Stephen A. Smith on Caitlin Clark and the racial bias of America

No matter how far we've advanced, no matter how far we've come, even when we had a black president a decade ago, even when we had a woman as the Democratic nominee for the presidency of the United States in the year 2016...  Even with all of these "advancements" per se in our society, Caitlin Clark is a reminder, as great as she is through no fault of her own, America is still more receptive to marketing white folks more so than anybody else.  It's what they've looked for and what they pray for and they're getting it [with Caitlin Clark].  That's the reality.

~ Stephen A. Smith, "Caitlin Clark stands against hate," The Stephen A. Smith Show, 8:15 mark, June 16, 2024

My response:

Ok, how about some proof, SAS?  Where are your receipts?

Here is the counter evidence: Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neill and Lebron James, arguably the three most marketable athletes in modern history.  According to Sportico, Lebron was the top paid athlete in endorsement deals last year at $80 million. 

Sorry, SAS, that can't happen in a systemically racist society.  The real racists are those clamoring for victim status claiming to fight racism.  It's the Oppression Olympics.  Can you understand how white males might get turned off by this incessant gaslighting?  Look at what happened to NBA ratings when the NBA decided to go full activism during the BLM protests.  Activism is not good for business.  If you keep it up, SAS, you'll learn that lesson the hard way.

Caitlin Clark on basketball and politics

I think it's disappointing.  Everybody in our world deserves the same amount of respect.  The women in our league deserve the same amount of respect.  People should not be using my name to push those agendas.  It's disappointing.  It's not acceptable.  This league is the league I grew up admiring and wanting to be a part of. 

Some of the women in this league were some of my biggest idols and role models growing up, and helped me want to achieve this moment right here that I get to play in ever single night.  Just treating every single woman in this league with the same amount of respect is just a basic human thing that everyone should do.  Just be a kind person and treat them how you would want to be treated.

It's not something I can control so I don't put too much thought and time into thinking about things like that.  To be honest, I don't see a lot of it.  Like I've said, basketball is my job.  Everything on the outside, I can't control that so I'm not going to spend time thinking about that.

People can talk about what they want to talk about, create conversations about whatever it is.  But for myself, I am just here to play basketball.

~ Caitlin Clark, "Caitlin Clark Says, 'Don't Use My Name To Push Your Agendas'," MSN.com, June 14, 2024

Melanie King: WNBA is a "welfare league"

I am still on the neck of the WNBA because I think it is paramount to examine just how confused and divisive a lot of these liberal women are and how they refuse to accept accountability.  They claim equality, they claim feminism, they claim they love all women and everyone is a queen, everyone is a 10, every woman needs to be supported, men are evil, the patriarchy.  All of this nonsense that they want to spin out there that we're supposed to grab on and believe in, but when it comes to a woman they don't like, these women bring out the claws...  They're going to bring out the claws and going to try to tear down another woman.  Why?  Because they are so envious of her...

The WNBA is a failed homeschool project.  It is basically a welfare league.  They are subsidized by the NBA.  Women do not support the WNBA, but anytime they get criticism, they want to put that criticism on men.  Why are they not blaming women for not watching this game?  You wanna know why?  Because then they know they'll be shown for the hypocrites that they are.  They can't speak about women's empowerment out of one side and then on the other side blame women for their failures, blame themselves, look in the mirror.  It always has to be a man.  But now they have a new person that they can blame everything on, and they can put their vitriol and hate on, and that's Caitlin Clark...

They don't understand business.  They don't understand marketing.  They keep demanding more money even though they are in a deficit.  They are in the red.  They demand more profit share, but there is no profit to go around.  They are subsidized by the WNBA.  These women don't understand business.  They only just have their hand out.  This is why I call it a welfare league.

~ Melanie King, "WNBA Can't Stop Hating On Caitlin Clark," YouTube, 1:00 mark, April 22, 2024

Clay Travis on resentment towards Caitlin Clark in the WNBA

All I will say is "I told you this was coming."  Caitlin Clark is white and straight in a league that is primarily minority and lesbian.  I told you that this was going to be an issue and lots of people tried to pretend that it wasn't going to be an issue and they claimed that I was making stuff up.  This was so self-evident going to be an issue and it's already now exploded as an issue.  Now you've got everybody acknowledging 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.  And there is a great deal of resentment about that...

I can never remember any male athlete ever entering into a new league and being treated like this.  I don't remember it in the NFL, I don't remember it in the NBA, I don't remember it in Major League Baseball.  I can't recall a celebrity athlete coming in with a big fan base that is lifting tons of attention and theoretically going to make everybody a great deal of money, and people are just losing their minds over it. 

~ Clay Travis, "WNBA Player's CHEAP SHOT On Caitlin Clark PROVES She's HATED?!" OutKick.com, 1:35 mark, June 3, 2024

Dave Portnoy on the decision to leave Caitlin Clark off the Olympic team

You people, whoever did this, honestly, take your brain, put it in a museum and study it for how dumb you are.

~ Dave Portnoy, Barstool Sports, video tweet, June 8, 2024

Stephen A. Smith on resentment in the WNBA towards Caitlin Clark

So when I go on national television and I bring up jealousy, envy, resentment or whatever, I'm not saying it's not justified.  If you are a WNBA player and you resent Caitlin Clark, it makes perfect sense because she's white and she's the golden girl that's considered the marketing savior for the sport.  Yes, they were talking about chartered flights before she came along and opened her mouth, but shortly after Caitlin Clark opened her mouth you had chartered flights, and you ain't had them in two decades.  She's got that kind of influence, that kind of power.

I wasn't trying to say that women - black, white and everything in between associated with the WNBA was wrong and shouldn't feel resentment after all that hard work you put in, to pound the pavement and be the great players that you are, and the great basketball ambassadors that you are.  What you've done for this sport, of course you should be resentful!  Of course you should!  What I'm saying is, "don't be blind."  There's an opening.  Exploit it.  Rather than be resentful, envious, jealous, whatever word is applicable, notice the opening.  

Caitlin Clark is bringing more attention.  When you get on the court with her and you perform and somehow, someway, you'll find a way to attach yourself to that level of magnetism that she surely has, who knows what could be out there for you?  And if suddenly the maximum salary goes from $250,000 to $450,000, and suddenly you're on chartered jets instead of commercial flights, and suddenly you're maximizing the potential of your name, image and likeness [NIL], what do you care?  At the end of the day, the rising tide lifts all boats.

[...]

It has everything to do with the industry.  If I'm an NBA player and I just won a championship and somebody who didn't win gets $50 million a year doing what I do, what do you think I'm going to think I'm worth?  See how simple it is?  It's capitalism!  It's marketability!  It's taking advantage of the moment!  That's business!  Why be resentful of any of them?...  What is wrong with people?  How do you not see that?

[...]

Just in case resentment, jealousy, envy or whatever it is is applicable - because I don't know what it is - just in case, all I'm saying is, "Hold up, ladies.  There's an opportunity here.  Go for it.  Let that girl shine.  I'm not talking about on the court: compete against her and try to take her out.  Try to beat her.  I get that part.  But I'm talking about, let that girl shine marketing wise.  Let her get her bag.  Find a way to maximize off of it and create an opening for yourself so you can get yours.  That's the American way.  Hell, that's the global way.

~ Stephen A. Smith, "Some players are just resentful of Caitlin Clark. Call it!," 13:45 mark, June 4, 2024

Mike Decourcy on the star power of Caitlin Clark and WNBA player resentment towards her

Mike Decourcy: I do have a problem with how Caitlin Clark is being treated by fellow players, but it's not all physical.  Some of it's verbal as well.  This idea that they have to chop her down.  Look, you [the WNBA] can do whatever you want to do, it's your league.  But if you want your league to grow - and you know what happens when the league grow, Mike, the money grows.  If you want to make more money, then you embrace her entry into the league.  I'm not saying you let her, "Here, take an open shot, Caitlin."  It's not about that.  But you don't have to cheap shot her and take pot shots at her verbally as well.

Mike Carver: That's part to me, Mike, that I can't grasp...  Here's what I can't figure out the most: Why is everyone in that league - not everyone - why are a lot of players in that league, at the root of it, Mike, so upset that this girl is bringing notoriety, money?...  There is so much to gain, Mike, and it seems like a lot of girls are unhappy about it!  That doesn't make any sense to me.

Mike Decourcy: It's the same thing that I wrote about back in February we're seeing reflected in the college game where she was seen elevating the college game.  And let's not forget here, a couple of years ago, before Caitlin Clark made the Final Four, they were happy if they got a 5 million audience for the championship game of the women's Final Four.  They were happy.  "Five million, ok, that's a good number."  That's what they were looking for.  When Caitlin Clark played in it last year against Angel Reese and LSU, they got 10 million.  And she played it this year against Carmilla Cardoso and South Carolina, they got 18 million!  That's three times the audience.

If that's what's out there, look, you don't try to get mad because, "Oh, why weren't you watching us all along?"  Hey, the audience wasn't.  You can't explain a phenomenon, Mike.  Why were the NBA Finals of the 1970s on tape delay?  They just were, the audience wasn't there.  Magic and Bird come along, all of a sudden it's magical and everybody's watching.  It's just sometimes that's how it works.  Joe Namath comes along in 1969 and the NFL goes from a very watchable league, a lot of fans, to the most powerful sports entity in the world.  All of that happens because a certain player at a certain moment draws people in and enough of those people stick around that everybody's boat is elevated.  Right now for the WNBA, that person is Caitlin Clark.  Don't try to explain why everybody wants to watch her play...

So you embrace it and everybody gets wealthier as a result.  That's not happening in the WNBA.  No one, at any level in that league, is embracing what she can do for them.

~ Mike Decourcy, "Exploring Caitlin Clark’s Impactful WNBA Rookie Season," Ferrall Coast to Coast, June 4, 2024

Tony Kornheiser on the targeting of Caitlin Clark in the WNBA

Here's the thing: I've watched part of or all of almost every game she has played in the WNBA.  I watched both games over the weekend.  She is being deliberately hit, and let me stress, deliberately.  It's a little bit more dangerous, a little bit more sinister, than just a hard, welcome to a new league.  It appears that the intent sometimes is to injure her.  And what's particularly disconcerting is when somebody who knocks her down is welcomed back by her teammates saying, "yeah," congratulating basically.  It leads to two conclusions.  One is, the Indiana teammates, when are they going to stand up for Caitlin Clark because they have not done that yet.  When are they going to do that or else they're saying to Caitlin Clark, "We don't have your back."  And if they don't have her back physically, why is she playing on that team?  And two, is there a living breathing commissioner in the WNBA?  Because if there is, that person has to say to all the players in the WNBA and all the coaches in the WNBA, "Hey, we're not going to have this anymore.  We're going to make sure you understand these fouls are flagrant fouls.  They're going to lead to ejections.  If they happen more than once, they're going to lead to suspensions.  This season cannot be the hazing of Caitlin Clark."

We understand when there's a lot of resentment of Caitlin Clark and how famous she is and how popular she is and how much money she makes off the court because everybody in the league wants that.  Raise your hand.  Everybody in the league wants that, but everybody has to realize also that the eyeballs are on the league right now because of Caitlin Clark.  So you can beat her in the game because, you know what, she's not great now.  She is not great now.  You can tie her up in the game.  You just can't hurt her.

~ Tony Kornheiser, "TV Host Michael Wilbon Calls Caitlin Clark Discussion 'Dishonest'," Athlon Sports, 2:15 mark, June 4, 2024

Dan Dakich on the WNBA and Caitlin Clark

Here's the deal: The league has been [run] internally by the players, by angry lesbians, for 27 years, both white and black, and nobody cared about the league because, frankly, why would ya?  The basketball isn't great, the players are angry, the players are unattractive.  You can say whatever you want, but back in the day, Magic [Johnson] with his smile, Isiah [Thomas] with his little kid looks, Michael [Jordon] with his bald gleaming head - I mean, dudes were good looking.  These unattractive angry lesbians have made the WNBA hard to watch and in fact nobody did.  They've lost money every year.  Caitlin Clark comes in and everybody's mad.  White girl coming into our league.  What?!  Wait a second, not a lesbian, has a boyfriend, heterosexual?  What?!  We can't have this.  So the jealousy starts.

~ Dan Dakich, "Stephen A. Smith Admits Black WNBA Women Are Jealous Of Caitlin Clark Because of Her Race," Outkick.com, 2:45 mark, June 3, 2024

Chennedy Carter on her flagrant foul against Caitlin Clark

I'm a competitor.  I’m gonna compete no matter who you are and no matter who’s in front of me.  That’s just what it was.  Heat of the moment play.  We’re getting at it.  We’re going back and forth.  It’s basketball.  It’s all hoops.  After we finish the game, it’s all love.

~ Chennedy Carter, WNBA basketball player, "Chennedy Carter Justifies Caitlin Clark Cheap Shot With Three Words," Athlon Sports, June 3, 2024