When tackling touchy topics like this one, the fact that I’m a classic Evanston, Illinois, liberal bears repeating. Though we’ve become an endangered species these days, back in the mid-20th Century those Blue Dog Democrats ruled the South. That point of reference means I loathe both my MAGA and progressive counterparts because they’re just flip sides of the same counterfeit coin.
That said, I take particular umbrage at progressives because they refuse to concede to the rank hypocrisy the Trumpers so readily embrace.
Progressives have gotten so bad that any attempt to put a dent in their “nontraditional” delusions requires a monumental feat. But it can be done! The fastest way to make a progressive’s head explode is by presenting incontrovertible evidence of their beloved minority’s rife imperfections, particularly when they involve a frightening form of bigotry.
Please allow me to explain.
Despite a woeful lack of attendance, no real media presence, and a short 41-game season, a plurality of WNBA players have been bitching about their distinctly non-NBA salaries for the better part of three decades. But when the panacea finally arrived in the form of a tall, thin, white girl out of the University of Iowa, those tall gay black female basketball players proved that old white men aren’t nearly as bad as some folks think.
While a rapt jealousy of Caitlin Clark’s sudden stardom is the predominant subtext, the kind of patently petty and/or prejudicial proclamations issued by minority players are so off-the-charts they’d end a white woman’s career.
Los Angeles Sparks bench rider, Lexie Brown, told the media that, had she been given “complete control” of her Iowa team “like Clark was,” she would’ve put up the same kind of numbers. So, Caitlin never had a college coach? Let’s keep in mind that Ms. Brown has averaged all of 6 points per game during her seven-year career.
To put that in perspective, I could average more than six points a game in the NBA – at 65. Meanwhile Clark’s averaging 16.5 ppg in her rookie year with a terrible team.
Then long-time WNBA great Diana Taurasi went into an embarrassing middle school girl meltdown when asked if she’d pick Clark as her 2024 number one draft choice. And former standout Sheryl Swoopes proceeded to lie about Clark’s college record in a way that would make Donald Trump blush.
Not to be outdone, Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson insisted that Clark’s superstardom, and her lack thereof, was a simply a matter of “black and white:”
It really is because you can be top-notch at what you are as a Black woman, but yet maybe that’s something that people don’t want to see. They don’t see it as marketable, so it doesn’t matter how hard I work. It doesn’t matter what we all do as Black women, we’re still going to be swept underneath the rug. That’s why it boils my blood when people say it’s not about race because it is.
Well that certainly explains why the Williams sisters and Simone Biles have toiled in relative obscurity in their respective sports. Didn’t Venus sign a $12 million shoe deal at the ripe old age of 15 BEFORE she won a single Grand Slam? And Biles pulls in $5 million in endorsements every year despite gymnastics’ relatively low popularity.
But my favorite prejudicial pronouncement came from black ESPN sports analyst Jemele Hill, who echoed and furthered Wilson’s stupidity by claiming that Clark’s popularity was a direct result of her being “straight,” “white,” and a “pretty privilege.”
That’s the intolerance trifecta!
Where does one begin other than noting if a white announcer had the temerity to say anything remotely resembling that about a black player, she’d be buried under the Gainbridge Fieldhouse floor. Yet Ms. Hill still continues to expound on the sport for the Atlantic and ESPN.
To sum it up, though not nearly as egregiously as most of the other player commentary, Chicago Sky guard Angel Reese tweeted, “The reason why we’re watching women’s basketball isn’t because of one person. It’s because of me, too.”
As Bill Burr would say, “Eh, I don’t think so.” The eighth place Sky are averaging 8,364 fans per 2024 home game while the 11th place Fever are enjoying 16,571 or nearly double.
Queer icon Billie Jean King told the USA Today that this rampant BS reminded her of when a 16-year-old Chris Evert took the tennis world by storm. She rounded up all the veteran players at the 1971 U.S. Open and admonished them thusly:
She’s the reason all those people are watching us. I told them Chris is fantastic for our sport. Look at the crowds. You could not get in the place. She’s the next superstar. She’s going to put more money in our pockets. That means everyone has to be more hospitable. When you’re on the court against her, you gotta play tough as always, but no cheap shots. It’s our job to make sure she is treated fairly.
I’ve liked Ms. King since the day she trounced Bobby Riggs. She continued:
As great as the WNBA has been, with amazing stars like Maya Moore, Sheryl Swoopes, Candace Parker, Diana Taurasi, A’ja Wilson, and Breanna Stewart, among others, this year is a turning point, and it’s because of Caitlin. Breaking the college records, everyone wearing Number 22 jerseys. Things are going good for the WNBA, for women’s sports. They are amazing for everyone with all these sellouts and all this interest and we’ve got to keep that going now.
Whether you like it or not, Caitlin is the reason for so much of this interest. She’s a superstar. When she does well, everyone does better. The league is going to do better.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. There’s nothing quite like a woman hating on another woman.
But what are you going to do when Clark’s own teammates, who turned losing into an art form, don’t support her on the court? After insanely jealous idiot Sky guard Chennedy Carter knocked her to the floor with a flagrant off-ball foul, not a single Fever player helped her up off the floor – and one of ‘em actually smirked.
Golden State Warrior Draymond Green, infamous for his on-court antics, correctly suggested that the Fever should sign an “enforcer” to make opposing players pay for unnecessarily fouling the young Clark. I’m thinking Leslie Jones would be the perfect addition to that team.
So, here’s to the suddenly silent progressives who can’t comprehend this kind of bigotry on the part of gay black female basketball players. But if that’s what it takes to shut ‘em up, then I’m all for it.
And here’s to those all the white, straight, female players who’ve gone out of their way to prove that, just like old white men, they’re more than willing to cut off their best interest nose to spite their jealous intolerant faces.
You’ve come a long way baby!
