Sports Odds and Ends
Second of two parts
The Caitlin Clark phenomenon has become a daily staple on TV sports talk shows, sports radio, and especially in social media.
Taj George of the R&B group SWV tweeted last week, “Who is exhausted and wants to watch a @WNBA game without hearing about how Caitlin saved the world? ENOUGH!”
CBC Sports’ Morgan Campbell wrote last week on how any male sports media member “with a megaphone and a half-baked WNBA take this spring” (since Clark, the WNBA’s top overall pick this season, entered the league) has been too loud and too misinformed.
As an example, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on his “First Take” morning show, acted like Superman and treated Clark like Lois Lane after she received a flagrant 1 foul from Chicago’s Chennedy Carter during a game. He suggested that she needed protection on the court.
Related Story: Former pro hoopster now counsels other athletes
But ESPN Analyst and longtime W reporter Monica McNutt on that same program took Smith to task on such nonsense and schooled him that the WNBA shouldn’t baby Clark and that he is now talking about women’s pro hoops when he hardly did so over the past three years. The WNBA is 28 years old and is majority Black, but Smith seemingly comes to the defense of Clark, who is white.
“Every player in the @WNBA is jealous, racist, or hates her,” George also tweeted last week, referring to the divisive storyline pushed by sports media, when they “should be grateful” to her for drawing more fans to games.
“Black girls and women in sports are expected to compete in this imaginary box of cute and graceful femininity, especially when their rival is white,” wrote The Tribe Editor-in-Chief Tiffany Walden in her June 5 piece.
Power Plays’ Lindsay Gibbs added, “It’s not disrespectful to point out that the WNBA is a predominately Black league and that White players are covered differently than Black players.” She doesn’t deny Clark’s ability and that she “has brought unprecedented attention to women’s basketball,” Gibbs pointed out.
Although the Indiana Fever guard was named the league’s top rookie for the month of May, ESPN’s most recent rookie rankings have Clark sixth behind Cameron Brink (1), Angel Reese (2), Kate Martin (3), Rickea Jackson (4), and Julie Vanloo (5).
Social media trolls have also been out in full force, with many of them setting up their racial battle lines in defending Clark. Former ABL and WNBA player Val Whiting, who was also a top college performer at Stanford, has been an unwilling target of such trolls as she regularly comments on what she sees happening this season.
“When I say anything that’s critical of Caitlin Clark’s game,” Whiting told us, “I was called racist. I think a lot of it has to do with, you know, the color of my skin.”
Also, not being duly noted is how the WNBA isn’t taking full advantage of Clark’s presence as it should. Instead of spotlighting her at every turn like she is a one-woman show, the league should highlight as well the A’Ja Wilsons, the Napheesa Colliers and the Kahleah Coppers among other stars who are very much deserving of better coverage by the mostly male sports media that have gone completely ga-ga over Clark.
Whiting and others like me who are longtime followers of the W are concerned that the folks who have suddenly discovered the league or women’s basketball in general like they are Columbus will leave after the newness has in their eyes worn off.
“I try to tell people to appreciate the women’s game for what it is,” said Whiting. “I think the game is great with or without Caitlin Clark. The game is growing,”