Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unorthodox to begin a piece by denigrating a subject of sympathy, but in this case, it applies.<\/p>\n
Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark is smug, and she\u2019s kind of a jerk, and plays a little bit dirty herself. Also, there\u2019s little viable argument that if she were a bit less abrasive then perhaps she would be less of a target. <\/p>\n
But there\u2019s no doubt that she has been a target of jealousy and resentment since her arrival in the league, and there\u2019s less doubt that the WNBA and its officials do a pathetic job of protecting her. She is, after all, the greatest asset not only in women\u2019s basketball, nor in the history of women\u2019s basketball, but in the history of women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s with all due respect to Billie Jean King, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Serena Williams, et al. Clark is the queen of a mainstream team sport in an era when mainstream team sports matter more than ever. She should be treated like royalty. Instead, she\u2019s treated like crap.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s filled arenas, sparked expansion, and sold millions of jerseys, both her own and those of her peers. Her reward? She\u2019s been the victim of nine flagrant fouls since she joined the league in 2024, more than anyone else. <\/p>\n
The latest flagrant wasn\u2019t even called in real time, if you can believe it. As a matter of fact, it wasn\u2019t even called a foul.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, while pursuing a loose ball, Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas kneed Clark in the thigh and jammed her fist into Clark\u2019s throat as Clark lay on the ground.<\/p>\n
This angel of Alyssa Thomas cheapshotting shows that not only did she punch Caitlin Clark in the throat; she kneed her in the groin too. <\/p>\n
The league should look at this, assess a flagrant, & do everything they can to protect their most important player. pic.twitter.com\/xDArcPTYiS<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) June 25, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The league reviewed the incident, declared that Thomas had committed a Flagrant 2, and suspended her for Saturday\u2019s game against Toronto. Thomas, a hard-nosed, Draymond Green-type of player, has a history of flagrancy; last season, she elbowed rookie Kiki Iriafan in the throat and threw Angel Reese to the ground.<\/p>\n In the same game Clark was undercut on two jump shots, neither judged flagrant in real time or upon review. She left the game having aggravated a back injury.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Marcus Hayes: You gotta believe: Three miracle wins in D.C., led again by Bryce Harper, recall the 2022 never-say-die Phillies<\/a><\/p>\n That\u2019s right: The most important player in WNBA history entered the game with a back issue, was the recipient of three dangerous fouls, and left the game having been reinjured. <\/p>\n She missed the Fever\u2019s game this past Saturday, and her status is unknown for this coming Sunday\u2019s game in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n She missed most of her sophomore season in 2025 with various injuries.<\/p>\n Not all of Clark\u2019s missed time has been a result of hard fouls, but that\u2019s the point. She\u2019s the draw. Any hard foul on here should be amplified.<\/p>\n She should be preserved like ancient parchment. She should be protected like religious relics. She is worth 10,000 times her weight in gold and should be treated accordingly.<\/p>\n You should get two technicals for brushing her cheek. You should get a Flagrant 1 for coughing on her. <\/p>\n Intentional foul on a fast break? Twenty years to life.<\/p>\n Is this fair? Of course not. Is this business? Yes, it is. Business is seldom fair. If you don\u2019t think that\u2019s true, you should study capital gains taxes, corporate tax breaks, and film of Larry Bird in the 1980s.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t matter that Clark is not the best player in women\u2019s basketball history (that\u2019s Diana Taurasi), and it doesn\u2019t even matter that she\u2019s not the best player today (that\u2019s A\u2019ja Wilson). What matters is that Clark\u2019s the most valuable female athlete, at a time when female athletics is finally experiencing its true value.<\/p>\n One financial projection valued women\u2019s sports revenues to generate at least $3 billion this year, an increase of 340% since 2022. You know what else happened in 2022? Clark, a sophomore at Iowa, became the first player in women\u2019s Division I history to lead the nation in both points and assists. She became a phenomenon.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Marcus Hayes: Daryl Morey planned on the decline of Paul George and Joel Embiid with the Sixers as the Heat land Giannis<\/a><\/p>\n A cocky phenomenon; a celebrating, taunting, in-your-face phenomenon \u2014 but a phenomenon nonetheless.<\/p>\n For the record, I don\u2019t like it when Steph Curry or LeBron James flaunt their cellys either. But as much as they mean to their sport, neither touches the importance of Clark either in her chosen profession or in her demographic.<\/p>\n Protect her at all costs.<\/p>\n Phil\u2019s just desserts<\/p>\n Seventeen years ago, the myth of Tiger Woods collapsed when the report of an affair, a car crash, and series of mistresses revealed the greatest golfer of all time, branded as a squeaky-clean, monomaniacal \u00fcber-athlete to also be one of the greatest hypocrites of all time.<\/p>\n No one benefited more from Tiger\u2019s downfall than Phil Mickelson, Tiger\u2019s biggest rival. Even after his departure to LIV Golf that sparked a wider exodus and a bitter feud, and even as Mickelson bizarrely delves further into support of far-right policies on social media, there remained a core of Mickelson supporters who adored his magnificent talent, swashbuckling style, and his entertaining public pronouncements.<\/p>\n That\u2019s all over. Phil\u2019s done.<\/p>\n Two weeks ago, Golf Digest reported<\/a> that Phil Mickelson, Woods\u2019 biggest rival, was kicked off The Farms Golf Club near San Diego and had his membership rescinded in the middle of a round after club officials determined that he had made inappropriate advances and contact with a female staff member. Mickelson denied the accusation.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Marcus Hayes: PGA Tour players have scuttled the rollback of the golf ball, for now and forever<\/a><\/p>\n Two days ago, Skratch Golf<\/a> correspondent Alan Shipnuck produced a scathing report that detailed several more inappropriate episodes with two other women. It also supplied evidence that Mickelson cheated with at least one woman on a regular basis, paying a pro shop kid $500 to drive around the course with Mickelson\u2019s cell phone so that if his wife, Amy, wondered what he was doing, she would think he was playing golf.<\/p>\n In light of the transgressions by Woods, which include various addictions, it\u2019s been astonishing to witness the leeway given Mickelson during his three decades in the limelight. He\u2019s been connected with insider trading, he\u2019s been cast as an inveterate gambler \u2014 he was accused of trying to bet on the 2012 Ryder Cup, which he and the rest of the U.S. team lost by 1 point (Mickelson went 3-1-0) \u2014 and created a legion of enemies on the PGA Tour and in its galleries when he defected to LIV.<\/p>\n Now, this.<\/p>\n Now, what?<\/p>\n Tiger has admitted his transgressions, has faced his demons, and has largely recovered his image. <\/p>\n Phil never will.<\/p>\n The biggest difference between Mickelson and Woods is that, whatever advances Tiger made in pursuit of his infidelities, as far as we know, they were at least consensual, if not welcomed or pursued.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Marcus Hayes: Good riddance: Superdiva wideout A.J. Brown\u2019s talents couldn\u2019t compensate for all of the headaches<\/a><\/p>\n Mickelson isn\u2019t the only distasteful star in professional golf \u2014 Fred Couples admitted he cheated on his wife while she was fighting cancer<\/a> \u2014 he\u2019s just the smarmiest, the creepiest, and the phoniest. Golf writers and broadcasters protect their cash cows like baseball writers did in the 20th century: They shield flawed heroes from the glare of reality. <\/p>\n Phil was especially alluring, since, in contrast to surly, multi-ethnic Tiger Woods, he was a generally affable Great White Hope. <\/p>\n Regardless, both made their beds. There, they will lie.<\/p>\n Another \u2018Golden Goal?\u2019<\/p>\n I was there for Sidney Crosby\u2019s overtime Golden Goal that beat the United States at the 2010 Winter Olympics<\/a> in Vancouver. Wayne<\/a> Gretzky, the Great One, and Donald Sutherland, perhaps the greatest Canadian actor, sat just above my right shoulder, and they erupted with joy when Sid the Kid potted the winner. It was only the second time since 1952 that Canada won Olympic gold in its national sport. Most Canadians who witnessed it know where they were that day.<\/p>\n That was the sort of hyperbole coming from the Great White North when Canada beat South Africa in the World Cup<\/a>\u2019s Round of 32 knockout stage Sunday. More Canadians play soccer than hockey, and soccer ranks second in popularity with the 40 million Canadians. <\/p>\n \u201cWe really wanted to give this win to all the Canadians,\u201d Stephen Eust\u00e1quio said in a television interview. He scored the winner in extra time. \u201cWhen I shot, I felt everybody shot with me. Everybody put a bit of power on it and it went into the back of the net.\u201d<\/p>\n It was the first time Canada reached a knockout round, though, even as one of the host nations, they didn\u2019t host the game; they had to travel to Los Angeles because they did not win their group. The Maple Leaf flag will fly next in Houston on Sunday, when our northern neighbors, who entered the tournament ranked No. 30 in the world, will face the winner of No. 6 Morocco and No. 7 Netherlands.<\/p>\n