Predictably, the usual suspects in sports media spent Thursday dismissing any suggestion that the play had anything to do with race."Some of you dummies can’t help but make any issue no matter what about race huh? You support someone, it’s race related.You don’t support someone, it’s race related.
The stupidity of a lot of you has zero bottom.It’s amazing.
But then again, it isn’t.It’s 2026," ESPN analyst Louis Riddick posted on X.WNBA SUSPENDS ALYSSA THOMAS FOR 'RECKLESSLY' HITTING CAITLIN CLARK IN THROAT DURING SCRAMBLEJemele Hill went further, accusing those who believed officials should have called a foul of "implying that [Clark] should receive special treatment because she’s straight and white."She then directed the criticism at me after I argued that Clark deserved to be officiated like every other player, regardless of her race.How dare I?"Secondly, y’all the ones always hollering and crying about race being brought up too much … but surprise, surprise, that isn’t the case now," she tweeted.No one can say for certain that Thomas cheap-shotted Clark because she is White.
But it's entirely reasonable to ask whether race played a role.After all, the same people dismissing that possibility have spent the past three years arguing that race and/or racism explain nearly every aspect of Clark's career.They have repeatedly claimed that Clark became the biggest star in women's basketball because she is a straight White woman."We would all be very naive if we didn’t say race and her sexuality played a role in her popularity.
While so many people are happy for Caitlin’s success, including the players, this has had such an enormous impact on the game, there is a part of it that is a little problematic because of what it says about the worth and the marketability of the players who are already there," Hill told the Los Angeles Times in 2024.Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas scrambles to get up over Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark during...