Is Caitlin Clarke’s hatred too much or is it good for the league?
After Chindi Carter got a flagrant foul, it got us thinking about whether or not other WNBA players going after Kaitlyn Clark are helping the WNBA.
Sports seriously
I don’t know if Pat McAfee has a conscience. I’m not sure if he fully understands or cares about referring to WNBA star Kaitlyn Clark as “white bitch” He is misogynistic and racist garbage. I’m not sure if he’ll look around at the idiots who will support him no matter what he says and take solace from them. I’m not sure if McAfee is looking beyond its ratings. Not sure if it’s introspection. I’m not sure if he always looks in the mirror and says: What the hell did I just do?
What I do know is that ESPN should do all of these things. One of the most powerful media entities ever created should have higher standards than allowing anyone to use its network to refer to a woman in this way. Some of you will laugh at the idea that ESPN is responsible, but they have shown notable aggression in the past in policing on-air personalities. The network got pretty crazy when Jemele Hill said things he didn’t like.
And on Monday’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” he was vocal about this year’s WNBA rookie class when he said: “I’d like the media to keep saying, ‘This is the rookie class, this is the rookie class, this is the rookie class.’ “No, just call it what it is, there’s only one white bitch for Indiana and she’s a star.”
McAfee later apologized. “I never should have used the word ‘white bitch’ as a description of Caitlin Clark,” he said on X, previously on Twitter. “Regardless of the context…even if we’re talking about race being a reason why certain things happen…I have a lot of respect for her and women for putting that out in the universe.
“My intentions when I said it was just as complimentary as the whole part, but a lot of people say it wasn’t at all. And that’s 100% up to me and for that I apologize… I sent an apology to Caitlyn as well. Everything else I said…no “It’s all still facts.”
Not really all the facts. In part of his rant, McAfee talked about how Clark put Iowa basketball on the map. However, Iowa State had made the NCAA Tournament ten of the 12 years before Clark arrived. The team made the Elite Eight.
None of this is intended to discredit Clarke. It’s a historic talent. But McAfee continues to prove that he’s remarkably ill-equipped to handle the massive platform he’s been given.
If ESPN can suspend Hill for what she did, so can the network Easily Suspend McAfee’s offer for this reason, which is infinitely worse. certainly, ESPN might be scared From McAfee, but it is espn. The network is infinitely stronger than McAfee. They need to act like it.
I also don’t think McAfee apologized out of conscience or out of introspection. I think he did it out of sheer panic and fear of being blackballed by Clark and Indiana fever.
Also, his apologies don’t mean much because he constantly issues them and doesn’t seem to learn or want to learn how to grow from mistakes. I apologize Because of the lies Aaron Rodgers told. He apologized (sort of) for Larry Nassar’s stupid post on X. He apologized for it Some crazy rumours About Raiders Owner Mark Davis. Now it appears that Clark and ESPN are unable to deal with McAfee.
There’s a lot of stuff about Clark these days and some of it is just crazy. The MSNBC morning host said Clark’s mistake was assault. She wasn’t alone. Chicago Tribune Editorial Board “Outside of athletic competition, it would have been viewed as an assault,” he wrote of the mistake.
Aside from the fact that I don’t have any acting ability, I’d be Denzel Washington. Some of this stuff is just ridiculous. In essence, what happens to Clarke has to do with the level of competitiveness towards her which is record high given her extremely high status.
Other issues are far more insidious, and as some of us have predicted for some time, and many others have tried to refute, many of them have developed along racial and class lines. This is America. This is how large segments of the country think, and burying their heads in the sand will not change that.
What McAfee was doing, no doubt, was feeding into some of the belief systems of mostly right-wing and conservative people, people who just a few years ago couldn’t find a WNBA team through their Waze app, but were suddenly experts on the league. , who say that Clark is treated differently because she is white.
These are the same people who will spend every waking minute and every terabyte saying how everyone (especially black Americans) talks too much about race. Now, these same people won’t shut up about it.
More from WNBA: Sky coach Teresa Witherspoon: Chindi Carter’s hit on Kaitlyn Clarke ‘inappropriate’
This whole idea gained momentum after the blunder heard around the world. You would think Clark was shot two by four. The shot was sloppy and not typical of play in the WNBA. However, if you have watched the WNBA for more than a minute, it is an intense, physical tournament. In many ways, it’s more physical than the NBA.
Just because you don’t know this history, that’s a problem for you.
Clarke is treated with hostility because she is a star and a rookie. Rookies are always getting roughed up. Rising stars get it more. There were no sonnets written and constitutional amendments were passed after Alyssa Thomas was sent off for a brutal foul on rookie Angel Reis.
In many ways, we are in different parts of this country. Some of the ways we confront problems as a nation are sour and even frightening. Our organizations, of all kinds, need to combat obscenity, and ESPN is a powerful force that can do just that. When he wants it.
What people like McAfee are doing is taking such conversations into the sewers. What ESPN does is let him do that.
It’s time to stop it.
More Stories
NFL Week 1 2024 Predictions, Today’s Picks: Expert provides accurate results for all 16 games
7 Big Deals We Want to See Before the NFL Season Opens
Fever star Kaitlyn Clark breaks WNBA rookie record for 3-pointers in game with Connecticut Sun