Having avidly watched almost every game Caitlin Clark has played over the past severn years (four at Iowa and now the third in the WNBA), I must admit to being an unabashed fan. Would I feel the same if she had chosen UConn or Notre Dame instead of my alma mater for her college years?
Probably not. Would I even watch WNBA games regularly were it not for her entering the league? Again, probably not. I don't have unlimited spare time to engage with every sport that cable TV offers. Just as I pick and choose the Netflix shows I invest in, I pick and choose the teams I follow. I don't always choose the best teams, BTW. After all, I will still go to channel 1262 and watch the Rockies from time to time. They are not great but can be entertaining.
So I am anything but a longtime observer of the WNBA, particularly compared to some sports columnists who cover those women for a living.
But a recent column by USA columnist Nancy Armour has created quite a controversy and I must admit that I am surprised by the claims she makes in that column as well as the more general zeitgeist and Caitlin Clark.
As critical positions are often constructed, Armour hastens to claim that she is "no Caitlin Clark hater." She mentions her player of the week award, for instance, and several times praises her ability. But he argument is that a) Caitlin Clark does too much flopping, and b) the more she complains, the more she encourages racist behavior by at least some of her fans.
I often wonder what the correct amount of flopping might be, though I have long wished Caitlin were a bit less vocal and outraged over basic fouls. Armour never mentions her lost playing time due to injuries in her column, and my guess is that at least some of her physical issues result from rough play. I will also note that she never missed a college game in four years, and many teams certainly wanted to "take her out" of her game, triple team her, etc. She was often knocked down but always got up.
Armour took a slight detour into how flopping is not that uncommon. After all, we have just seen so much of it during the World Cup. She also is content to make her own judgment calls about Caitlin's complaints, as in "come on... it's a tough league and you're a big girl" -- she never wrote that but that was what comes across. Armour dismisses any hint of jealousy from those who hound her everywhere on the court, about those who resent a skinny white girl stealing the limelight.
But then she goes to this paragraph:
It shouldn’t need reminding this country has an awful history of Black people being harmed, even killed, in the name of “defending” white women. The irony of the WNBA's All-Star Game is that it's happening this weekend in Chicago, the hometown of Emmett Till, who became an icon of the civil rights movement after his tragic murder. The local art gallery is currently hosting an exhibit imagining his life if he hadn't been lynched. While it’s incumbent on the WNBA to do more to protect its players, there also should be an expectation on Clark to recognize the broader implications of her actions being weaponized.
I guess everyone with a forum is entitled to critique Caitlin Clark. She doesn't fit some neat mold of the All-American girl who suffers blows and disdain but keeps focused on the next play without complaint. She does complain. It seems like a lot to ask but it at least is a criticism with some evidence we can examine. She is certainly beloved by teammates and coaches and multituds of young kids, including grandson Jack. I see she is funding an $11 per ticket night for a future Fever game to allow those without unlimited means to enjoy a game. She signs autographs and grants interviews patiently and plentifully.
But to suggest that each time she objects to a foul (I would argue that she is not flopping so much as demonstrating the result of some impressively strong and aggressive women trying to slow her down), she is making racism worse in America is, well, outrageous.
We are one screwed up country, with a significant amount of racism and sexism and general corruption, but the idea that one young white woman should be playing basketball in such a way as to protect the nation's identity and solve all those systemic problems... that is nuts.
It's the All-Star game Saturday, and Caitlin will be joining mostly Black athletes in that weird tradition that marks a break in the season and provides the league and the TV hosts and networks another large check. I hope she plays well and I assume there will be camaraderie galore, since winning and losing is not the point for that game.
Nothing will be said about Nancy Armour, BTW, though I will note that she herself is another white woman feeling the need to comment on society and on one young, gifted player who pretty much single-handedly injected life into the WNBA. But since CC lives in America, she can't just be a basketball player whining about crappy calls. Caitlin Clark now has been made the Queen of racists who are just looking for ways to troll their neighbors.
That doesn't seem right.
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