Caitlin Clark ended one of the greatest college basketball careers in history on Monday evening by becoming the first overall pick in the WNBA draft.
As RedState reported, the Iowa player broke numerous records and transcended her sport, bringing an avalanche of attention to an otherwise low-rated affair. Instead of lagging behind, the women’s championship game had a far higher viewership than the men’s championship game.
Clark has captured the attention of girls who otherwise couldn’t care less about basketball by demonstrating it is possible to play the game without relying on rim-rocking rock’em-sock’em action in the paint. There is movement, flow, and involvement in her game, not four teammates standing around watching the team’s star hog the ball while driving the lane. Clark embodies basketball as a team sport that is fun to play for everyone.
In 2024 college basketball, the women’s championship game drew more TV viewers — 5.1M, to be precise — than the men’s.
So what’s the problem? Shouldn’t all supporters of women’s basketball (and women’s sports in general) be ecstatic at all the possibility of growing the fanbase? They should be, but there’s just one problem: Caitlin Clark is white.
That means that her appearance on Saturday Night Live must be overshadowed by racial grievance politics.
When does South Carolina get an SNL spot? https://t.co/YN5DPbXkl3
— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) April 15, 2024
Brought the gang with her too!! 🔥🔥 https://t.co/18wnCp3K4j pic.twitter.com/lgCEwTl2ei
— SSN Jay-O (@Jay_3shifty) April 14, 2024
Brought the gang with her too!! 🔥🔥 https://t.co/18wnCp3K4j pic.twitter.com/lgCEwTl2ei
— SSN Jay-O (@Jay_3shifty) April 14, 2024
Perpetual victimhood is the name of the game for so many who subscribe to far-left ideology. Clark can’t simply be recognized as one of the greatest female college basketball players of all time. No, any attention she receives must be due to the marginalization of black players.
As to this sudden standard that only national champions can be celebrated, that’s silly. In college football, exceptional players receive endorsements and press despite not winning national championships because as with all college sports, recruiting plays a huge role in the ability to do so. Iowa is not South Carolina, the latter of which is a recruiting powerhouse in women’s basketball. Clark was an exceptional individual talent in college, but she was not surrounded by exceptional talent.
With all that said, the argument is mooted by the fact that Clark was on SNL to promote the WNBA draft. Why? Because she was going to be (and did become) the number one overall pick. This isn’t complicated.
That brings me to how self-destructive left-wing racial grievance is. Clark is currently the only hope of the WNBA seeing increased viewership, and along with it, increased income (the league has never turned a profit, and salaries are very low). As my colleague Jerry Wilson explained recently, Clark’s first game with the Indiana Fever is already sold out and had to be moved to a larger venue.
Yet, instead of supporting her and recognizing the shared benefit, the race hustlers seem intent on dividing people to the point of quashing all the attention being brought to the WNBA by Clark. It’s incredibly self-destructive, but it’s par for the course for left-wing radicals who see everything through the lens of “oppression.”
Y’all made her, now live with her. It was not enough to say she was a great player, she had to be pointed out as a white player. It was not enough to say she was a great player, and she could not just be a great women’s player, she had to be as good as a man (Pete Maravich in particular). We will see what happens next. Will she be as great in the WNBA? I don’t know. I do know, I for one, will not be watching. One LSU bowed out (I think a top 8 this year was great), so did I. Good luck WNBA, you will never be as exciting as the NBA.