Dan Zaksheske
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At the end of the Women’s College Basketball National Championship game, LSU star Angel Reese aggressively taunted Iowa star Caitlin Clark.
Of course, many people — including myself — had a problem with this. Not only did Reese continue taunting for over 10 seconds, but she stalked Clark around the court. She also yelled at Clark, trying desperately to get her attention.
She wanted Clark to have to look at her taunting. Reese attempted to create confrontation. And she did it very aggrssively.
There’s trash talk in sports, and some of it we applaud and some of it we condemn. This falls in the latter category because of the points I just mentioned. It didn’t happen in the heat of the moment or during an emotional exchange.
The game had been decided. Reese appeared to have planned this particular taunt.
Then she kept doing it after the game and put it on social media.
Those defending Reese like to point out that Clark does the same thing. Though, that’s intellectually dishonest. Here is Clark performing the same face-waving gesture earlier in the tournament.
Pretty clear difference here. Clark, after hitting a big shot, performs the gesture aimed at her own bench.
But, if you think what Clark did is OK — it is — and you think what Reese did was wrong — it is — then you, like me, are a racist.
At least, that’s what the media is saying.
ESPN goes all-in on racism angle between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark
Of course, if there’s an opportunity to call people racist, ESPN is going to go all-out. And, they did just that.
Some, like Jalen Rose and Ryan Clark, tried to be subtle about it. But make no mistake: they’re calling any criticism of Reese racist.
Others, like Jay Williams, got more to the point.
So did Stephen A. Smith.
It’s not just ESPN, though, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Shannon Sharpe also played the race card.
This just serves as a reminder of the current media landscape.
If you criticize a black person, you are a racist.
Follow Dan Zaksheske on Twitter: @RealDanZak
The black commentators are either intellectually dishonest or not intelligent enough to discern the difference between Clark and Reese. My guess: they aren’t sufficiently smart…
It would be unequal criticism if the acts were the same but anyone with eyeballs can tell it’s not. The footage of CC sucks because you can’t tell exactly where she’s looking. But even assuming she’s staring down a UL player, it’s not close to the same action. One was during a game after hitting a 3, done at a distance. The other is after the game is over while stalking the opposing player.
ESPN is treating Reese like a special needs child who needs their protection. Funny how they tend to do that to all black athletes. Maybe they’ll give her a cookie & pat her on the head as well.