Ironically, my particular annoyance with and dislike of Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark isn’t entirely her fault, but rather our society’s inability to have an honest conversation about her.
She’s good. I’ve watched her quite literally etch her name (and number) into the linoleum at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. I’ve watched her break Kelsey Plum’s scoring record and lead her team to an NCAA championship.
Given this, it’s hard for others to pinpoint the particular moment my admiration for her and her style of play turned into the type of annoyance that makes me roll my eyes when I see her name in a headline.
Yet I can recall it so vividly. In the 2023 NCAA championship, Angel Reese made an infamous gesture at Clark: an open-handed wave over her face, mimicking John Cena’s “you can’t see me” gesture.
To me, the innocuous motion was just that, a symbol of an insignificant and impersonal, albeit entertaining, rivalry meant to be left on the court of the American Airlines Center, one meant to put a chip on the shoulder of those who left it all on the court.
Clark got a bitter taste of irony. She waved off former South Carolina guard Raven Johnson the game prior, and her taunt came back to haunt her.
Yet, it seemed to signify to legacy sports media that Clark deserved some sort of special protection and recognition not afforded to other players. It gave license for “fans” of the sport to make racist, homophobic and flat-out odd comments in her “defense” and call for her coaching staff to be fired when she’s benched for having a bad game.
As a woman and former athlete, there are certain things you learn at an early age. Not because you particularly care to learn these lessons but because the environment and the world, for better or worse, call for it.
You learn to get up without moping. You learn to embrace implicit rivalries for the sake of bettering yourself. And you learn to shake off physical and ego blows for the simple fact that rumination and moping don’t do anyone any good — at least in public.
So I often wonder: Why do people expect Clark to understand the game differently? To be surprised and blindsided at the physicality that comes with playing a sport like basketball?
Now, I’m not saying this in defense of Alyssa Thomas and her hard foul on Clark last month. I know it was particularly brutal, although seemingly unintentional, but so was the backlash against Thomas, who reported receiving racialized death threats.
And while her talent is undeniable, the PR-language-laden statements leave a sour taste in the mouths of fans like me who just wish she’d explicitly and outright denounce the hate spewed in defense of her.
Other players like Kelsey Plum, Paige Bueckers, Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart have forcefully condemned hateful rhetoric used in their defense, leaving no room for interpretation.
I don’t care for Clark’s attitude on the court, but it’s a nonissue. I can deal with it on account of the fact that most great athletes have a sense of cockiness that exudes from them that’s guaranteed to bother some, including me.
And as I watch the progression of Clark’s career and the controversial way she’s handled herself on and off the court, it seems as if her “fragility” and supposed attitude problem are the result of society’s propensity to prop her up on the back of her extraordinary college career and accolades, while failing to disentangle her greatness from her struggles at the professional level thus far.
I have no doubt that Clark will be one of the greats of the league, but she isn’t right now, and that’s OK.
And I (hyperbolically, of course) wish nothing more than for society to stop treating her as such.