On Saturday afternoon, Caitlin Clark’s father spoke for all of us. From his seat inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena, he shouted a few words to his talented and inspiring daughter. “Shut up!”
Clark and the top-seeded Hawkeyes were playing 16th-seeded Holy Cross. Clark spent most of the match focused on arguing with the referee. Frustrated by the defensive intensity Holy Cross deployed to slow down the top players in women’s college basketball, Clark whined to the referees every time she walked the court.
In Iowa, like in Texas, money, fame, and social media corrupt.
It was a bad look for the player I’ve dubbed “Sho White,” the biggest star in college athletics. She looked spoiled and entitled. I commend her father for recognizing that and trying to deal with it. Her dad sees what I see.
Caitlin Clark, along with her incredible shot-making, is destroying the reputation and recognition that has been the most fascinating story in sports since Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters.
Over the past year, Clark has been on a path of carrying herself with enough arrogance and bravado to get your attention, and enough likability and humility to make you like her. Ta.
I love Caitlin Clark. Because of her, I became a fan of women’s college basketball. Reservations started coming in for the first time on Saturday. I’m the first to ask whether all the money and all the accolades from national commercials, name, image and likeness rights has turned “Show White” into just another spoiled, entitled joke. I thought about it on Saturday.
I have to admit, some people noticed this ugly trend long before I did. Perhaps I was too wrapped up in defending Clark from bigoted, jealous critics that I didn’t see that Clark had Johnny Manziel tendencies. Stupidly, I thought a young woman from Iowa wouldn’t act as arrogantly as the Texas quarterback.
But money, fame and social media are just as corrupting in Iowa as they are in Texas.
At this point, it’s clear that Caitlin Clark isn’t all that different from Colorado quarterback Shedule Sanders.
The difference may be the father. It appears that Caitlin’s father recognizes the problem and is trying to fix it. Deion Sanders, the University of Colorado coach and Shedule’s father, believes his son can walk on water and decide where he plays in the NFL.
We’ll probably find out if Brent Clark reached out to his daughter Monday night, when the Hawkeyes play West Virginia in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament. I hope he is.
With so much money pouring into professional and college sports, it has become nearly impossible to develop young athletes. You can’t lead them anywhere. You can beg them to follow and that’s it.
They are the stars of children’s television and movies.
Fame may already have stolen Caitlin Clark from those of us looking for a sports star to remind us of the “good old days.”
My love for women’s college basketball is driven by the NBA and my attempts to find an alternative to men’s college basketball. I can’t watch the NBA. The players don’t care about the regular season. Isolation basketball is being mixed with jacking up three-point shots too much. The transfer portal and young players turning pro killed men’s college basketball early on.
I thought watching a women’s game might cure my basketball problem. I don’t know if it will maintain its traction and relevance. Clark will head to the WNBA this summer. The chances of me seeing it are very low. The players are entitled and whine all the time.
This weekend I watched Southern California freshman JuJu Watkins. She’s going to be great, maybe even better than Clark. But it won’t be long before money and fame succumb to her. She is managed by Klutch Sports, LeBron James’ agency. Perhaps Mr. Watkins will become an angry Black Lives Matter champion.
I think I probably only played with women’s hoops a little bit. Parting is already in sight.
