Caitlin Clark

[tonyhorne]

Now, I have no interest in basketball. Cannot stand the game. My biggest criticism of modern football is that it is getting more and more like a kick about version of basketball. However, I can't help but be intrigued that this girl seems to have reignited interest in women's professional basketball in the USA.

in her first year as a professional following a stellar college career, games have had to be moved to larger stadiums to accommodate all the fans who have started to turn up to watch her. She also seems to be hated by established players and coaches in the league. Regularly publicly dissed on TV, assaulted during games and controversially left out of the US olympic team for Paris. Yet, she does her best to put on a stoic, demure and erudite front in stark contrast to the trash talking street fighters she plays against.

Looking forward to seeing how this pans out ...

 

[kev]

Ah, a netball player.
No wonder I've never heard of her.

 

[davep]

Now, I have no interest in basketball. Cannot stand the game. My biggest criticism of modern football is that it is getting more and more like a kick about version of basketball. However, I can't help but be intrigued that this girl seems to have reignited interest in women's professional basketball in the USA.

in her first year as a professional following a stellar college career, games have had to be moved to larger stadiums to accommodate all the fans who have started to turn up to watch her. She also seems to be hated by established players and coaches in the league. Regularly publicly dissed on TV, assaulted during games and controversially left out of the US olympic team for Paris. Yet, she does her best to put on a stoic, demure and erudite front in stark contrast to the trash talking street fighters she plays against.

Looking forward to seeing how this pans out ...

Did a pretty good job on SNL a while ago. Haven't seen much of her play in the WNBA yet. Reckon she's a stone cold bitch under it all, got to be to deal with all the stuff she's had thrown at her the last couple years.

 

[mmmmsnouts]

Right now other teams are free to put all their energy into stopping Clark because she's far and away the best player on that Indiana team. It's a bit like an FA Cup tie between a Premier League team with one superstar, and some agricultural League Two side who just wants to kick lumps in them for 90 minutes.

 

[Shevin Keedy]

Why do they hate her so?

 

[Bedfordblue]

Interesting post, hadn’t heard of her before this morning but a lot of anecdotal discourse over why she’s disliked suggestions it’s because she’s a straight white woman in a sport with a historically black and lesbian dominated player population. That combined with her ability is attracting a lot of hype and subsequently she attractive to corporate sponsors and advertisers that previously showed little interest in the sport.
Jealously and being different to the establishment basically.
Deeper issue of course being it’s takes a straight white woman to garner these levels of interest in the sport.

 

[Rita_Poon]

Now, I have no interest in basketball. Cannot stand the game. My biggest criticism of modern football is that it is getting more and more like a kick about version of basketball. However, I can't help but be intrigued that this girl seems to have reignited interest in women's professional basketball in the USA.

in her first year as a professional following a stellar college career, games have had to be moved to larger stadiums to accommodate all the fans who have started to turn up to watch her. She also seems to be hated by established players and coaches in the league. Regularly publicly dissed on TV, assaulted during games and controversially left out of the US olympic team for Paris. Yet, she does her best to put on a stoic, demure and erudite front in stark contrast to the trash talking street fighters she plays against.

Looking forward to seeing how this pans out ...

Need half an hour with some bona fide aussie rules players. Those illegal blocks stop when she learns to fall in just such a way she zidane's whoever fancies it. A few out for a couple of months with broken noses, jaws, and eye sockets and there'll be a clean up.

 

[SerenityNigh]

Interesting post, hadn’t heard of her before this morning but a lot of anecdotal discourse over why she’s disliked suggestions it’s because she’s a straight white woman in a sport with a historically black and lesbian dominated player population. That combined with her ability is attracting a lot of hype and subsequently she attractive to corporate sponsors and advertisers that previously showed little interest in the sport.
Jealously and being different to the establishment basically.
Deeper issue of course being it’s takes a straight white woman to garner these levels of interest in the sport.

A few more parts to this story share are important to consider:

She was very famous for a college player, much more than most of the women who've been in the league a long time and paid their dues, and there's no small amount of jealousy that a rookie is more famous than vets. Some of the play against her in her first few games was really nasty.

A white woman playing on a mostly white Iowa (college) team against a lot of teams with mostly black women... well this shouldn't have generated as much interest as it did but there's still a lot of racism among the good ol' boys and they just can't help but say nasty things and that's been happening for a while and that draws attention (even legitimate attention). Now playing for another midwest team (Indiana) doesn't help to dispel or dissolve that narrative.

She's just plain good at basketball and fun to watch. I don't watch enough WNBA but she and Angel Reese are both rookies and soon will be some of the better players* in the league if not already. Fame is irregular and lumpy and Caitlin just has it right now (see again jealousy from the old heads) but she's legitimately good and fun to watch.

*I mean top 5-10 players, not just top half. These women walked into the league better than ~75% of existing players.

 

[wm02]

The women’s college basketball final (due to Clark) this year had more viewers than the men’s final.

There are many reasons for it, but honestly it’s something that I never thought would happen in my lifetime.

 

[Nymzee]

Why do oppo players hate her? Because she's good? No one hated Kobe or LeBron.

 

[wm02]

Why do oppo players hate her? Because she's good? No one hated Kobe or LeBron.

Jealousy. She’s receiving a lot of attention and many more opportunities for sponsorships.

But it’s short-sighted, the more interest in the league will make all of the WNBA players significantly wealthier when the next WNBA TV contract comes up.

 

[tonyhorne]

Need half an hour with some bona fide aussie rules players. Those illegal blocks stop when she learns to fall in just such a way she zidane's whoever fancies it. A few out for a couple of months with broken noses, jaws, and eye sockets and there'll be a clean up.

To be honest, something similar applies to association football as well ...

 

[tonyhorne]

A white woman playing on a mostly white Iowa (college) team against a lot of teams with mostly black women... well this shouldn't have generated as much interest as it did

Now playing for another midwest team (Indiana) doesn't help to dispel or dissolve that narrative.

This isn't her fault though, is it? She was first draft pick and has to go to the crappest team if they pick her?

I reckon women's basketball just got a little bit more inclusive. I thought that was supposed to be a good thing.

She's just plain good at basketball and fun to watch. I don't watch enough WNBA but she and Angel Reese are both rookies and soon will be some of the better players* in the league if not already.

Got to admit, Angel Reese is scary. I find myself checking up on the WNBA results because of these two.

I'm hoping our new stadium will snap me out of it (or Everton start winning a few games) ...

 

[SerenityNigh]

This isn't her fault though, is it? She was first draft pick and has to go to the crappest team if they pick her?

I reckon women's basketball just got a little bit more inclusive. I thought that was supposed to be a good thing.


Got to admit, Angel Reese is scary. I find myself checking up on the WNBA results because of these two.

I'm hoping our new stadium will snap me out of it (or Everton start winning a few games) ...

No, Clark seems to be level headed about it all. Who knows what she's really like, but she doesn't come off as a monster herself. Reese is legitimately good and these two have enough distinction in style along with common experience that they could be like Magic and Bird in the 80s NBA, which really kicked that league off to a new level.

 

[Efcjake]

Why do oppo players hate her? Because she's good? No one hated Kobe or LeBron.

White and straight which a good chunk of the league is not. She's also very good and so that coupled with her positive image has got her tons of money in sponsorship deals.

They are all very jealous and are treating it crab in the bucket rather than seeing her bringing interest to the league as a good thing.