CAITLIN CLARK IS A LYRICAL FORCE UPON AMERICA, AS MEN’S HOOPS REALIZES
Sorry to March Madness fans, but Clark is a bigger happening this season, which could be asked of network programmers, who kept her on the air Sunday when an NFL pregame show paused to wait
The analysts at “Football Night In America” could wait. They were supposed to hit the NBC airwaves 10 minutes earlier, but a mesmerizing American event was delaying their postseason presence. Caitlin Clark was finishing a basketball game. She hit seven 3-pointers and scored 45 points, and though Iowa was about to lose in overtime, the network deemed her more important than the pregame twiddlers.
Then she was racing off the court at Ohio State, where a celebrating fan reading her phone smashed into her. Down went Clark in a daze before she was helped by teammates, stopping to mutter, “I was just trying to exit as quickly as possible, so I started running and I was absolutely just hammered by somebody. Basically blindsided and, you know, kind of scary, could have caused a pretty serious injury to me and knocked the wind out of me.”
Welcome, people, to the first female athlete who makes the National Football League pause for anything, not to mention the reality that she’s more significant than anything happening on the men’s side of her college sport. Clark is an artist unlike any in the history of women’s athletics. She’ll become the first player in Division I, regardless of gender, to have 3,500 points and 1,000 assists. Her 3-point shooting from team hardwood logos has the viral gaze of social media, including Steph Curry, who sometimes wants to be her. Every home and road game is sold out, while public appearances require security. She sponsors State Farm, Gatorade and Nike. A loss to LSU in the national championship game was watched by 9.9 million. She appeared with Peyton and Eli Manning and predicted a touchdown pass for her team, the Kansas City Chiefs.
Better? The Iowa State Fair sculpted her image in butter. “I mean, people go to the fair just to see the butter sculptures, especially the butter cow,” she said. “For me to be next to the butter cow, that’s a pretty big deal.”
And when she’s in a wonderful mood, after hitting a stepback three from near halfcourt that beat Michigan State, she becomes emotional about her place in the world. “Honestly, I just look around and I get to play in an arena full of little kids, a lot of little girls who admire our team,” Clark said. “A lot of fans that are here at 8 p.m. on a Tuesday night in January. That’s rare for women’s basketball, but it’s becoming the norm. It kind of brings a little tear to my eye. I’m just grateful.”
I’m thrilled to know fans realize she and her sport have become larger — dare I say — than men’s college hoops. March no longer has the same dazzle when you see Bill Self acknowledge cheating at Kansas and is given a five-year, $53 million contract. Coaches love to knock the FBI, which tried to clean up corruption and was upended by an NCAA device called the Independent Accountability Resolution Process. While Adidas agents and assistant coaches served prison time — hello, Christian Dawkins, Merl Code and Book Richardson — Self and Auburn’s Bruce Pearl remained stars in a hypocritical institutional reply.
“I think my reputation has been tarnished immensely. … But the whole thing is we knew right from the jump what we had done and what we had not done,” Self said. “The bottom line is I'm proud of how we conducted our business. At the end of the day, it was a long blip, but it was still a blip in the big scheme of things.”
A blip is bigger than a blip, especially when hoops aficionados know many of the best NBA prospects aren’t involved in the Madness. Last year, five of the draft’s top seven picks played either in France, including Victor Wembanyama, or with teams in the G League and Overtime Elite. This year, they’re playing in Australia, France, Serbia and developmental areas outside “One Shining Moment.” So who’s up to win it all? Kansas and Auburn are there. “I’m excited I will finish my career here,” said Self, who lost 15 vacated wins and sits through a three-year probation.
The women’s tournament, with Clark, means more to sport and life. In due time, she’ll take our eyes to the WNBA, a league she could revive with her flair after her showcase at the Paris Olympics with Team USA. She is a baller, in truth, and we can’t stop watching her. The joy started last season, when she had a triple-double with 40 points in the NCAAs, then took on Angel Reese and the victorious Tigers with an “I don’t see you gesture” before finishing second. She has millions of fans. She has a few who don’t like her. Which is why her collapse in Columbus received nationwide attention, with Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith immediately apologizing. If you’re going to crash into an athlete, please avoid Clark amid her global recognition.
“You know, it’s unfortunate the game ended that way and Caitlin gets taken out on the floor. Gets some inappropriate words yelled at her by fans, by students,” said Iowa coach Lisa Bluder, beyond angry. “That just should not happen, it should not happen. Our players should be safe, they should be able to walk off the floor. That’s very disappointing.”
Said Big Ten communications executive Scott Markley in an Associated Press interview, knowing his conference waits until a third offense before issuing fines: “We try not to be too heavy-handed on the policy of court-storming for a problem that doesn’t necessarily exist. ... But we do have a policy. Generally it’s rely on school policy, local law enforcement, (to) know what’s best for their fans and student-athletes and officials. And we’re always monitoring these things and discuss if we need to make adjustments in the interest of a safe environment.”
They should watch more closely. Consider it an unfortunate episode that shows the extent of her impact. If fans are wacked about beating Clark and the country’s No. 2 team, the women’s game is making inroads. She’ll be shown on all four major broadcast networks this season, including the Big Ten tournament on CBS and ABC carrying the NCAA tournament and the Final Four title game in prime time. Imagine Iowa and LSU once again at the end. Might 10 million swell to 15 million?
“I think for me, it’s, ‘Just don’t let it overwhelm you. Don’t let the moment pass you by.’ Living in the now is super important. It’s really special,” Clark said. “These are going to be some of the best moments of my life that I get to share with my best friends, as a kid who’s 21 years old in college. I play this game because I love it. I play because it’s fun. And when I play that way, that’s what allows me to be as good as I am.”
“She understands she’s the face of basketball. She can’t help but understand that,” Bluder said. “But I don’t think she’s so consumed with it that it takes away from her game. I think she’s still going to play with passion. She’s going to play with emotion. Sometimes, as we know, that emotion is good, and sometimes that emotion isn’t good. We all have some ‘Damn It’ t-shirts in our closets. Somebody told me don’t say ‘Whoa’ to a racehorse. I’m never going to do that to her.”
Next time she rushes to beat the crowd, she should slow down, if someone can tell her. “I feel really badly,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “That’s extremely unfortunate. But, man, such a great player like Caitlin. I really hate that.”
She’ll be fine. When in doubt, she can think about Iowa State Fair nominees beyond her, including Elvis Presley, John Wayne and The Last Supper. When the cameras are on, she should know network executives are looking straight at her now. No one wants Bill Self.
We’re waiting for Caitlin.
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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.