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Credit: ESPN
It should not be possible, but the dialogue around Caitlin Clark is reaching new bizarre heights. And in a sit-down interview with ESPN, the Indiana Fever star opened up about the effect all the controversy has had on her personally.
The latest saga this week was a widely-criticized column from USA Today writer Nancy Armour that attempted to link Clark trying to draw fouls to the racist and hateful rhetoric that people are using to abuse and threaten Black WNBA players. Armour went well out of bounds by suggesting that Clark herself was responsible for the actions of these individuals. And she even linked her on-court behavior to the lynching of Emmett Till.
Unfortunately, Clark’s name being used in controversial headlines is nothing new. In spite of her continued focus on playing basketball or even the public statements she has made to condemn hate and lift up Black WNBA stars, common sense and decency have yet to prevail.
And in a rare instance where she pulled back the curtain personally, she opened up about the effect the media’s unrelenting coverage has had on her in a SportsCenter interview with Malika Andrews,
“I think a lot of it is not always based in reality. I feel like media and journalism have a responsibility to tell the stories, and a lot of the time you guys are the ones controlling the narratives about what people read and what people talk about. And a lot of that is sometimes so far out of touch with what is reality. And that can be confusing to somebody that’s 24 and trying to navigate life and trying to help her team win a championship,” Clark said.
The Fever star also touched on an incident during a game against the Phoenix Mercury. Even though Clark and Alyssa Thomas moved on from what was retroactively upgraded as a Flagrant 2 Foul, the video of Thomas’ fist in Clark’s throat became a lightning rod moment. And not only did the media pounce, but the WNBA also failed to handle the moment.
“It seems like there’s always a moment like that in every season that I’ve played so far. And I think for myself, I just try to navigate it the best I can. It gets exhausting, it gets frustrating, because I think especially that’s a perfect example of, like, yeah, it was a hard foul. And it should have been dealt with in the moment, and they should have decided what it was then and reviewed it. Great, we move on. You see it happen in the NBA all the time,” Clark stated.
“It’s not anything more than that. It’s basketball. When I walk out of the locker room, I shouldn’t be, not fearful, of what the conversation is gonna be. But it’s emotionally exhausting. It’s draining. It makes your shoulders tense. Because people don’t want to talk about the basketball, they just wanna stir it up and make something else.”
Caitlin Clark then addressed the media coverage of her that extends far beyond basketball to political and cultural voices and everyone trying to ride her coattails of stardom. She said that she has been falsely characterized over the course of her career and that the people who comment on her every move don’t know her as a human being.
“I think there’s just a false characterization of who I am sometimes. And I get it, as a reporter or as a blogger, you can write an opinion piece, and that’s your job and whatever. But at the same time, you don’t know me. We’ve never had a conversation. I get people have a job to do. But at the same time, don’t make accusations about my character and who I am when you don’t know me,” Clark said.
“I understand this is your job and this is your profession, and this is what you get to do. And basketball is my profession, what I get to do. And the reason I play it is when I step in between the lines, I love it. And that’s what’s so fun about it for me is I get to compete. This was always my dream. And nobody should ever try to take that away from me.”
Given everything that has circled around her since the moment she entered the WNBA, it’s incredible that Caitlin Clark has maintained a sense of grace and dignity in the way that she approaches these in interviews with the media. Hopefully everyone, including Clark’s supporters and detractors, sees this message and can heed the call to focus on basketball moving forward in finally making that a reality. The least that the media can do is respect Clark’s own wishes on that front.
The post Caitlin Clark admits relentless media coverage is ’emotionally exhausting’ appeared first on Awful Announcing.
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