Source: Tom Hauck / Getty
voices who are willing to tell the truth about much of the fanfare behind women’s basketball phenom
Caitlin Clark and the controversy over the hard fouls she has taken at the hands of other WNBA players?
Many people have taken notice of how every time
WNBA athletes get rough with Clark, fans and media talking heads start acting like she’s a victim of reverse Jim Crow on the basketball court despite the
demonstrable fact that prominent NBA rookies with a lot of buzz and anticipation of greatness behind their names have historically gotten beat up on by veteran players routinely without generating nearly as much controversy.
Meanwhile, when Chicago Sky rookie
Angel Reese was basically clotheslined by Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas, the event didn’t garner a fraction of the outrage that gets generated every time Clark gets a little bruised up in a physical contact sport where hard fouls are inarguably part of the game.
Well, Costas, whose NBC Sports coverage spanned nearly four decades before he retired in 2019, has a theory on why the discrepancy exists between Clark and Reese foul reactions
—and real ones know he told not a single lie.
“There was an incident recently where Alyssa Thomas, who happens to be African-American, grabbed Angel Reese by the throat and threw her to the floor,” Costas said during an appearance on CNN’s
NewsNight With Abby Phillip on Monday night. “The reason why that doesn’t spark as much conversation isn’t just that Caitlin Clark is a bigger star than Alyssa Thomas. It’s because it’s a black-on-black incident. You don’t have the dynamic that people can comment on but also exaggerate and make the entire story.”
Sports journalist Cari Champion, who was also present during the CNN interview, agreed and said she was tired of every discussion around Clark and the WNBA devolving into a conversation about “jealousy” as opposed to, you know, basketball.
“There should be more layers to this sport,” Champion said. “If you’re really going to welcome yourself to the WNBA and cover it and talk about it, can we be more than just ‘jealous’? Can there be some real, true competition? Can they just be athletes?”
Costas appeared to disagree that jealousy wasn’t a factor, but he did agree that it is a factor that gets far too much attention.
“I think it would be foolish to say that resentment and jealousy are not part of the mix, because those are human emotions,” Costas said. “But to elevate that above everything else and discard everything else in a complicated dynamic, that’s the wrong way to go.”
You can check out the full segment below.
See how social media is reacting to Costas’ take below.
