Sydney Colson using comedy to help bring Indiana Fever together

Every non-game Fever event has the same dynamic. During the team’s open practice in front of season ticket holders earlier this year, Colson held the crowd’s attention with a few wise cracks during her turn in a Q&A session. Before the Fever played the Aces in Indy this season, Colson was catching up with former teammate Megan Gustafson in the tunnels of Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Gustafson was smiling ear to ear and laughing often while the two moved around the arena. On the day of the WNBA All-Star game, Colson chose the most direct path to laughter by performing a stand-up comedy act at Fever Fest.

“She always has us rolling, so it’s nothing new for us,” Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White said of the performance. “I’m happy that she was able to do that.”

In most instances, comedy comes naturally to Colson. When Fever star Aliyah Boston was asked during a taping of the Post Moves podcast who her funniest teammate is, she chose Colson immediately. It’s a vital part of the veteran’s personality.

Colson, by all accounts, nails the timing when it comes to cracks and jokes. Just the other day during the portion of practice available to the media, she made much of her team laugh by telling wing Sophie Cunningham to shut up during the half court shooting contest. Cunningham was off to the side, encouraging her teammates to hurry after missing her own half-court shot. Colson was having none of it, and the Fever loved her direct response.

“Every team needs someone like Syd,” Cunningham said a few weeks before that interaction. “She’s funny, she’s ruthless. Don’t get me wrong, she’s weird as hell. But we love her.”

It’s those moments that show Colson’s off-court value to any team — and especially an Indiana Fever one in need of a veteran leader to bring a new-look group together. She cuts in when the vibe is too serious, keeping things light when it needs to be. That’s emotional intelligence, and it helps her be serious when she needs to be, too.

White appreciates that perspective. Colson has won multiple championships and stepped up during a crucial Game 4 win in the 2023 WNBA Finals, helping Las Vegas take home the title. There are multiple basketball reasons that attracted Indiana to Colson in free agency. But being a tested vet, combined with a light-hearted nature, is crucial during the ups and downs of a 44-game season.

“I’m thankful that, in those times when it can get a little stressful or tight or tense, that she knows how to loosen everybody up,” White said. The head coach loves Colson’s little quips, appropriate or not, and views them as important on a day-to-day basis.

For Colson, being amusing has always been a part of her character. It’s part of how she hopes to help teams off the court, and that style didn’t come from a former teammate or any basketball situation. Instead, Colson shared, her sense of humor came from her dad.

Now, she is bestowing those gags on WNBA players. And she has been for years. Colson is determined to stay serious when she’s playing and approaches her on-court work with professionalism (unless, of course, something funny happens mid game). But off the floor, Colson knows how her light-hearted approach to life can be a uniting factor for a team.

“I’m hilarious,” Colson said before a break to laugh during a conversation with The Next. “I laugh at myself. I don’t need people around — I think I’m funny… I say [something] because it’s funny to me. Sometimes I don’t get a reaction. But I’m just like, ‘They don’t get it’.”

The jokes can come at any moment. It might be at a practice, it might be walking into the arena. It might be on X after an object gets thrown onto the court in a different WNBA game not involving the Indiana Fever — and Colson’s bio on X reads ” this account is very unserious.” That says it all. Her consistently-humerous existence is a boon for her locker room partners.

Colson is aware of her stature as one of the oldest members of the league. She is one of 13 WNBA players that are 35 or older right now, and that makes her grateful to still be around.

Yet that has also forced Colson to consider how she can have a significant impact on her team. Now, that involves being a veteran and, as she described it, imparting her wisdom on younger players — particularly the ones she goes to battle with every day.

Sometimes, that comes during a serious moment on the sidelines or in the locker room. Often, it involves comedy. “I’m just trying to bring levity to situations while still making sure we’re working hard. But, you know, we gotta have fun,” Colson said. “[The Indiana Pacers] (who share an arena and some facilities with the Fever) are having fun because they play hard and they play as a team. And so I want us to have that kind of mindset. Play fast, play hard.”

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It’s crucial that Colson strikes the right balance between joking and being serious. Too many wisecracks will make her come off as flippant. Too few and she’ll be a no-fun veteran — still a useful piece, but not someone that is as fun to be around.

Being right in the middle of those two poles makes Colson who she is. And her teammates respond to that style of leadership. “Oh, right away,” Colson said of how quickly her teammates latched on to her humorous ways. “I think some people were like, ‘I didn’t know if you really acted like this or if it was just like something you put on for cameras. But you really act like this’. I’m like, ‘Yeah, people think that all the time.’ So I can see why some people find me annoying, because they think it’s an act,” Colson continued. “But it is what it is. They received me well, and I think we’ve got a good group. We have fun together, and so it makes it easier.”

That’s not just lip service from Colson. The team does have fun together, particularly when she’s around. Lexie Hull and Cunningham made that clear with an interaction before the Fever’s win on Sunday over the Seattle Storm.

That’s what many public-facing moments involving Colson look like. And it’s part of why she’s so important to the Fever despite having a smaller in-game role.

Yet Colson’s impact isn’t just limited to off-court improv. She’s been needed often with Caitlin Clark missing time this season and has filled in well enough. Through 28 appearances games this season, including a career high six starts, Colson is averaging 2.5 points and 2.1 assists per game. She wanted to come to Indiana in free agency in part because she knew a role was coming her way, and so far she’s been additive on the hardwood.

Contributing has been a goal of Colson’s this year, and she noted that she didn’t play as much on past teams. Court time is meaningful now, and being able to contribute helps her be a more valuable teammate as she tries to pour into younger players during her final years. Some of that is chiming in when she sees something from the bench. Other times, it’s the jokes. Those on and off-court offerings, in tandem, are what make Colson so important to her team.

“I know she wants to be a comedian,” White said. “But she’d make a hell of a coach.”