There is a new lightning rod in sports and it's for all the wrong reasons. Caitlin Clark is an exceptional basketball player, who has taken the league by storm, and in the process has a fan following that is unlike anything the sport has ever seen. But, there is a dark cloud that is starting to surround Clark and it's making this seemingly great story turn sour.
Clark entered the league with a fan fervor that has never been seen at the women's basketball level before. Even the most celebrated and best known women's player could walk down the street and would barely be recognized and then came Caitlin Clark. With her fun and dominating style of play and her easy to market likability the WNBA seemed to have their greatest star ready for super stardom. The league, and every player in it, would soon benefit from Clark's obvious allure. But, it seems that jealousy and envy (at the very least) have become more of an agenda than elevating the league.
Ever since Clark entered the league, there have been naysayers, and not from fans and the media, but from opponents who want to push her down, both figuratively and literally. Clark has been the subject of some nasty plays and cheap shots since she walked on a WNBA court. Teams are targeting her and the refs are looking the other way. The worst part is, so is the league, who should be looking to protect her.
The blueprint in sports has always been to protect the stars, because they bring the fans. When Clark's team has played on the road, it has consistently drawn the greatest crowds, even in some of the biggest markets like New York and LA, that shows her star power. The NBA noticed this with Air Jordan and changed the rules to protect their golden goose. The NHL did the same with the Great One Wayne Gretzky and as for the NFL, well you can barely look at a QB wrong nowadays because they want to protect their most marketable assets. The WNBA is failing miserably in this area and for a league who has always struggled to make a profit, let alone gain fans, there seems to be something even more devious afoot.
When Clark was left off the Olympic team, the gloves came off for many. Not only did the media and fans throw their hands up in the air in frustration, but former NBA stars like Paul Pierce and Gilbert Arenas were outwardly upset at the decision. Quickly after the announcement that she wouldn't be on the American roster, social media began calling out the obvious issues. Jealousy, sure. Envy, of course, but now was this a race-oriented slight to Clark? Did it have something to do with her outspoken religion? Or her sexual orientation? These were the questions that littered the sports world and none have been answered.
At the end of the day, what we know is that the WNBA and Olympic committee have the most popular women's basketball player of all time on their hands and for reasons that we can only guess at, they are pushing her aside and allowing others to derail the golden goose that she could be.