In the wake of WNBA star Sophie Cunningham’s stunning pronouncement that women are women and men are men, and that men shouldn’t play women’s athletics, sports pundit Clay Travis has gone viral for telling the “trans women are women” crowd to put up or shut up.
And apparently, instead of putting up, the same crowd is getting extremely angry that he’s noticed that men and women are different, physically, and is putting up his own cash to prove it.
In a viral video, Jana Shortal of KARE-TV in Minneapolis criticized Travis, who works at conservative sports outlet OutKick, for offering $10 million if the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA would beat a men’s high school team of his choice.
“I thought to myself, why?” Shortal said. “But obviously, the answer is because he thinks it’s so impossible for any group of women, let alone the best in the game, that they could ever beat younger and more inexperienced boys.”
“It’s a thinly veiled sexist joke, revealing the actual truth of how he and his organization feel about women’s sports,” she continued. “It’s not about caring about them.”
“They think women’s sports are a joke.”
Queer anchor whines after Clay Travis offered $10 M to the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces if they could beat a high school boys team, appearing to completely miss his point.
Travis’ challenge came in response to the trans insanity surrounding the WNBA.
The queer anchor, Jana Shortal,… pic.twitter.com/TnF989GHdJ
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 4, 2026
Right. Well, there’s a whole lot of context here that she left out, but the simple truth in TL;DR form is this: If it’s such a joke, then put the Aces out there.
They’re the defending champions. If they’re so elite, they can beat an elite boys’ high school basketball team and pocket the $10 million that Travis offered on Monday.
Important announcement: I am upping my offer, $10 million dollars for a head-to-head basketball game between the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces and a boy’s high school state title team of my choice. If the Aces beat my team, I will give them $10 million.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 3, 2026
There is, naturally, a lot of context to Shortal’s meltdown that she’s leaving out.
This all began during a July ESPN piece on Cunningham, the Indiana Fever guard best known for That Pointing Meme™. Cunningham took a lot of flak for saying that she would “protect women’s sports” during the interview.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” she said.
“I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
When questioned about this stance, her response was: “I said what I said.”
#Fever guard Sophie Cunningham on her trans comments in ESPN:
“I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense. … I think it’s really important to protect children.”
“I don’t dislike anyone. … I’m there to love, but I’m also there to love biological women. …” pic.twitter.com/3OrIqoVYrk
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) July 22, 2026
Well, this led to a lot of pearl-clutching and hand-wringing in the woke WNBA sisterhood, and even got as far as pearl-wringing and hand-clutching.
Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton berated two teenage girls who showed up to support Cunningham for her defense of women’s sports, reducing them to tears. The coach of the Minnesota Lynx, Cheryl Reeve, wore a shirt during their game against the Fever that said “Trans Kids Belong,” and even got ESPN to propagandize in favor of her “thoughtful” stance:
DISGUSTING: Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve wears a “Trans Kids Belong” shirt as her team faces the Indiana Fever.
Patriots rallied both outside and inside the arena today in support of Fever star Sophie Cunningham, who came out against men competing in women’s sports. pic.twitter.com/loVzhvQb0T
— Fitzgerald Kennedy John Jr (@FitzgeraldJr17) August 3, 2026
Amid that backdrop, the bet makes a lot of sense. If you spew the “trans women are women” nonsense, what you’re saying is that boys can identify as girls and have no advantage.
Okay, fine. Clay Travis will find you an elite boys’ high school basketball team and have them play against the Aces. We’ll find out whether “trans kids belong” in the WNBA — much less any other level of women’s sports — or whether or not this is a farce.
Instead, the people perpetuating the farce are turning around and saying, in internet idiot lingo, “NO U.” You’re the one making fun of women if you want to test their broken hypothesis.
We don’t really have to do this because we know how this would end. In 1998, Karsten Braasch — a marginal men’s pro ranked outside the top 200 — beat both Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, in the same afternoon. It wasn’t even close, with Braasch winning 6-1 against Serena and 6-2 against Venus without really trying. (He was known to smoke cigarettes between games.)
Considering the number of men’s high school basketball players that are basically ready for the NBA, this will be the easiest $10 million Clay Travis ever makes and the hardest, most expensive lesson for the woke mob he could possibly deliver.
The only joke is treating biology as mutable. If it isn’t, then put your money where your mouths are, you Jana Shortals and Cheryl Reeve’s of the world. It’s put-up-or-shut-up time.
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