mekka okereke :verified:
If the suffering of Black people is invisible to you, then you miss so much of what's going on in the world. But if you can see Black people as entire human beings, then a few things immediately become apparent:
1) Most hate comes from fans, not other players. Other players have only said, "Caitlin will be great. But even great rookies struggle adjusting to the competition level of the WNBA." Fans send death threats + racist slurs.
2) Angel Reese gets much more hate than Caitlin Clark.
1/N
mark
@superflippy @mekkaokereke I like cardoso more. Clark makes a lot of shots, but also misses a lot. And she crumbles under pressure a bit.
Cardoso would be my pick to win championships. (Which I guess that isn't such a wild thought after she just won a championship)
Susanna the Artist 🌻
@mekkaokereke Exhibit A: Kamilla Cardoso. She was the MVP on the championship NCAA team and a first-round draft pick. Why isn’t her name in the headlines too?
mekka okereke :verified:
If the accomplishments of Black people are invisible to you, then you miss so much about the world. But if you can see Black people as entire human beings, then you give them credit for their accomplishments.
The uplift in viewership and ticket sales for the WNBA is being called the "Caitlin Clark effect." Yes, she is the biggest draw. But if you look at where ticket sales have increased the most, you see that it's Chicago Sky, Las Vegas Aces, and who they play.
2/N
mark
@PedestrianError @mekkaokereke @superflippy I'm not meaning to come off as sexist, but I see where a constant drum eat could appear that way. The crumbling I was thinking about was the last 10 minutes of the championship. There was a panicked play style, and any athlete will get criticism based on performance that doesn't have to be based on demographics
PedestrianError :vbus: :nblvt:
@mekkaokereke @ATLeagle @superflippy I was responding to “she crumbles under pressure.” That sounded a bit like a value judgement, perhaps a bit implicitly sexist compared to how male rookies who have missed key shots are described. I realize that may have been unintentional and that your thread was about the media phenomenon rather than Clark herself, but offline & elsewhere online I have seen people personally insulting Clark, even calling her racist for getting attention she doesn’t control.
mekka okereke :verified:
@PedestrianError @ATLeagle @superflippy
No one is "picking apart Clark."
No one is accusing Clark of racism.
Clark accepts and agrees 100% with the WNBA Players' assessments of her development, and where she is in it.
PedestrianError :vbus: :nblvt:
@ATLeagle @superflippy @mekkaokereke There’s no need to pick apart Clark. None of this is her fault. She didn’t choose to be the media’s white, straight, suburban darling, she’s just a young athlete trying to earn a living playing ball despite patriarchy. Considering all the racist BS she’s been a bystander to, she’s done pretty well at pushing back against it while living in a fishbowl she didn’t ask for. The media/society are the problem, not any of the players.
mark
@PedestrianError @mekkaokereke @superflippy agreed. There is subtlety in everything. I will try to be more situationally specific to avoid the broad brush interpretation
PedestrianError :vbus: :nblvt:
@ATLeagle @mekkaokereke @superflippy Oh, I agree there was room to criticize that game. It is subtle and context sensitive and we’re all still getting used to hearing female athletes even get discussed by mainstream sports media and fans on a regular basis. I guess it seems there’s more of a tendency overall to hear “HE crumbled in the championship game”/“SHE [habitually] crumbles under pressure” but the individuals saying one or the other might use the same expression regardless of gender.
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