Said Fever Coach Stephanie White, quoted in "Caitlin Clark, a night of skirmishes, and a WNBA product out of control/After a night of physical fouls and hurt feelings, the WNBA clearly has an officiating problem. Will the league fix it?" (WaPo)(free-access link).
Top-rated comment over there: "Why are so many WNBA players jealous of Caitlin Clark? She is the league's meal ticket. Without Clark, WNBA games would have lower ratings than infomercials."
Just fix the officiating. You can't restructure human behavior — jealousy, violence, competition. That's the way of the world. People don't go into sports to find opportunities to express loving kindness.
Posts
95 comments:
"Why are so many WNBA players jealous of Caitlin Clark?"
Being anti-Caitlin is just anti-white racism/You can put lipstick on a pig, but her haters are still a rancid bigots.
I care nothing for men's pro basketball after being an avid fan for 40+ years. When the NBA (and WNBA, too) publicly threw in with BLM, they lost me. And, absent a public apology, irrevocably.
NBA TV ratings (in the USA) have dropped like a stone since Jordan left the league. They continue to do so. Couldn't happen to a nicer group of people.
"Why are so many WNBA players jealous of Caitlin Clark? She is the league's meal ticket."
Because players in the WNBA have been struggling for years with little to show for it, and many are arguably better than she is. It's basic jealousy.
“Good sportsmanship” is not a universal value. Trash-talking, long eyelashes and fingernails aren’t either.
"Why are so many WNBA players jealous of Caitlin Clark? She is the league's meal ticket."
Because she's white and taking the job of a black woman. That's unforgivable.
Basketball is for blacks. That's what black people believe and they intend to beat her down for being white.
They don't care and cannot comprehend that she is putting bread in their mouths.
"Just fix the officiating."
Why would you expect that some referee is going to throw a black woman out of a basketball game for for felony assault when they would surely be #cancelled for doing that and promptly fired from their job?
Ref's gotta eat, too.
The NBA officiating has increasingly allowed a more "physical" style of play, to the point where only the 2 youngest teams can make it all the way through the postseason. I guess this is just what the younger fans want to see, but I can't imagine any great player from my era--Jordan, Magic. Bird-- lasting as long or doing as well in this kind of game.
There is no mystery why Caitlin Clark is abused on a regular basis. The elephant in the room is hard to discern through 12” eyelashes.
Clay Travis's take: The Indiana Fever is playing chess, not checkers. They got a smokin' hot enforcer (Sophie Cunningham) to mete out punishment to the bad actors.
That is not going to hurt viewership.
Humperdink hit the nail on the head. It's plain to see, if you have your eyes open.
Diversity (e.g. racism)? DEI (i.e. systemic, institutional Diversity)? Perhaps. Woke, ethical, and morally broken. #HateLovesAbortion
It’s girls volleyball mom, you didn’t miss anything…
There is a spectrum of lesbianism. One end of the spectrum is women who love women. The other end is women who hate men, and hetero women are equally hated. That's what we are seeing in this dynamic. I'm assuming you all know the WNBA is a lesbian dominated league and Clark is hetero. NTTAWWT.
The men in the NBA all understand the game. They know why the stars get preferential treatment and they stopped complaining about it.
Women have a lot of trouble making this step in systemic reasoning. They have more trouble getting past their feelings.
This manifests in workplaces every day. Women have a tendency to be mean to each other in the workplace. We are all wired for specific rolls in reproducing the next generation and we compete for reproductive status in our own ways.
None of this should be a surprise. Order will have to be imposed on these women from the top. They aren't smart enough to see where their own self interest lies and they don't understand their feelings well enough to mitigate.
robother said...
The NBA officiating has increasingly allowed a more "physical" style of play, to the point where only the 2 youngest teams can make it all the way through the postseason. I guess this is just what the younger fans want to see, but I can't imagine any great player from my era--Jordan, Magic. Bird-- lasting as long or doing as well in this kind of game.
6/18/25, 8:34 AM
—————————
The Bird-Magic era was significantly more physical than now.
ndspinelli said, "There is a spectrum of lesbianism. One end of the spectrum is women who love women. The other end is women who hate men, and hetero women are equally hated. That's what we are seeing in this dynamic. I'm assuming you all know the WNBA is a lesbian dominated league and Clark is hetero. NTTAWWT."
A great description of "political lesbianism", a situation where a heterosexual woman becomes so filled with feminist zeal, and political hatred of men, that she actually becomes a lesbian despite not actually being attracted to women. Her lesbianism is a political act, not a sexual or romantic one.
It is among these that you will find the highest rates of domestic violence, and lesbians have some of the highest rates of domestic violence in the world. So it all makes sense.
"The paint in the WNBA is a physical and violent and often unsafe place. It’s high time these refs learned how to officiate it."
The refs know how to officiate. If the league wanted tougher enforcement, they would get it or they'd pull new refs from college basketball.
The WNBA wants to exploit the attention that Caitlin Clark brings, and encourage action and drama.
The Detroit Pistons were famous for their physical style in the late 80s and early 90s. It's officiating and also it's strategy against Clark, who is more unstoppable than others with 3s in regular play, so getting her out of rhythm is key
When the officials don’t get control of the ballgame, when they allow stuff to happen, and it’s been happening all season long … this is what happens...
"Can't you do anything about this? This woman is a psycho."
Lesbian couples have a higher rate of domestic violence than heterosexual couples. No surprise that this rage finds its way onto the basketball court as well.
I don't follow the WNBA. As a matter of fact, I don't even follow the NBA. But being a an ex Iowa guy, I have watched Caitlin's story. She's getting a bad deal. Apparently being paid well for it - so good for her.
On that "restructuring human behavior" part, could a component of that be gender diversification? Women and men are born uniquely and raised differently. So they're set up for handling "jealousy, violence and competition". differently.
Is one gender better than the other? I could't tell you. But I can tell you they're different.
"Because players in the WNBA have been struggling for years with little to show for it, and many are arguably better than she is. It's basic jealousy."
No one is better than Clark. Not now. Not ever. Like Jordan, she is the GOAT.
"Basketball is for blacks. That's what black people believe and they intend to beat her down for being white."
NBA doesn't have this problem. Too many very good/great white Europeans in the league. This is a WNBA problem.
So basically a basketball game broke out at a brawl last night.
Bring back the Roller Derby, and give it a ball.
"Why are so many WNBA players jealous of Caitlin Clark?” It’s obviously because of white privilege, not because she is the best player in the league. /s As for the violence, it’s a cultural thing. It’s how black people express themselves although we aren’t supposed to say so.
"You can't restructure human behavior — jealousy, violence, competition" A rather anodyne description of what's happening to CC, leaving out race and sexual orientation.
I chose to watch the Mystics last night rather than the Fever. (It was a great game.) I missed the brouhaha in real time. Officiating is too inconsistent across the games and is an acknowledged problem yet to be fixed.
For those of you who don't watch the W -- Clark was poked in the eye by a white woman and then pushed to the floor by another white woman.
""You can't restructure human behavior — jealousy, violence, competition" A rather anodyne description of what's happening to CC, leaving out race and sexual orientation."
It was so obviously implied. I don't need to use a sledgehammer around here. This is a blog, not a basketball game.
There's no way to fix the hearts of the players. Just get some rules and enforce them and give up on changing human nature.
Just no Robother on both counts. The NBA is a
3 point shooting contest. Bird and Jordan played when every game was gang war. Not even close.
Agree with Ann.
My take:
nasty jealous racist bitches - gonna be nasty jealous racist bitches.
Every violent foul Should come with a price tag.
The men are just as competitive as the women and way stronger. But the refs keep control of the game, at least most of the time.
A story I’ve posted here before but not lately.
I taught at a majority Black urban university for eight years after I retired from my real job. During that time we had two knock-down drag-em-out battles in the classroom. These were the real thing. People getting thrown across tables and so on.
In both cases the combatants were women.
If women were in charge, there would be a lot less competition and violence. I think I heard a professor with an Ivy League PhD say that.
Caitlin’s Clark needs to get some Kareem Abdul Jabari-style goggles to protect her eyes.
the officiating is atrocious. It's almost as if the referees don't what to hurt anyone's feewings and toss them the hell out of the game and let them incure fines. That is all it would take to stop it.
My guess is that the league thinks that more men will tune int to watch the cat fights.
Just for context the NBA’s average tv viewership is about 5X that of the WNBA.
"Why are so many WNBA players jealous of Caitlin Clark?"
Because she is: a) extremely good, b) white, c) hetero-sexual ... descriptors which do not apply to the crushing majority of WNBA players.
"Just fix the officiating."
Said every sports fan everywhere.
Maybe go full NHL. Embrace the fights. They're far more entertaining than the basketball, and it's all harmless. They fight like girls. If those NBA or NFL players get into a fight, they could kill each other, but not so much with the women. Maybe make them wear head gear to reduce the chances of a concussion or hair pulling.
Ann Althouse said...
There's no way to fix the hearts of the players. Just get some rules and enforce them and give up on changing human nature.
The NBA figured it out. They definitely changed the heart of players.
What makes the WNBA different?
Can we talk about Universal suffrage now in an adult manner?
So now, we're supposed to care about the WNBA? Give me a break. And some poor little baby got poked in the eye. Good grief, go back watch a video on Bully Boy Bill Lambier, the Detroit "Bad Boys", and Michael Jordon.
But I suppose its the implicit race angle that has everyone worked up. Well, this happens all the time in other more important work places because whites aren't a "Protected group". You can be damn sure that if a white person went to a Black run Local Government and got a job, they'd be discriminated against. And they'd be happy about it.
The Bird-Magic era was significantly more physical than now.
Agreed, AMDG. Hell--now they take 5 minutes to review and mete out punishment every time there's a hard foul. I'm not sure that it's a bad thing to try and control the goon stuff, but there certainly was a lot more of it in the 80's.
I suspect AI with a dozen or so cameras would do a much better job. Tennis has really improved with robo line calling. Hardly any whining and complaining by the players. Though McEnroe was pretty entertaining back in the day.
The same people who want us to care about the WNBA, because "Women are the equal to men" are upset because women get in a physical fight - just like men.
Because women are different AND better. So, when the beloved WNBA angels get angry and lash out physically, its nationwide news. And wouldn't be with NBA players.
As for the officiating, I can remember when Parish "The Chief" of the Boston Celtics was so upset at Bill Lamibeirs cheap shots and hard fouls, he sucker punched him with a flurry of blows to the head. He wasn't kicked out and the crowd went wild with cheers.
"Just fix the officiating."
The NBA has had issues with the officials doing a little fixing of their own.
Her teammates need to man up and exact some revenge. Or she should go to the police and file an assault complaint.
Lol I like the meanies tag.
ROcean took my Lambier comment I was gonna leave!
"McNasty and McDirty!"--Johnnie Most's names for Laimbeer and Mahorn.
There's no way to fix the hearts of the players.
Really? Have they all signed diversity statements?
Did you see CC throw three three-pointers in 38 seconds? I don't watch sportsball, but that popped up on my X timeline, and it was pretty cool.
@boatbuilder That's the last era of basketball i actually liked. I like my basketball played more similar to football. Makes it more interesting and team oriented.
Nowadays it's mostly just shooting 3 pointers it seems.
I have read that Clark makes 10 times as much money as any other player in the WNBA based on her endorsement deals (don't know that it is true but it is plausible). So she is having the last laugh regardless to all the thugs targeting her in the games, and they are targeting her.
Watched the game last night...Fever vs Suns and another recent game...Fever vs Liberty. The Liberty game was awesome and the play was outstanding by both teams. That game should be the standard. Suns game was sloppy from the beginning and the poking and pushing by Suns players was obviously spiteful. The officials looked at replay forever and somehow decided that both teams were at fault. The other skirmish was a technical foul by Cunningham (payback) of the fever which was obvious and players from both teams were ejected from the game with 48+- seconds to go. Not a showcase game!
The NBA has been African thug ball for decades and there's no reason their little sister, WNBA, shouldn't emulate them.
Officials, a night of disembodied physical fouls and hurt feelings, anything but blaming the actual women committing hard fouls and crapping on one another in social media while desperately seeking relevance. It is the female athlete version of face lifts and caked-on makeup for older actresses.
@RBE -- agree. The Liberty/Fever game was stellar.
"There's no way to fix the hearts of the players. Just get some rules and enforce them and give up on changing human nature."
Althouse just came around to reason behind religion and judgment. We've all sinned and fallen short...
This is a gender problem. One gender can't control their emotions, especially jealousy. This is ancient wisdom, and I think it's the reason God made that gender smaller and less muscular.
"Yancey Ward said...
I have read that Clark makes 10 times as much money as any other player in the WNBA based on her endorsement deals (don't know that it is true but it is plausible). So she is having the last laugh regardless to all the thugs targeting her in the games, and they are targeting her."
More than 10#,
Consequences matter. As do a lack of consequences.
There is such a thing as physical play and referee judgement. This past weekend I was coaching kids in flag football. The other coach saw one of my players take the flag he had just pulled and throw it on the ground in exultation. He wanted my player called out for unsportmanslike conduct. The ref said no, he just got over excited - he wasn't trash talking or taunting. I talked to the ref, I talked to my player, and that was that.
On the other hand is actual deliberate physical punishment of another player outside the bounds of the game. There can be no tolerance for that and the consequences have to be immediate and severe. Anything else encourages the action and encourages the hiding of the action (i.e. players circling someone while one player throws punches hidden by their teammates).
I didn't watch the whole WNBA game, but I did watch the CC altercation from multiple angles. For those not watching closely, let me share how bad it was:
- CC was playing aggressively and it was being tolerated
- CC MAY have been hit hard in the nose by an opposing player. She clutches her face and drops the ball clearly away from her.
- Ref blows the whistle. PLAY IS OVER. CC DOES NOT HAVE THE BALL.
- Another opponent rushes up to her - unclear why or intention or if there was physical contact.
- A 3rd opponent rushes and body slams CC to the ground. Approximately 3 seconds after the play ended and the whistle had been blown.
To me, there's no interpretation here. And such actions require immediate ejection from the game and severe penalty. The end.
"nappy headed hos" is probably out as a descriptor.
Thanks, Imus
John Henry
Remember the uss McCain that collided in the Malacca straights killing 38 sailors?
One of the reasons for that was that Combat Information Control knew the danger but did not tell the bridge.
Why? Because the woman cic watch officer and the woman officer of the deck were not speaking to each other.
I
Why would I want to watch a bunch of tatted-up, racist lesbians run around bouncing a ball and playing "get the honky"? And they couldn't even beat a below-average high school boys' team.
Maybe they do, I don't know, but why can't the WNBA eliminate the girl on girl jealousies by mandating each WNBA team draft a tranny?
1. Men function well in organized hunting parties or gangs -- they establish a power pecking order (Alpha Dog), and then work together.
2. The national White crime rate is a fraction of the Black crime rate, and Black female crime can even outpace White male crime. Facts. It should suprise no one that the Black-on-White violence rate is high in organized sports.
3. Women historically have not had pro sports, and often compete through non-violent ways (beauty contests) or the back door (e.g., Roman poisonings), and they place huge weight on social status. Jealousy. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
The WNBA has taken women out of their comfort zone. Now just a different forum for mud wrestling?
The player who knocked her to the ground well after the play ended should have been ejected if not suspended a few games. No excuse for it. I have no idea how they found Clark guilty of anything. She was simply assaulted at least once, and I saw twice. The first contact with her face did not look accidental from the left side angle.
It’s a crime what the officials have allowed the racist lesbians of the WNBA and especially Angel Reese to get away with. They had no TV audience before Clark. They had no legions of young girls interested in basketball until Clark. The league has let her get beat to a pulp without ever once admonishing the officiating staff.
"Now just a different forum for mud wrestling?"
As a Rastaflairian, I support all forms of wrestling, especially mud. Someone should form the Wrestling Mud Bikini Association (WMBA). I guarantee increased ratings among the coveted 25-50 male demo.
I’m with Althouse. They have rules so enforce them evenly. The NBA didn’t change human nature either. They just tightened up some officiating. Very few women’s sports have player contact like basketball and women absolutely have a very different dynamic in team sports like this.
I think it's because 'that white bitch thinks she's all that' or whatever Angel Reese thought when Caitlin turned pro.
"And they couldn't even beat a below-average high school boys' team."
This was true until fairly recently. The few times I have glimpsed it, the improvement in the women's level of play and physicality is very noticeable.
I agree, Wilbur. They’ve stepped up their game by leaps and bounds.
The Detroit Pistons were famous for their physical style in the late 80s and early 90s.
Oh the gutless way they do things!
No Foul Called After Caitlin Clark Crushed By Anvil
h/t Instapundit
I care nothing for men's pro basketball after being an avid fan for 40+ years. When the NBA (and WNBA, too) publicly threw in with BLM, they lost me.
They lost me when the Sonics left in 2008. Never going back.
11:42 Bagoh - LOL.
11:43 (correction)
I feel very blessed because I cannot stand watching basketball. any of it. yehck.
Mabrey -- the one who shoved Clark to the ground -- has been fined. Her foul was upgraded after the fact to a flagrant 2.
Good.
Grok says:
The Babylon Bee story about Caitlin Clark being crushed by an anvil is satire, not true. It's a humorous take on real debates about her treatment in the WNBA. Evidence shows Clark often faces uncalled fouls, like in games against the Liberty and Sun, with her coach calling officiating "egregious." Fans and media echo this, citing missed calls. However, some argue officiating is subjective, and Clark's physical style invites contact, with no clear evidence of favoritism. The debate reflects broader WNBA officiating issues, but evidence leans toward Clark not getting enough protection.
bagoh20 said...
The player who knocked her to the ground well after the play ended should have been ejected if not suspended a few games. No excuse for it. I have no idea how they found Clark guilty of anything. She was simply assaulted at least once, and I saw twice. The first contact with her face did not look accidental from the left side angle.
You know very well that would be racist.
Possibly transphobic too.
Caitlin Clark needs to change her jersey number to 42.
Not sure I understand the racial comments. Looked like 2 white women assaulting CC, with a third black woman in the vicinity.
"Not sure I understand the racial comments. Looked like 2 white women assaulting CC.."
Lez Perps assaulted because CC is hetro. Try to keep up.
Put them on roller skates!
Not sure I understand the racial comments. Looked like 2 white women assaulting CC, with a third black woman in the vicinity.
Yes. Let's take one instance in isolation and ignore all the prior incidents that DO involve black players. Hell, Angel Reese alone would fill a half hour of lowlights.
John henry said...
Remember the uss McCain that collided in the Malacca straights killing 38 sailors?
One of the reasons for that was that Combat Information Control knew the danger but did not tell the bridge.
Why? Because the woman cic watch officer and the woman officer of the deck were not speaking to each other.
Close. FITZGERALD had the watchstanding issue, not MCCAIN. Also, FITZGERALD had 7 deaths, MCCAIN had 10. You might be thinking of casualties (injuries +deaths)
Johnny Most: “Ralph Sampson — DIRT-y, dirrty player… and the refs aren’t calling it!!”
I have zero interest in women’s basketball as a sport but I do enjoy me some kayfabe professional-wrestling faces-and-heels racial kitty-cat fights.
Apparently you can't fix nasty anti-white racism either, especially because we're not allowed to acknowledge it.
Maybe telling the truth would help.
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