Angel Reese’s Flagrant Foul on Caitlin Clark Shows That Sports Media Figures Have Lost Their Minds

Ahmad Austin Jr.Jun 17th, 2024, 2:17 pm
 
Angel Reese argues with referee

Charles Brock/AP

There are some in the media who desperately want you to believe Angel Reese’s flagrant foul on Caitlin Clark is a bigger deal than it actually was.

The Indiana Fever hosted the Chicago Sky on Sunday in what was the second WNBA matchup between the former college rivals. Late in the third quarter, Reese tried to block Clark’s shot as she drove to the basket for a layup. The ball was just out of reach, so Reese instead made contact with Clark’s head. The referees reviewed the play and determined it was a flagrant foul penalty 1, meaning Clark would shoot two free throws and the Fever would still have the ball.

After the game, both Reese and Clark shrugged it off as just a basketball play.

Angel Reese on Flagrant foul call on Caitlin Clark “It was a basketball play…I can’t control the refs….Yall gonna play that clip 20 times before Monday” pic.twitter.com/KJzbzAgohc

— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) June 16, 2024

Neither player spent much time dwelling on what was, in all honesty, a pretty standard flagrant foul. It was a bad block attempt by Reese and she was rightfully penalized for it. Everyone involved moved on.

For certain talking heads in the media, however, that one play was enough for fire off the same outrageously stupid takes about Clark and her place in the WNBA.

Since Clark took a flagrant foul from Reese’s teammate Chennedy Carter during the teams’ first matchup on June 1, much of the national coverage has been about race and sexuality within the league. Some, like OutKick’s Clay Travis, believe that Clark is a victim of discrimination because she is a straight White woman playing in a “Black lesbian league.”

Not long after the foul on Reese, Travis again regurgitated that theory with the hopes that one day it might actually make sense.

“Angel Reese takes total swing at Caitlin Clark’s head, gets flagrant foul,” he said online. “They hate Clark because she’s white. Fever have to get an enforcer or Clark’s going to be knocked out for the year on one of these plays.”

That overreaction was unsurprisingly common. Barstool’s Dave Portnoy — who once called Reese a “classless piece of shit” for taunting Clark in the NCAA national championship — described the foul as “Angel Reese and the Sky doing Angel Reese and the Sky stuff.”

Worst of all was former NFL quarterback Matt Leinart. Despite playing one of the most violent sports on the planet for most of his life, Leinart was so deeply offended by a basketball play that he called for Reese to be suspended because she’s “not good for the game.”

The reaction to the foul demonstrates a clear double standard among new WNBA viewers. Earlier in the season, Reese received her own rookie treatment when Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas threw her to the ground by her neck. Thomas received a flagrant 2 and was ejected.

The play, unlike Clark’s, received little national attention. The discrepancy likely stems from how many of these new fans are adamant on coddling Clark — a bona fide ratings machine — because they only care about her and not women’s basketball as a whole. While it’s undeniable that Clark has given the sport a massive boost, some media personalities talk about her as if the WNBA and its players should pledge their fealty to her.

Caitlin Clark’s debut in the WNBA was the most highly-anticipated debut the league had ever seen. Like any other rookie with that much hype in any sport, she has to prove herself in the eyes of the league’s veteran players. Any conversation that ventures outside that reality does nothing but harm the WNBA.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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