iteration of its notorious kgb stormed paul whelan s hotel room, pinned him to the floor and accused him of spying, if which he was sentenced for 16 years in the gulag. when his story was told, i found after checking a database of 8,000-plus news sources, including period calls, websites and blogs, his and his families pleas for help but heard without much resound. despite desperate public protests such as the one outside the white house in may. but in july, whelan s flight suddenly gained public traction. factiva, that news database, tallied nearly 3,000 hits on his name that month alone and then 3,000 in august. why the uptick? the cultural perm yags of sport. it s pretty powerful and prescient, because while we re celebrating brittney griner s release and return, we are also talking about mr. whelan.