Los Angeles Times complains about 'whiny' Caitlin Clark in bizarre WNBA take about Indiana Fever superstar

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Los Angeles Times complains about 'whiny' Caitlin Clark in bizarre WNBA take about Indiana Fever superstar originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The headline in the Los Angeles Times is glaring:

'Whiny Caitlin Clark tired antics needs to end.'

Aside from the fact that they couldn't get the subject-verb plurality to agree (antics is the noun here, and plural, while needs is the verb, meant to go with a singular noun), the long-time columnist Bill Plaschke is choosing an interesting hill to stand on.

"I'm sick of Caitlin Clark," Plaschke writes early on in his column.

And his thesis statement is this: "I wish Caitlin Clark would just stop whining and play."

No, this isn't the same as "shut up and dribble," because Plaschke is simply complaining about Clark's behavior on the court.

But the standard being applied here feels unfair.

LeBron James reacts to every foul call as if there's no way in the universe that a whistle was just blown against him.

Draymond Green responds even more intensely to just about everything.

And sure, Plaschke probably shares somewhat similar thoughts about those behaviors, too.

But the reality is that right now, Clark is going to drive engagement, and so Plaschke dug in on this topic.

He may genuinely feel this way. And yeah, Clark is quite the animated human being during a basketball game. She often looks perturbed about one thing or another.

MORE: This was definitely an annoying moment for Caitlin Clark

The headline isn't fair, though.

Basketball fans watch games to be entertained. No one wants stoic entertainers.

Sure, they can be cold-blooded winners who don't say a word, and that can have its own form of intrigue. But there's also something to be said for the most animated actors on stage.

Clark's basketball brilliance is something to behold, and her intensity level is just a part of that. Caitlin Clark wouldn't be Caitlin Clark without all the elements that make up her entire being.

Clark didn't reach the highest heights of her sport by holding in her emotions. She got there by pushing every facet of her being toward the top.

Sure, maybe Plaschke doesn't want Clark's young fans to start copying every "antic" on the court when they play in a third-grade basketball game. But that ship set sail a long time ago. Little hoopers are flopping, foul-baiting, showing disbelief at calls -- Clark isn't changing that.

The reality is that Clark has put women's basketball in the kind of spotlight that leads the Los Angeles Times' top columnist to write about the WNBA. Let her be herself out on the court.

MORE: Fever might have a Sophie Cunningham, Lexie Hull problem

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