It’s difficult to think of an analogy to use when trying to illustrate how the media and players are trying to destroy the WNBA without realizing it. Not because it’s particularly impossible, but because they’re all so outdated. To hear the Democrats say it, racism is everywhere and “white supremacy” controls everything in the country, if not the world. But it’s really not. It still exists, but it does so in insignificant ways as to not really matter. Yet, getting back to the WNBA, the press around, and hatred of Caitlin Clark is racist. Just let the league die already.
First off, let me say that I am not the target demographic for the WNBA. Not only am I a man, but I don’t enjoy basketball – once you’ve seen a 7-foot-tall guy slam dunk a basketball one time, you’re pretty much seen it every time. I get the skill, and I don’t have the skill, but I also don’t really want to have the skill. There are far too many timeouts, traveling, fouls (called and missed) and seemingly always comes down to the last 2 minutes, which takes as long as the rest of the game had, for me to be interested. It’s like watching an NFL game with a flag-happy referee crew: it’s boring.
That being said, people like it. The NBA is wildly popular and very profitable. The WNBA is none of those things.
The league lost $40 million this year and considered that to be a victory because they expected to lose closer to $50 million.
The only reason they didn’t lose $10 million more is the rise of Caitlin Clark.
Clark is white, and the media decided she would be “the star” of the league because of that fact. They started hyping her in college – “She’s scored more points in college than anyone, including Pete Maravich” was the first I’d heard of her. Never mind the fact that Maravich wasn’t allowed to play his freshman year thanks to rules at the time and there was no 3-point shot, Clark was the “greatest ever!!!”
Don’t get me wrong, my animosity is not directed toward Clark – she’s better than I could ever be at the game, but perspective and reality matter. The left was waiting for some player to hype and they wanted that player to be white. Why? Because they believe America is racist and would only accept a white player as a star.
This is beyond stupid, of course, but it’s how the mind of Democrats work. The top player in baseball is from Japan, players in the NFL are majority black and it’s the most popular game in sports, while the NHL is full of Canadians and Swedes and isn’t even a blip on the radar. If the American public is into “white supremacy,” we really suck at it.
Clark go the full court press: magazine covers, TV profiles, more basketball cards selling for a small fortune than established athletes, and games all over TV. When her team came to town, the story was about her going to be there, being there, then having been there. It sold tickets and merchandise. But only hers.
The public bought the sizzle without realizing the steak was just ok.
I don’t mean to say she’s not a good play, she is. But she was only the 7th in average points. Nothing to sniff at, but I bet no one in the media who’d hyped her could name any of the 6 players ahead of her. I bet not one single panel member on CNN whining about “white supremacy” being why she gotten so much attention could name one either. You’d think they learn them, if only to name drop and seem to be genuine.
But they aren’t genuine, it’s performance art.
None of the energy from the left behind pushing Caitlin Clark was ever put behind a black player; they didn’t even try. That’s not Clark’s fault, it’s the fault of the left. And with literally all of the energy behind her, it only makes sense that there is no residual impact on anyone else and the rest of the league. Games not involving her are about as popular as the league was before her.
Still, even team owners don’t get it and spend their time degrading Clark rather than expanding the case for the whole league. “Caitlin Clark was named Athlete of the year. Why couldn’t they have put the whole WNBA on that cover and said ‘The WNBA is the league of the year’?” asked Washington Mystics owner Sheila Johnson. (Honestly, I had to look up where the Mystics were from, which is a problem for the league that pre-dates Clark.) “Because when you just keep singling out one player it creates hard feelings. And so now you’re starting to hear stories of racism.”
Yes, it is racism. Racism by the left in elevating a rookie as the savior of the league because she is white, then racism of black players toward her rather than directing that animosity toward the people choosing a person to highlight because of their skin color. The only person who hasn’t done anything here is Clark herself, and she’s the one getting bodychecked and her eye gouged by bitter racists.
I say let the league die. I was indifferent about its existence before, but the whining and victimhood by people lucky enough to play a game for a living about the one person bringing in the people necessary to grow the league and all of their salaries is just too much. So many stories about how “little” WNBA players are paid compared to NBA players are stupid – how many of the league’s players could make $100,000 in the non-sports world? The rookie starting wage is $76,535. How many people without an advanced degree make that much right out of college? Not many, and fewer still when you remove rich kids hired by their family’s business.
But they aren’t worth more. Rather than whine about the attention, accolades and endorsements Caitlin Clark is getting, practice and play better. The vast majority of players in the WNBA, Clark included (41.7), shoot well below 50 percent. You have to go to the 40th player on the league leader board for shooting percentage to get below 50 in the NBA. There are only 12 of the top 50 leaders in the WNBA above 50, with most just barely.
In other words, the game itself is boring. I can watch my friends miss shots and I don’t have to be lectured about how horrible and racist everything is as I do it.
The league won’t die – it’s subsidized by the NBA, at least in part, to distract from the womanizing of players – so they aren’t about to let it die. It is immune from reality, both economic and political. I guess I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing: not giving a damn, no matter how much its hyped or how loud the whining gets.
Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.