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It Was Awful, It Meant Everything by T.J. McConnell | The Players’ Tribune

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After Game 7, I guess this clip went viral, you’ve probably seen it. I’m crying my eyes out as I’m walking off the court, and one of the TV camera guys is following me through the tunnel. And you can see this woman just kind of notice the camera guy — immediately block him from me — and then motion at him like, SIR. SIR, DO NOT TAKE ANOTHER STEP. LEAVE T.J. ALONE. I think it must have been the way she seemed so protective of me … but people assumed it was my mom. So then of course the clip got shared all over social media, with millions of views and these captions like, “T.J. MCCONNELL’S MOM DOES NOT PLAY.” Yeah. Lol. Not my mom. Who it is, though, is Karen Atkeson — our VP of Player Relations with the Pacers. I’ve developed a great relationship with Karen over the six seasons I’ve been here. And I think she saw I was in tears, saw how raw my emotions were, so she gave me this big hug and tried talking me through it. And then when the TV camera started following me, she just reacted ou

T.J. McConnell Indiana Pacers Jul 22, 2025 I’m going to start this with something that’s a little funny — just to lighten the mood. That’s not my mom. After Game 7, I guess this clip went viral, you’ve probably seen it. I’m crying my eyes out as I’m walking off the court, and one of the TV camera guys is following me through the tunnel. And you can see this woman just kind of notice the camera guy — immediately block him from me — and then motion at him like, SIR. SIR, DO NOT TAKE ANOTHER STEP. LEAVE T.J. ALONE. I think it must have been the way she seemed so protective of me … but people assu

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