Turning Heads

     Apparently, women’s basketball sensation Caitlin Clark isn’t done breaking records yet:

     Caitlin Clark is currently leading the WNBA in total points from scoring and assists. Similar to the NFL’s all-purpose yards measurement, Clark now has to be considered a candidate for MVP and Rookie of the Year (ROY).
     Clark on Saturday became the first rookie in WNBA history to have a triple double (10 or more points, rebounds and assists in the same game). She also is the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 350+ points and 150+ assists in a season.
     Clark continues breaking records after breaking numerous records in college at Iowa where she was named the best player in college two years in a row. Clark is a basketball record-breaking machine.
     Clark received more votes than any woman in WNBA history for the All-Star game, achieving more than 700,000 votes. Last year’s winner had 90,000 votes. Clark sells out arenas wherever she goes. The league, which never made a profit in nearly 30 years, is also adding viewership records whenever Clark is on TV. She is a phenom and revenues are increasing.

     Believe it or not, there are… persons putting Clark’s superb performance to “white supremacy.” But you had to expect that. The women of the WNBA feel overshadowed by her – they are, frankly – and that makes them angry.

     But how does Clark’s debut differ from any other exploding superstar? Didn’t Magic Johnson have the same effect on basketball? Didn’t Michael Jordan? Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal?

     No, the problem here isn’t Clark’s talent. It’s that she’s a white heterosexual Christian, and that people are coming to WNBA games to see her specifically. She’s the one putting fans in the seats and money in the WNBA’s till. The other women of the WNBA wouldn’t be trying so hard to hurt her, otherwise. Neither would the Indiana Fever’s marginal incompetent of a head coach, Christie Sides, be straining to keep Clark from not just breaking records, but smashing them to flinders.

     In that regard, Caitlin Clark is quite distinct from Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, et alii. An entire professional sports league owes its unprecedented popularity – and its newfound profitability – to her. The breakout stars of men’s basketball can’t say anything close to that.

     Caitlin Clark isn’t conclusive proof that American basketball fans are hungry for more white stars. But the reactions of black stars and commentators, many of them persons of dubious character and shameful antecedents, tell a tale of entitlement and resentment that cannot be effaced. By their lights, the pro sports leagues belong to them.

     A few years back, retired baseball star Joe Morgan, who had achieved greatly when he played for the Cincinnati Reds, made an unpleasant name for himself with an on-air comment he made as a sports broadcaster. In short, he accused Major League Baseball of racism. He claimed that blacks are under-represented in the major leagues, which he attributed to racial biases. His co-broadcaster, whose name I’ve forgotten, made no attempt to rein him in.

     Black players in major league baseball: 12%
     Black percentage of the U.S. population: 13%

     Sound like a tempest in a teapot to you, Gentle Reader? But that’s the entitlement syndrome of the Negro in America for you. “What’s ours is ours, and you honkies better not say otherwise!” That, plus the high percentage of black sports figures who are felons or the fathers of bastards by multiple women, plus the penetration of the pro leagues by “woke” and other anti-American themes, freed me of all interest in professional sports.

     But that’s “hate speech,” and I’m a “racist” for saying it out loud. Go figure.