professional softball landscape has historically been fragmented and shaky. But as the sport has grown on the youth and college levels over the last few years—against the backdrop of a larger swell in women’s sports—MLB became increasingly interested in growing its involvement here.
Flag Football’s Olympic Moment Has Been a Long Time Coming

2 weeks ago | si.com | Emma Baccellieri

The International Federation of American Football quickly found a problem when it tried getting its sport into the Olympics about a decade ago. Forget any other reasons you might be skeptical about football catching on in the Games. Just look at the math: The participation field for each Summer Olympics is capped at 10,500 athletes, which means that without serious changes to the rest of the program, there would be no way to introduce traditional football and its 50-plus-man rosters.
Natasha Howard Is Back Where It Began, Ready to Take the Fever Somewhere New

2 weeks ago | si.com | Emma Baccellieri

It can be hard to decide whether Natasha Howard’s journey to Indianapolis is better described as a 360 or a 180. On the one hand, she finally returned this winter to the Fever, the franchise where she began her professional career, reuniting with a familiar coach and with the executive who originally drafted her. But on the other, none of those entities are the same as they were the first time around. And neither is Howard. “It feels good to be back,” she says.
Indiana Fever más allá del show de Caitlin Clark

3 weeks ago | si.com | Emma Baccellieri

Hace tres años, Kelsey Mitchell sintió que el Indiana Fever jugaba todos los partidos en gira. Su calendario tenía muchos partidos en casa. Pero ese concepto no significó mucho para ellos en 2022. La franquicia estuvo cinco temporadas en una sequía de playoffs, un tramo en el que nunca había coqueteado con un récord ganador. Las renovaciones de la arena significaron que el Fever pasó ese verano rebotando en diferentes lugares.
There’s Much More to the Fever Than the Caitlin Clark Show

3 weeks ago | si.com | Emma Baccellieri

Three years ago, Kelsey Mitchell felt like the Fever played every game on the road. Their schedule had plenty of games at home. But that concept did not mean very much to them in 2022. The franchise was five seasons into a playoff drought, a stretch in which it had never so much as flirted with a winning record. Arena renovations meant the Fever spent that summer bouncing across different venues.
Napheesa Collier Is Making the Game Run on Her Terms

1 month ago | miamiherald.com | Emma Baccellieri

Napheesa Collier works best in context. Any individual highlight might show a basket, yet miss the point. The most impressive part of her game is what she does away from the ball: The Lynx forward has an uncanny ability to establish her position in the right place at the right time. It's a matter of practiced reading and cutting and screening, but it's a matter of instinct, too. "She has this innate understanding of the game," says Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve. "All of her movements make sense.
Napheesa Collier Is Making the Game Run on Her Terms

1 month ago | si.com | Emma Baccellieri

Napheesa Collier works best in context. Any individual highlight might show a basket, yet miss the point. The most impressive part of her game is what she does away from the ball: The Lynx forward has an uncanny ability to establish her position in the right place at the right time. It’s a matter of practiced reading and cutting and screening, but it’s a matter of instinct, too. “She has this innate understanding of the game,” says Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve. “All of her movements make sense.
A Conversation with The People Who (Still) Love Tab

1 month ago | soda-fountain.com | Emma Baccellieri

I’ve never had the pleasure of drinking Tab. I wasn’t around for its heyday in the ’60s and ’70s, when it became popular as the first diet soda from Coca-Cola, and even as a devoted soda drinker with a fairly diverse palate, I had no idea that it was still in production until just a few years ago. It became harder to find over the decades: It didn’t get the advertising shine or widespread shelf placement of, say, Diet Coke.
Delayed but Not Denied, Paige Bueckers Gets a Perfect Ending at UConn

2 months ago | si.com | Emma Baccellieri

The Connecticut Huskies do not cut down nets when other programs cut down nets. They do not climb ladders when they win a conference tournament. No one touches scissors when they make the Final Four. The players understand the standard when they commit: Play somewhere else if you want to cut down a net for anything less than a national title. This is a place where success is measured only in championships.
South Carolina Looks Powerful Again in Win Over Texas, Returns to NCAA Title Game

2 months ago | si.com | Emma Baccellieri

TAMPA — The South Carolina Gamecocks played the first quarter on Friday in exactly the same fashion they had played to get there, which is to say, incredibly, frustratingly disjointed for a team so deep and talented. The No. 1 seed Gamecocks made everything look difficult in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight. They started playing much the same way in the Final Four. And then, suddenly, they stopped.