Caitlin Clark dazzled the college basketball world, helping ABC and ESPN draw a combined peak of 24 million viewers for the national championship game between Iowa and South Carolina.
I was one of the viewers, though I hadn’t previously seen a women’s championship.
The audience topped the men’s basketball championship game, which drew only 14.82 million viewers. Never before had women’s basketball created so much interest.
Ticket prices to the women’s championship were actually more than the men’s.
Now with the WNBA Indiana Fever, Clark has helped the franchise break attendance records as well. In 2023, the Fever had 81,336 total spectators at home games. In a mere five games of the 2024 season, 82,857 have already attended.
For most of us, it’s exciting that women’s sports are gaining popularity and interest. We ought to be thankful Clark has helped moved the ball forward on that front, pardon the pun.
By all predictions, Clark was supposed to have an immediate, significant impact on the league beyond just ratings.
But reality has set in, and her stats have been disappointing, to say the least.
Clark is only averaging 15.6 points per game, 5.1 rebounds, 6.4 assists, and a whopping 5.4 turnovers in 33 minutes played per game. She leads the league in turnovers.
By comparison, Dallas’s Ogunbowale is averaging 26.6 points a game, Las Vegas’s Wilson is averaging 26.5, and Phoenix’s Copper is averaging 22.9. Clark likewise isn’t in the top 5 in rebounds or 3-pointers, where she’s shooting less than 30% and ranks 44th in the league.
Teams are playing tight defense on Clark. They’re double-teaming her. Pressuring her. Making life difficult. Talking trash. One player even shoved Clark at the end of a play.
That’s when thousands of people took to social media to express their belief that Clark’s poor performance on the court was nothing other than the result of pure racism against her because she’s white.
Golfer Clay Travis wasn’t shy about alleging racism for Clark’s woes.
“Caitlin Clark is White and straight in a league that is primarily minority and lesbian. I told you this was going to be an issue, and now you got everybody acknowledging it all over the place. The average WNBA player does not like Caitlin Clark because she is White, because she is straight, and because now she is rich and getting a lot of attention. There is a great deal of resentment about that.”
As Fox News Radio commented further:
“They’re tearing Caitlin Clark down because she’s a minority.”
After Megyn Kelly posted on her Facebook page, “Caitlin Clark is revolutionizing the WNBA, so why is she getting so much blow back?” among the nearly 2 million comments were numerous ones charging reverse racism.
Even no-filters Stephen A. Smith said race may be the culprit.
Ahhh. Good ol’ reverse racism.
I call bullshit.
Using charges of “racism” to excuse Clark’s performance or the tight D played against her is insulting since most of these same folks aren’t ever speaking out against real racism that Black people endure systemically in America. Every. Single. Day.
Did any of the so-called racism activists in Clark’s corner ever advocate for affordable housing? Did they ever put their foot down on systemic racism in health care, education and policing?
Were these same folks clapping for Kaepernick when he protested police brutality?
Most of the people outraged over so-called racism against Clark never lifted a finger to help defeat racism against Black people.
But above the hypocrisy, the allegations about racism and jealousy involving a white woman actually are just perpetuating stereotypes against Black women, one of which is that Black women are jealous of white women.
Black women are accused of being jealous of white women all the time.
When they wear certain hairstyles to allegedly look white.
When Black men date white women, we’re fed the idea that Black women are jealous and upset by the interracial relationship.
Newsflash. The stereotype misleading. Most Black women aren’t trying to be white.
I’m not criticizing Clark. She’s human after all, and professional sports are on an entirely different level than college sports. The talent. The pressure. The spotlight.
It’s why most of us can’t name the player who was picked just above Michael Jordan in the NBA draft.
It was Sam Bowie. Picked second in the 1984 NBA Draft, over №3 Jordan. Expected to crush it in the NBA.
Bowie played for three different teams from 1984 to 1995, averaging 10.9 points per game. While he had a semi-respectable NBA career, he certainly was no all-star.
The verdict is of course still out on Clark, but her performance issues aren’t because of racism. They aren’t because white people just can’t make it in professional sports or any other profession because Black people are keeping them down. Her performance is the result of other highly competitive athletic women not giving the rookie a free pass.
And it’s because Caitlin Clark is human after all.
But it’s not because of race.
If anything, the real racism here is how the sports world has chosen a white woman to be the face of the WNBA, which is 70% Black, to make it more marketable when so many amazing players have been passed over for the same mantle.
Real racism is how the media made a darling out of Clark but didn’t prop up any of the many amazingly talented Black female superstars who came before her.
Redirect your outrage, and let’s focus on fighting real injustices.
—
This post was previously published on medium.com.
***
From The Good Men Project on Medium
 |
 |
 |
 |
***
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—–
Photo credit: Abhay siby Mathew on Unsplash
