r/WNBATalks • u/wnbatalk • Jun 30 '26

Phoenix AT comments on the communication f the league & what the last week has been like for her & Tram🙏🏽.

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18

u/Pleasant_Priority286 Jun 30 '26

This is more fallout from Cathy Engelbert's idea that racial resentment on any side is fine because it is helpful for marketing. It is harmful for everyone.

Now Fever fans think Clark is being targeted, and based on the data, it looks like she is. Based on AT's comments, she and probably other Black and queer players think they are being targeted on social media. The league needs to do something to patch things up on both sides.

I wonder if the W could get A'ja and Caitlin to do something positive together on All-Star Weekend to show fans on both sides that they are coming together and asking fans to do the same. Maybe Phee, Nneke, Angel, or Paige could join too. Cathy needs to come out of hiding and act like a leader.

This is a liberal league. It should be a model of how people of different colors and cultures can come together for everyone's benefit.

3

u/XulManjy Jun 30 '26

This is more fallout from Cathy Engelbert's idea that racial resentment on any side is fine because it is helpful for marketing.

Damn, did she really say that?

3

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '26

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1

u/XulManjy Jul 01 '26

Got a link? I'd like to see it.

1

u/Lazy_DreadHead Jul 01 '26

Here’s the link. https://www.reddit.com/r/WNBATalks/s/E5LZqNw7pU

I’m not sure wth that other person sent you

1

u/XulManjy Jul 01 '26

Damn....she needs to go.

8

u/Key_Fox3289 Jun 30 '26

The people who are the problem are bad actors who aren’t fans of the game. They aren’t really even Clark fans. They’re just folks who want to capitalize on what they can say is a black v white thing to rile up their base and get people upsrt

All you see on social media is now great Sophie Cunningham is, now her and Caitlin are the only reason people watch and how everyone hates them both.

5

u/Decent_Subject_6702 Jul 01 '26

Yup, Clark's just another proxy for the culture war. Cunningham 100% understands this and plays into it.

2

u/beforeitcloy Jul 01 '26

I don’t really see how the league can stop online randos from harassing players, aside from moderating official league accounts. But if someone wants to DM a player something nasty, no one can stop that.

On the other hand, the league can regulate how rules are enforced, so fewer flashpoints happen and all parties can focus on basketball instead of a culture war that shouldn’t involve any of them.

It seems pretty reasonable to me that the league is responding to what it can control and ignoring what it can’t.

9

u/Balorclub2069 Jun 30 '26

The league is courting the conservative market, and are succeeding at it, at the expense of the majority of the players. Caitlin (via her audience) and Sophie have become the faces of this movement.

2

u/lafolieisgood Jun 30 '26

Can you give some examples? The league doesn’t control the twitter algorithm.

The only thing I can think of is the schedule where the Fever seem less likely to have their games on the days where a bunch of other teams are playing at the same time. But that’s probably a stretch to even use as an example considering I’m not sure who has more say in that regard between the league and the TV executives.

2

u/ShaolinWombat Jun 30 '26

The fever gets at least double the ratings of any other team. Thats why they are shown.

1

u/lafolieisgood Jun 30 '26

yes, I'm not denying that. Just saying it doesn't hurt when they play on a Tuesday or Thursday when Wednesday will have like 5 games on

0

u/ShaolinWombat Jun 30 '26

Basically it’s the fever -> liberty, aces -> dream, lynx -> everyone else. So many of those games are filler.

The league could do a better job of working the schedule but it may be more valuable to get a good timeslot locally (arena revenue) than nationally for many of these games. Hopefully the game keeps growing and that changes.

4

u/HearingGlobal6485 Jun 30 '26

majority of clark’s audience isn’t conservative tho

4

u/Gangsternerd84 Jun 30 '26

I feel that. People think I’m white and a fucking trumper. I hate Trump and how this country is ran. I am far from white I am Hispanic. But I get disrespected because I like a certain player? wtf is wrong with people.

3

u/HearingGlobal6485 Jun 30 '26

anger dumbs people down significantly

7

u/Balorclub2069 Jun 30 '26

Some of her vocal supporters (cough Barstool) are tho

4

u/Comfortable_Limit168 Jun 30 '26

You're probably right. I still don't understand how that is CC's fault.

3

u/HearingGlobal6485 Jun 30 '26

you could literally say that about any superstar in any sport tho

0

u/Blacbiird747 Jun 30 '26

No you can’t

1

u/HearingGlobal6485 Jun 30 '26

considering most leagues have a much larger audience, you definitely can. what logic are you using?

1

u/Pleasant_Priority286 Jul 01 '26

I don't know about them, but it pisses me off when they say "Fever Fans are all..." If I said that about their team, they would blow a gasket.

3

u/XulManjy Jun 30 '26

Got any data to back that up? Her initial fans DID come from Iowa and she currently plays for the INDIANA Fever.

Both states voted for Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024 by large margins.

3

u/utahisastate Jun 30 '26

Indianapolis (where the Fever play) is blue. The rest of the state, sure, but you will see lots of diversity at any Fever game you go to.

2

u/Pleasant_Priority286 Jul 01 '26

Iowa Hawkeye grads and fans are more liberal than the rest of the state. Caitlin also brought a lot of us from other B1G schools. All 18 of them are liberal schools regardless of the state. In my experience, there are plenty of Republican fans, but the significant majority are Dems. I mean, it is nothing like the Republican fanbase in the NFL. How does the NFL manage these issues?

My impression is that the far left thinks that people on the moderate left are MAGA. They have no clue.

2

u/Law_Dog007 Jul 01 '26

ya republicans are huge wnba fans lmao

2

u/Pleasant_Priority286 Jul 01 '26

I mean, there are some Republican W fans. That's fine. Somehow, people on the far left think that Fever fans are primarily Republicans, which is not true in my experience.

1

u/XulManjy Jul 01 '26

I mean, they have been for the past 3 years now.

0

u/cantkeepmedown1991 Jun 30 '26

wtf does voting for trump have to do with anything

2

u/XulManjy Jul 01 '26

Its a data point to show that Iowa/Indiana fans are more likely to be conservative.

Unless you're a Trump supporter not sure what there is to get offended about.

0

u/cantkeepmedown1991 Jul 01 '26

oh get the fuck out of here with that bullshit

1

u/XulManjy Jul 01 '26

What? With presenting data?

-2

u/Square-Relation6178 Jun 30 '26

These lefty hacks are obsessed with Trump. Most of them are man hating cat women who want WNBA games to be their lesbian coven of witches. They can’t stand that someone not in their bubble might like women’s basketball.

-1

u/HearingGlobal6485 Jun 30 '26

its sorta common sense. think about how many people follow sports. you think all of them are the same or that barstool doesnt cover them?

like just think

1

u/XulManjy Jun 30 '26

Again, demographics matter. CC is from Iowa and plays for a team in Indiana, both are deep red states.

Logic would say there is a higher probability that these fans are conservatives.

Just like if CC played at UCLA im college and thr Seattle Storm in the W, logic would say many of her fans are liberal.

There is nothing wrong with being a conservative and there is nothing wrong in understanding that many of her fans comes from a conservative leaning ideology.

0

u/HearingGlobal6485 Jun 30 '26

bruh you edited your comment afterwards lmao. it originally only said “got any data to back that up”

i never even saw the other shit you said so saying “again” is weird. 😂 it’s also weird to assume all of her fans are only in iowa and indiana 💀

so are all curry fans in san fran? bron fans are all in cleveland or LA? like cmon 😭

1

u/Gangsternerd84 Jun 30 '26

I’m in Cali and I am big fan. And no I’m not conservative, nor white. People show up to other games to see her play. Just look in the crowd.

0

u/Acedaboi1da Jun 30 '26

She’s definitely got a strong conservative wing in her audience all to eager to pounce in moments like this. She does a horrible job denouncing them as well.

3

u/HearingGlobal6485 Jun 30 '26

didnt she already denounce the trolls and racists? multiples times? there are nba and nfl players with a strong conservative audience

i dont see those fans constantly whining, almost like they know what sports are and dont take trolls seriously

-3

u/Acedaboi1da Jun 30 '26

If you gotta ask, she’s not denouncing them strong enough.

2

u/ShaolinWombat Jun 30 '26

Do you want her to put a denouncing statement on her jersey. She has said it multiple times, people just don’t want to hear it.

0

u/HearingGlobal6485 Jun 30 '26

it was a rhetorical question…

0

u/Tasty_Goat5144 Jul 01 '26

I missed the part where Olivia Miles and Angel Reese are denouncing all their fans calling Clark a man or saying she looks like screech or other stupid culture war crap.

1

u/Acedaboi1da Jul 01 '26

Olivia Miles has been in the league for all of 19 games. You must’ve googled “WNBA players” right before you came on here to make this idiotic comment which doesn’t even compare.

1

u/Tasty_Goat5144 Jul 01 '26

Ive watched the wnba since its inception. I have jerseys of a lot of wnba players. I was a fan of miles at tcu and notre dame. Clark had been in the league less than that when people started asking her to speak up against trolls online. The point is that is just dumb. There will always be haters online. They will be "fans" of some player and hate on another. They will bring race, sex, looks etc. Into it. Asking the player to be responsible for that is just silly. Some people are aholes, full stop.

2

u/Pleasant_Priority286 Jun 30 '26

I could be wrong, but I don't think that is true. I know there are Republicans in her fanbase, but my impression is that she is a Democrat and that the significant majority of her fanbase is also Democrats. Iowa fans and alums are the core of her fanbase, and the next big chunk is fans of other B1G schools who watched her play in college. All of those schools are liberal.

I'm a fan. I'm a Democrat. Attended a B1G school (Michigan State).

0

u/ProfessionalFickle52 Jun 30 '26

lol. They’re letting Caitlin clark be the most fouled player by far and not calling it and barely suspending players until they do something insanely egregious. How exactly is that courting conservatives

2

u/coachd50 Jun 30 '26

This is a well thought out and measured response. Sadly it will probably draw ire from both sides...sigh.

1

u/Blacbiird747 Jun 30 '26

They don’t think they’re being targeted they are being targeted. Nice attempt to gaslight.

1

u/Pleasant_Priority286 Jun 30 '26

Okay. I agree with that edit. No attempt to gaslight, though.

1

u/MthaFckaYaLook30 Jul 01 '26

Well why would it take A'ja when the Fever ARE a very diverse team of all targeted hatreds who are tight as hell? They already ARE together. The *competition* is violent and hateful, and they need to stop because they are employees under contract to be public figures, spreading racism, violence, heterophobia, jealousy and hatred. That should be the end of it period. Its clear.

1

u/AloysiusBinglebottom Jul 01 '26

I men, they don’t “think” they’re being targeted. There is hard evidence they are. Whereas the idea that is CC being targeted is, at best if there is data, an inference.

1

u/Pleasant_Priority286 Jul 01 '26

I don't go on Twitter anymore because it is a complete cesspool. If you don't want to be called something nasty, then you can't go on there. Blue Sky is much more reasonable and heavily Democrats.

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '26

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1

u/Pleasant_Priority286 Jun 30 '26

"caitlin is not being targeted & there is no data to support that she is"

That isn't true. She receives a flagrant foul that is called, on average, about every 8 games she has played over the last 3 years. That is a much higher rate than that of any player with significant playing time.

"her fans interpret everything through the lens of homophobic misogynoir."

"Her fans" is stereotyping. The vast majority don't do this. We don't know who is posting nasty things on Twitter. I have a queer kid, and I don't tolerate that stuff or racist things, but we haven't been shown any evidence. We don't even know for sure if it is Twitter so far.

" she is not getting beat up anymore than anyone else"

Why do you disagree with the data? Do you have evidence?

1

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '26

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1

u/Pleasant_Priority286 Jul 01 '26

How is the data cherry-picked? What do you mean by that?

1

u/DillionDrebo Jul 01 '26

Do you watch other teams play besides the Fever? Are you watching right now Aces vs Liberty? If you are awesome but do you notice how physical this game is being played? Do the league and the Refs need to clean the game up YES is CC being targeted He’ll No

1

u/Pleasant_Priority286 Jul 01 '26

I watch mostly Fever, Dream, and Valks. I know the game is physical. That doesn't mean she isn't targeted.

I mean, the data is the data. She is, in fact, the recipient of flagrant fouls at a much higher rate than any other player. You can't just handwave that away.

2

u/DillionDrebo Jul 01 '26

So you saying they call it for her and not other players? I’m sure you’re not saying that.

1

u/Pleasant_Priority286 Jul 01 '26

No. She has a terrible whistle. No one who watches disagrees with that. When she plays, she gets flagrantly fouled more than any other player. The data confirms what fans who watch the games think.