AS THE WOMEN’S GAME TURNS INTO A SHOW, RACIAL HATE CRIMES ARE HORRIFIC

Utah’s team was battered by N-word incidents in an Idaho region known for far-right extremists, a shame when the rest of the event is gaining national attention for Caitlin Clark and South Carolina

     Don’t be offended, but Caitlin Clark will shout “f— you” at a referee. This was odd, in that Iowa seemed favored in a game where it converted 25 of 30 free throws while the opponents made only three of five. Damian Lillard agreed, posting on social media, “I feel like West Virginia women’s team getting did bad by these refs.”

     We’ve also watched Kim Mulkey pummel the Washington Post again, taking on Babbgate as sportswriter Kent Babb has yet to publish an apparently derogatory article about her. “Listen, man, we’re not going to let one sleazy reporter distract us from what we’re trying to do,” said the LSU coach, who was supported by Aneesah Morrow, saying after scoring 19 points, “Coach Mulkey’s had our back all year, so we’ve got to have Coach Mulkey’s back.”

     So far, the American masses were prescient in assuming the NCAA women’s tournament is better than the men’s event, which demands $1.1 billion a year from two media companies. We’re just getting started, and despite noise from Oakland and Yale’s intellects shaming Charles Barkley, the Round of 16 awaits this weekend with Clark, Mulkey, Geno Auriemma, USC’s JuJu Watkins and a premise that mighty South Carolina will win. It would be nice to include Utah in the proceedings, seeing how Gonzaga didn’t do enough homework as the host school to place the Utes in a hotel area not invaded by hate groups. They wound up yelling the ugliest comment, in racial lawbreaking.

     The N-word.

     The team arrived last Thursday in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where the traveling party was forced to stay about 30 miles from the basketball arena in Spokane, Wash. With a youth volleyball tournament in the area, a waiver from the NCAA allowed Utah and two other teams to be in Idaho for the first and second rounds. The Utes checked in and were battered by several incidents of racism in a region haunted by far-right extremists — including Proud Boys, ACT for America, America’s Promise Ministries and Identity Evropa. Scared and driven to tears, Utah demanded a new hotel from Gonzaga. Who wound up beating the Utes in the second round Monday? The Zags won 77-66. This is a horrific experience for a collegiate program in a major event. The women are emerging as ballers, but dramatic fixes must be made when safety becomes a prominent concern.

     “We had several instances of some kind of racial hate crimes toward our program and (it was) incredibly upsetting for all of us,” coach Lynne Roberts said. “In our world, in athletics and in university settings, it’s shocking. There’s so much diversity on a college campus and so you’re just not exposed to that very often.”

     When players, coaches, cheerleaders and marching-band members walked to a restaurant near the hotel, they heard the N-word from a white truck as the engine was revving. Another incident happened hours later. “We all just were in shock, and we looked at each other like, did we just hear that? ... Everybody was in shock — our cheerleaders, our students that were in that area that heard it clearly were just frozen,” deputy athletic director Charmelle Green told KSL. “We kept walking, just shaking our heads, like I can't believe that. … I will never forget the sound that I heard, the intimidation of the noise that came from that engine, and the word (N-word). I go to bed and I hear it every night since I've been here.”

     Said Roberts: “Racism is real and it happens, and it's awful. For our players, whether they are white, black, green, whatever — no one knew how to handle it and it was really upsetting. For our players and staff to not feel safe in an NCAA tournament environment, it's messed up.”

     The athletic director, Mark Harlan, said the team “should not have been in” Coeur d’Alene. “I do appreciate the NCAA and Gonzaga moving us from that situation, but we should never have been there in the first place. So a lot of folks need to get home and heal from the whole matter,” Harlan said. “But for Charmelle Green and what she's done in terms of being the director of this group, being the victim of this, along with so many others, it’s something that is going to take a long time for us all to process. It's not the experience that our student-athletes and our students overall should have experienced.”

     Said Idaho Gov. Brad Little: “Idaho leaders and community members at all levels have been consistent and clear about our values — we fully reject racism in all its forms. There is no place for racism, hate or bigotry in the great State of Idaho. We condemn bullies who seek to harass and silence others. I will continue the tradition of past governors in supporting our local leaders in their efforts to eradicate hate and bigotry from our communities.”

     If the incidents had happened in the men’s tournament, headlines would take over the games. Equal play means responsible and safe housing. You don’t put an NCAA qualifier about 30 miles away. Keep the hotel in the state. A statement came from Gonzaga: “We are frustrated and deeply saddened to know what should always be an amazing visitor and championship experience was in any way compromised by this situation for it in no way reflects the values, standards and beliefs to which we at Gonzaga University hold ourselves accountable.”

     The women deserve to be treated and housed as well as the men. When I watch the tournament, I prefer to think of South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, who wanted a press-conference notification for her dog, Champ.

     “He said until he gets a nameplate, he's not answering any questions,” she said.

     There are plenty of destinations in our country where games can be played. Let’s examine and make the right call so we can focus on the Gamecocks and Clark. “It was a distraction and upsetting and unfortunate,” Roberts said. "This should be a positive for everybody involved. This should be a joyous time for our program, and to have kind of a black eye on the experience is unfortunate.”

     Seems we’re discussing lawsuits about the wrong people. Try the racial haters.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.