Caitlin Clark
Great White Hope factor
The NBA is boring. They sprint across the court holding the ball.
Whatever game they are playing is not basketball.
I didn’t see it but I heard Clark dominated.
Caught the last 10 minutes of the game. Was pretty good.
I watched it off and on. First time I ever watched girl hoops. Seemed weird that the old white lady coaching LSU had her breasts front and center. Oof.
I think this the game where the LSU team went and stayed in the locker room instead of standing for the National Anthem?
The problem with the NBA ... and the NFL ... and the WNBA ... is the thug element. There was a time, back when the colleges still had standards (or at least pretended to), that the colleges kept most of the trash out of the professional game. But the colleges sold out long ago. TV and gambling interests now own sports, and they don’t care. Neither, apparently, do most viewers, although at least a few viewers are starting to rebel. Which is a good thing.
Women’s sports are relatively less infested with the thug element than men’s sports, although it is creeping in. In women’s sports, the situation is compounded by militant rainbow warriors. The truth is, nobody cares that lesbians play sports and are probably statistically overrepresented in women’s sports, but fans resent sports being turned into platforms for hateful people’s ranting. The USWNT was America’s team until Megan Rapinoe poisoned the well; now that Rapinoe has retired, it will take a generation to recover — and it will be hard because international women’s soccer continues to improve and the USWNT won’t be as dominant as it used to be. It’s not that the U.S. is slipping; the rest of the world is catching up.
Caitlin Clark is a remarkable player, and she is totally classy. She is the model of what all top tier athletes should be doing. The smart ones have always done this, regardless of race and sexual preference. The really stupid ones, by and large, didn’t used to get through college. But that screen is long gone, and the gambling and tv interests are perfectly happy with vulgar, stupid and violent people.
At 5'9" I can appreciate a below-the-rim type of game.
Caitlyn is as much of a showman as she is a talented player.
Paige is just a slight step below Clark (maybe 1A), but she is much a smoother player - she's like watching a big cat on the prowl, quiet but just as deadly.
The Iowa-LSU contest brought to mind the great Michigan State-Indiana State championship game of 1979 that featured Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
They took their rivalry to the next level and revitalized the NBA for two generations. I wonder if the WNBA will allow something similar to happen between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese?
It would be interesting to see the winner play a team of Junior High School Boys all star team...
Putting asses in seats is gonna get Caitlin some serious dough.
**(and values) of Caitlyn Clark**
That’s nice. But our Sunday School lost a girl to Sunday basketball practice and league tournaments. Getting that college scholarship is more important donchaknow. Thousands of parents will spend a lot of time and money trying to raise the next Caitlin.
We ran our youngest son to a bunch of saturday practices and tournaments from his 10 to 15 years. He was a dribbling and passing machine. Not greedy, but could shoot too.
His older brother won a state football championship (IL 2A 1998), and suddenly basketball was not important anymore.
I’ve seen a lot of that. A kid burns out on a sport before he’s old enough to drive car.
My sons would marvel at my handling of livestock, my metalcrafting, my mechanic skills, and my driving and piloting ability. I would tell them, “you don’t learn that stuff spending your time playing ball somewhere.”
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This is a one time thing, Caitlin Clark Senior Year, rematch from the final last year and the classless behavior of the LSU team and coach...
And take nothing away from Angel either, though I don’t like her attitude and behavior, she’s a star too, and will wind up in the WBNBA as well.
This is an anomaly, but sold as something more.
That being said, Caitlin Clark is absolutely a generational athlete in her own right.
I am sure when she joins the WNBA they will see attendance and attention increase for a while, but the WNBA has recruited great players in the past too, and still has never had a game top the viewership numbers of a game in its very first championship series 25 years ago, or whatever it was.
This LSU/IOWA game was the perfect storm for attention, but anyone who believes for one minute that that one if is an indication of the new normal, is going to be eating crow down the road.
It was expected to be a great game and it did not disappoint, thus the ratings.
Headline: Women’s Game Sucks less and Draws Better Crowd