The rivalry between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark has been a key factor in driving the WNBA and women’s basketball as a whole to new heights. But it’s also exposed bad actors and dark forces throughout social media and the broader culture, trying to turn it into something more.
In an appearance on All the Smoke with former NBA stars Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, former first lady Michelle Obama and her brother and former Oregon State basketball coach Craig Robinson weighed in on the rivalry and what it says about the current political, cultural, and sporting moment in which we reside.
In particular, Obama discussed the impact of social media, which makes hate more accessible.
“I think the tough thing is the social media element to it,” Obama said. “But that’s true across the board. I mean, we’ve talked about this on our show, it just takes a normal occurrence. These young kids today, what they have to go through, what they have to be able to withstand, because social media is such a huge part of the world.”
“There’s the hate. But now the hate is in your room, on your phone, with you all the time. And you can’t, for whatever reason, tell these kids to turn it off because they’re making their living that way. I mean, now they are expected to stay engaged. So, I think that makes it feel even worse. But as you point out, that’s happening in sports across gender. It’s just harder now to withstand other people’s horrible, horrible opinions,” the former first lady added.
As we have seen far too often, social media gives rise to the spewing of so many unconscionable things, making hatred and division more accessible and digestible than ever before. And as Michelle Obama states, there is no running away from it or hiding it these days.
The natural rivalry between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, dating back to their college days, has helped draw more attention to the WNBA. But it’s also led to a lot of unfortunate side effects and deepened rifts that go well beyond basketball and showed the worst of us.
Both Clark and Reese have missed time due to injury this season, which has had some impact on ratings. But when both return to action, hopefully, a cooling-off period will have been good for everyone.