#is this because I am now a WNBA fan?

[glompcat]

Rest in pepperoni you limp sad bitch

Normally I delete anon hate, but ngl this is flat out hilarious.

[kenzlovesyou]

could you write something about surprising Caitlin in New York with her brothers and you vlog it with them and then put it on youtube and in an interview someone makes Caitlin react to it

The Surprise is Me - Caitlin Clark x Reader Pt. 1

this first part is about y/n’s vlog and surprising caitlin!! the next part will be caitlin’s reaction to the video :) ⚠️⚠️please send requests i’m dangerously low

plot: you’re an influencer and you vlog your trip to new york to watch caitlin’s game

➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

You was pretty big on social media platforms such as Instagram and Tiktok. You had a niche for filming vlogs and your everyday life. It doesn’t sound that interesting, per se, but people gravitated toward your sweet but hilarious nature. As time went on, what started out as a hobby turned into a passion that had opened doors for you as a career. Through this passion, you were able to have so many memorable experiences and meet some amazing people. At the top of your list of people you’d met through your fame you would put Caitlin Clark. Your girlfriend, Caitlin Clark.

Caitlin had replied to one of your Instagram stories when you had a fairly small following, around 20k followers. You recognized her name as the legendary basketball player, who just so happened to attend your same university just in a grade above you. You’d clicked on the reply to see that she had said you had “taken her breath away”. One thing led to another and you two started talking. You even made some tiktoks about “getting ready to go meet up with your crush” or “getting ready for a first date”. Your whole following seemed to be rooting for you and this mystery girl.

After you and Caitlin had made it official, you’d started to be less private about who she was. You’d mentioned that she went to your University with you, and was on the basketball team. Of course, nobody knew with player you were with until you were seen at one of Caitlin’s games sporting one of her 22 jersey’s. After the game, you ran up to her and pecked her lips. That was enough confirmation both your fan bases needed and the edits of you too started rolling in. That was also when you started being more public about your relationship with Caitlin. She could almost always be seen in the background of your videos, and you’d often include her in your video ideas. You did so many tiktok trends with her and made appreciation posts for her using couple tiktok audios.

That brought you to now, here you were with your phone in hand as you boarded a plane to New York to watch your girlfriend’s first game as part of the WNBA. At first, you’d told Caitlin you couldn’t come to watch her. You hadn’t lied to her as you had a very important meeting you couldn’t miss the day of her game. Fortunately, the meeting was rescheduled. As soon as you heard that news, you booked the soonest flight to New York to go see your baby play in the big leagues. You were beyond excited! Instead of telling Caitlin, you thought it would be cute to surprise her. You couldn’t do it yourself, though, and needed to enlist some people that could keep a secret but also help you out with and logistics you needed to be sorted out. For that job you enlisted Caitlin’s two brothers, Blake and Colin. You were pretty close with her brothers as you and Caitlin had been dating for quick some time now.

After boarding your plane, you settled into your seat and got ready for your flight. “Okay guys,” you whispered to the camera. “I’m gonna talk a little quietly because I don’t wanna disturb other people on the plane, y’know? But something you guys probably don’t know about me is I am TERRIFIED of flying. It’s usually not as bad when I’m with Cait but the whole point of this is to go see her so that’s what’s pretty much getting me through it.” You heard a voice on the intercom say to buckle your seatbelts and prepare for a safe flight, “Ahhhh it’s time! I will see you guys when I get to New York!”

Your flight went smoothly for the most part. You were able to calm your nerves with the thought of seeing your beautiful girl play the sport she loves. Since your phone barely worked on the plane, you scrolled through your camera roll looking at pictures to pass the time. You scrolled through endless photos of you and Caitlin together and silly ones you’d taken of her doing absolutely anything. Before you knew it, you were landing and you were ready to hit the ground running.

You walked to the baggage claim carousel and waited for the bags to start circulating. You finally saw yours and grabbed your pink suitcase. You texted the group chat you’d created with Blake and Colin to give them an update.

Y/N: Just landed!! Are you guys on your way?

Colin: We’re parked right outside Terminal C, see you soon

You hearted the message and walked for what felt like forever in the huge New York airport. At last, you found the right terminal and out you went. You spotted Blake’s car immediately and walked over to them. “Hey, Y/n! Man, it’s been a while. You excited to be here?” Blake asked you as he brought you into a side hug. You nodded your head ecstatically, while Colin grabbed your bag and threw it in the trunk. “Duh!!! Im so excited to see my Cait!”

The brothers laughed about how lovesick you were over their sister and you three got into the car. You asked Blake and Colin if they were okay if you started to vlog and of course they said it was fine. “Hey, guys! So I’m in New York!! Ahhh I’m so excited. Shoutout to Blake and Colin, Caitlin’s wonderful brothers for picking me up. You guys wanna say hi?” You flipped the camera so it faced them.

“Hi Y/n’s vlog!!”

“Hey Y/n-nators.”

“Wait Y/n are your fans actually called that?”

Both you and Blake burst out laughing. “Honestly I should call them that, that would be hilarious.”

After about 45 minutes of driving, due to New York traffic, you arrived at the hotel you were staying at. You all just so happened to be staying at the same hotel as the Indiana Fever team, just one floor above them. You wheeled your suitcase inside and checked in. “And you guys are sure Caitlin’s not here yet right?” They both assured you that the team was currently out at dinner and wouldn’t be back at the hotel for at least another hour.

“Guys, tell me why I’m, like, nervous to see Caitlin. It’s like I don’t see her for 3 days and suddenly I’m as nervous as I was when I first met her!!” You heard a ping on your phone and recognized the notification immediately, as your beautiful girlfriend.

Cait 🤍

hi my pretty girl! i miss you so so so much! how are you doing? we’re out at dinner right now, but i was just thinking about you :) text me when you can baby! i’m so excited to facetime you tonight

Y/n 💕

HI MY LOVE!! i miss you even more! im good actually great, how’s dinner?

You smirked at your reply to Caitlin’s text, “I think I played it off really good guys. I don’t think she suspects anything yet!! Okay now let me show you guys my room!” You turned the camera around and did a couple 360s showing off your hotel room.

“Okay,” you started to say to your camera, “So honestly I kinda wanna surprise Caitlin tonight instead of tomorrow at her game just because I’ve missed her so much. I hope she’s missed me too! How should I even do this though??? OMG guys I’m gonna be like ‘Hey Caitlin what’s your room number so I can send you something’ and then I’ll be like okay it’s there and then boom i’ll be there! Perfect, I’m a genius! Okay I’ll let you guys know how it goes!” ping! another text from Caitlin.”

Cait 🤍

hey there i just got back to my hotel

did you wanna ft rn or if not can you in a little bit? i just miss you so much :(

“Uhhh chat she’s actually back like RIGHT NOW. Wait so that means I’m in the same building as her? Awe. Okay let’s do this!!”

Y/n 💕

what’s your room number

Cait 🤍

huh

Y/n 💕

I sent you something but I need to tell them what room you are!

Cait 🤍

AW UR SO CUTE STOP it’s 207

You hearted the message and sprinted out the door of your hotel room. You hurriedly walked down the hall to the elevator and walked in. It was just you, thankfully, and you clicked the number 2. As soon as it opened, you bolted out and walked down the long hallway until you stopped right in front of it. 207. You were apprehensive, thinking what if she was mad at you for coming? What if she wanted to use this as a vacation away from you? What if she thought you were trying to make it all about you? Then you smiled and remembered it was Caitlin. No. Caitlin would think you were so sweet for doing this for her. With that, you knocked at the door.

It was Caitlin’s new teammate that opened the door. She was about to scream, but you put your finger to your lips to shush her. “It’s a surprise!” you whispered. She nodded her head. “Hey, Caitlin! It’s for you!” Caitlin was on the other side of the hotel room and called back to her. “I think Y/n sent me something, let me look.” Caitlin jogged to the door and you popped out.

“ HI CAITLIN!!! THE SURPRISE IS ME!” You waved your hands as you exclaimed. Caitlin’s jaw was to the floor; she couldn’t believe her eyes. She pulled you into her and picked you up, burying her head into your neck. You giggled as you looked down to kiss her temple. “I guess that means you’re happy to see me? Hopefully?” She rolled her eyes and set you down, grabbing your jaw. She pulled you into her and connected your lips into a fiery and passionate kiss.

“Does that show you how happy I am, babe?”

[tallglasstea]

Media N Basketball Part 1

Synopsis: The WNBA’s new Social Media Manager, Amara, heads to Seattle to help improve the Seattle Storms media pages. She has had a big crush on Gabby Williams but avoids her due to rumors that Gabby is dating Marine Johannes.

Please note: This takes place during the 2025 season and this is my first fic in yearsss. Forgive me if I am a bit rusty.

Thursday July 11, 2025

Third P.O.V

It’s almost the halfway point of the 2025 WNBA season and Amara couldn’t be more excited. She has officially been at the W for 9 months and has been having the time of her life. Still getting the hang of things, but overall she loves her coworkers and just the overall environment. Witnessing the 2025 draft and seeing all the college stars getting drafted and to just know that she was really a part of the big moment will always be a core memory for her.

Being based in NYC meant that she helped the Liberty, Sun, and Mystics a lot with their social media pages because she was so close. Providing a new and fresh outlook on their pages, the team's pages have grown exponentially. The Liberty has grown to 1.2 million on Tiktok and 2 Million on Instagram. The Sun to  600K on Tiktok and 400K on Instagram. The Mystics to 724K on Tiktok and 527K on Instagram. Teams immediately took notice of the newfound fanbases and the rest enlisted to have Amara flown out to help their teams.

Amara’s first stop would be Seattle Storm with her favorite (and closest) coworker Destiny. Despite having Jewell, Nneka and Nika, the Storm could not seem to grow their fan bases on social media. Amara couldn’t help but feel nervous as her personal celebrity crush was also on the Seattle Storm this season.

Amara’s P.O.V 

“Gworllll are you excited to go to Seattle?!?” Destiny nudged Amara’s shoulder while they were settling on the plane to take off. “Your favorite girl is going to be there.”

“Pleaseeee stop. This is work, we need to stay professional.” I tried to keep my resolve but I couldn’t help to smile when thinking about my little crush. “Plus I heard that she is dating Marine Johannes so that dream is dead anyways.” Maybe if I said it enough then my little crush would fade away. ‘But she looked soo fine during the 2024 Olympics,’ I thought to myself.  

“Mmchttt” Destiny rolled her eyes and rolled over to close her eyes. I was tired too and we had a long flight ahead of us, so I might as well get some rest. 

Friday July 12, 2025

Destiny and I are headed to the Storm’s new practice facility, and my anxiety is through the roof. Not very demure nor mindful of me huh? I love working for the W but it’s still very nerve wracking having to meet new people and new teams. Especially women as tall and beautiful as them. I’m not short but I’m not exactly tall either, standing at a cool 5’6. I was so into my thoughts I didn’t even realize that destiny was talking to me until she started snapping in my face. 

“Yoooooo is there anyone there? Bitch are you on autopilot?!” Destiny continuously snapping in my face. I mush her with my free hand. “Don’t snap at me! Anywhore what were you saying?” I asked. “What type of content are we starting with? Since we are almost there, I want to prepare,” she replied. Looking at the GPS, I realize that she is absolutely right. 2 minutes away. What if I crash this car right now? I'm kidding, I'm kidding (sort of, not really). I’m thinking what would be the best video to start showcasing their personalities. “I think we should do the rapid fire questions for each of the players. We should probably feel them out and kind of gauge what they are comfortable with answering and they aren’t,” I stated after a few beats. “ I call dibs on Nneka, Nika, Victoria, Mercedes, Joyner and Sami.” I wanted to make sure that I didn’t really have to interact with Gabby, my stalkerish ass could just admire her from a distance. Destiny looked at me bewildered as we pulled in front of the facility. “You evil bitch, I can’t believe you called dibs,” she laughed as we got out of the car. 

The walk from the car ride to the main practice gym was short but felt like it took forever.

We had unloaded our equipment and were waiting outside the gym for the General managers and coaches. We, mainly I, didn’t want to just bust in on their practice while Destiny wanted to do exactly that. Once we introduced ourselves to the GMs and coaches, we told them our game plan for content. I took a deep breath, as the doors to the gym opened. Here goes nothing…..

To be continued….

Sooo what did we think? I know I’m rusty so don’t eat me up toooooooo bad. I was trying to make it short but I figured it would be better as a multi-part fic. Please let me know what y’all think! Since there was nothing not even hcs on Gabby I figured I would start some of my own.

If y��all like my writing style, I would like to open myself up to WNBA requests along with other womens sports.

Welp see ya soon bookies!

[bballlvr8]

I was on Twitter yesterday and the video of Paige talking about CC and the WNBA came up and in one of the comments it said I would like her if she didn’t suck up to black women so much.

When I say this right here is the difference between Paige and CC.

Paige has a very mixed and diverse fan base and one could argue that CC does as well. There is a difference with Paiges black fanbase and its that they are true and authentic to themselves. They love black women, they love everything about themselves whereas I found that a lot of cc black fans are self hating and they hate black women. I am not being dramatic here when I say that not all but most.

It appears to them that Paige sucks up to black women because she speaks about the injustices that they go through. Meanwhile, Paige is playing in a sport that is predominantly black and black women were the trailblazers for her to be where she is today. Her acknowledging that is not sucking up to them it’s her being thankful that they did all they could so she could be in the position that she is in now, and push what they did using her power and voice because she is a white woman.

If these people just took one search, they would realize that for majority of paiges life she has been in spaces with black women. Hopkins was not a predominantly white school it was very mixed. She’s been immersed in these cultures because she lived with a black woman. She has a brother who is black, she is not new to this and it makes me irate when I see people say that she sucks up to black women.

I think the reason that a lot of fans say this about Paige is because they can no longer say that it is a black-and-white thing they try to make it a race thing when these vets are not kissing CC’s feet, but it’s not a black-and-white thing at all.

I say all this to say that I am happy that I am a fan of somebody like Paige. She’s been speaking about the injustices that black women face since probably about 2019 and that right there just lets me know that it’s not a trend. She’s really about this and I love that so much.

[female-buckets]

Rest of World Finally Starting to See What Lesbians See in Women’s Basketball

Reductress News | April 2, 2024 | By: Freddie Shanel 

After a hair-raising showdown between two of the best NCAA teams in women’s basketball – University of Iowa and Louisiana State University – and a generally jam-packed March Madness season, the broader public is finally starting to take interest in women’s basketball, and beginning to see what lesbians have been seeing, arguably, since the dawn of time.

“Caitlin Clark’s 41-point, 7-rebound game against LSU was absolutely mind boggling, yes,” said local bisexual and New York Liberty season ticket holder Maya Harlow. “But it’s nothing new! It was literally her 13th 40-point game. Where have you guys been?”

“Things are even crazier in the WNBA than the NCAA tournament,” added local lesbian Gracie Stoddart. “I mean, Liz Cambage put up a 53-point game against the Liberty in 2018. I know this because I am a lesbian.”

Some men’s basketball fans are finally starting to understand the kind of ball-handling and shooting game these girls are bringing to the court, which is kind of funny because lesbians have been saying this for literal years.

“I can’t believe women’s basketball is this entertaining,” said 25-year-old Matt O’Callighan, who is now a die-hard UConn fan. “Sure, the lesbians in my life have been begging me to watch with them forever and always share highlight reels, but I’ve never been one to believe women.”

Sources confirm this is the first time many non-lesbians have seen women’s basketball altogether, with most always assuming it was bad, likely because of an inherent misogyny that consciously and unconsciously plagues our perception of women’s sports.

“My friends wouldn’t stop gushing about the WNBA and I just assumed it was some sort of political stance,” said local straight woman who will kiss girls if her boyfriend can watch, Keely Greer. “But I was waiting for the men’s games to come on and saw the highlights of the ‘UConn v. USC’ game – holy shit, those girls can shoot.”

Upon hearing this comment, a lesbian passing by Keely’s window shook her fist at the sky and fell to her knees in a gesture that suggested, “Yeah, no shit.”

“I’ve got to hand it to the lesbians – they were really onto something!” Matt continued. “Will I learn from this and listen to them next time? Absolutely not.”

While the surge in viewership is unexpected, lesbians look forward to welcoming the new women’s basketball die-hards into the fold “as long as they’re not weird about it or anything.”

[leilanihours]

i know i touched on this subject blindly a few weeks ago, but i would like to come out and talk about it again now that i am more educated on the situation.

it is obvious that caitlin has wrongfully been staying silent about the distraught and disrespect she and her fans have caused in the wnba. it is obvious that her vague, bland answers when asked about the matter have not been and will never solve the problems her fellow players have been harassed with. it is obvious that she is not planning on making a statement about it anytime soon.

for these reasons, i will no longer be supporting or writing for caitlin.

i admit that i have been ignorantly been pushing aside the issues surrounding her name because i was so sure that she would immediately voice her distaste for how the media, her own fans, and people who know absolutely nothing about the league have been treating other players (specifically black/queer players). her poor decisions and lack of communication has showed me that she is not who i thought she was in any way.

i am grateful for those of you who have reached out to my through my inbox and messages to educate me on caitlin's intolerant behavior.

i also admit that i did used to look up to her greatly, as i found her basketball skills inspiring in her college years. while part of this is still true, the fact that she has practically endorsed and supported racism, homophobia, and many other social issues within an organization that was built from the ground up primarily by black, queer women sickens me beyond repair.

there is no excuse for how i chose to handle the problem when it was first brought to my personal attention by my followers, but as my platform continues to grow, i try to grow with it. to me, this means that i maintain an open mind, pure morals, and informed opinions. and there is also no excuse for the way caitlin has chosen to stay out of a problem that she caused as a straight, white, cisgender woman with media-given privilege.

the one thing i'm not sorry for is the people who still choose to support her. i personally don't care if you want to unfollow me because of this announcement, so go ahead and just block me if you're really bothered by it. and at that point you're just part of the problem.

please continue to contact me if there is anything i missed or any misinformation i presented. my inbox is always open (unless you are just going to come on my blog and attack me for my stance).

again, i apologize for only just now coming to terms with caitlin's ignorance. i am learning from my mistakes everyday thanks to this community and my fellow writers. and again, i no longer support or write for caitlin clark.

signed,

leilani.

[femmeidiot]

I am very new to sports, and not really a basketball fan so take all of this with a grain of salt but. Caitlin Clark seems really boring? Was she really *that* good in college or is she just the kinda good white girl everyone latched onto now that women's sports viewership is increasing. Cause it really seems like that last one as an outsider.

she is by no means a bad player. Like she's a genuinely really good player and broke a bunch of records in college but like .. the rest of wnba is really good too and there are plenty of women's basketball players who have been incredibly good before her. I think in college she was really allowed to shine because like she wasn't playing people who could guard her as effectively as they've been guarding her now and her teammates would always get the ball to her for her to shoot 3 pointers and that's just not something the other teams in the wnba have been letting her do. I think there is like a lot of complexity because she is helping to grow the league and get way more attendance than the league has seen previously but she was never gonna go into one of the worst teams in the league and just bring them nothing but victories against teams with veteran starting lineups. She has been playing well for the most part, with the exception maybe of the last game she was struggling but like most games she's continued to do well. But the racism and misogyny is like... one of the biggest and most frustrating things about everything happening right now because if anyone says anything about her they become "jealous ungrateful women" cause Caitlin is the one "paying the bills" and that's quadrupled if the player who says something is black because then they're not just ungrateful and jealous they're also posed as angry black women stereotypes. The majority of the players in the wnba are black and they have been carrying the league (a league with a dedicated fanbase) for years but people think women's sports don't matter and that no one watches the wnba anyway and they'll stop watching once Caitlin Clark fever cools down.

idk if that's even easy to follow and it's already a long rant so I'll stop lmao but in short racism is one of the main factors in the issues surrounding Caitlin but she is genuinely a good player but people who didn't watch the wnba before now expected her to outshine everyone and that was never going to happen. She'll get her footing eventually but we need to be putting an emphasis on the rest of the current players and all of the retired wnba players that even paved the way for Caitlyn Clark to exist as the entity she is now.

[arlertwhore]

so do you support caitlin?

your response was kind of ambigous but i think you do right?

BROO PLEASE YALL KILLIN ME WITH THIS SHIT BRO pls understand i am NOT a WNBA / WCBB fan like i DO NOT SUPPORT ANY OF THESE GIRLS SERIOUSLY i'm just here because i think they're hot 😭 if caitlin's boyfriend is racist and she's choosing to stay silent about that i think her FANS, WNBA FANS, WCCB FANS have EVERY RIGHT to call her out. since I AM NOT one, i sit this discourse out! fun fact, i am black myself! i'd be offended if this was somebody i am a fan of but since im not 🤷‍♀️ only thing i thought about when i got that inbox was 'oh, shit.. alr." and i trusted her fans (or the opposite) would hold her accountable if it was true. i gave my general opinion. is she capable of controlling what her bf is liking? prolly not? does she use her platform AT ALL? nah? and i think definitely, whatever she's capable of doing, whether that be using her platform to speak out on wtv tf is going on with him, like idek.. she should do that! okay now let's stop it here

[tchaikovskaya]

can you explain whats going on w wnba/caitlin clark effect? I don't follow sports and I'm not American but I am nosy

lol i adore this message actually. yes im happy to explain. but im terrible at keeping it brief so get ready lmao: (tldr at the end)

caitlin clark is a women's basketball player who played in college for the university of iowa. she graduated back in may and this is her first season in the WNBA. a few months ago, during her senior season at iowa, she broke the all-time record for points scored in her college career, for both men's and women's basketball. she's very talented, she makes these crazy 3-point shots (idk how much surface knowledge you have of basketball so i dont wanna sound condescending by overexplaining stuff but yeah a regular basket is worth 2 points and if you shoot from beyond the big semi circle drawn on the court around the hoop, that's worth 3 points bc it's much farther away).

last year, in april 2023, the university of iowa made it all the way to the finals of the national championship tournament. they played against LSU, who ended up winning by a huge margin. caitlin clark was (and is) a bit of a trash talker, like taunting the players on the opposing team during a game etc. and thats fine, it's part of the sport, it comes with the territory of being a fierce competitor. but when LSU won, the star of LSU's team, Angel Reese, went up to Caitlin before the game was officially over (like the game clock was still running and the players were still on the court) and did this little hand wave gesture that caitlin had done to one of Angel's teammates. basically rubbing her face in the fact that they ended up winning and they beat caitlin and her team. VIDEO to clarify lol idk how much sense that made.

okay thats the backstory, so NOW the shitstorm starts.

there was a TON of media attention given to that one moment. it broke into mainstream news media, not just basketball fans or even sports fans in general. Angel Reese is a black woman from Baltimore, Maryland (which has a reputation for being very poor and there being a lot of gang violence and crime, etc). Caitlin Clark is a white woman from Iowa. People made that moment into a huge Thing, saying Angel is classless, she's a violent thug, she's arrogant and rude, basically everything negative you can say about a black person without outright calling them a slur but everyone knows what you really mean. By contrast, Caitlin was made into this poor fragile victim in the situation. just an innocent white Midwestern girl being picked on by this big mean scary """Thug""" (wink wink). naturally, the reactionary far right made this a huge thing of identity politics and culture war. "Caitlin is a Victim who did nothing wrong and everyone hates her because she's white in a black-dominated sport and she's more talented than them and they just can't handle it." that kind of shit.

so the next year is both caitlin's and angel's senior year. caitlin broke several scoring records during that season (good for her, she's talented) and women's college basketball was getting more attention than ever, thanks in large part to the publicity boost the whole Angel vs Caitlin encounter got. they didn't play each other, since Louisiana and Iowa are in different regions of the country they really were only going to meet in the national championship tournament. and they did, in the semifinal round. Iowa won. everyone framed it as Caitlin's Revenge, of course. Right wing bigots, who have practically made Caitlin their mascot for white supremacy in sports at this point, had a field day with that and said some of the most vile racist and sexist shit possible. Hardly surprising but still very upsetting to watch.

a couple months ago, Angel and Caitlin both joined the WNBA. the way the draft works is that, to keep the league mostly balanced and competitive (so theres not one team with every star player and every other team has nobody and sucks ass lol), the lowest ranked teams from the previous season get the first choice of new players. naturally, caitlin was the first one to be picked lol. the media attention focused on her in college has followed her to the WNBA, but she has not been nearly as successful there. she was kind of a big fish in a small pond in college, and now she's been plopped into the ocean. her fame is way out of proportion with her actual athletic performance in her first few weeks of professional play. also, professional basketball is a lot more physically aggressive and rough than college basketball, and Caitlin is getting roughed up by the other teams' players regularly. this happens to every rookie, it's not new and it's also not personal. but the brigade of weird ass right wing losers who have made her their Aryan Princess has insisted that the other players are targeting her on purpose because they want to humble her and they're jealous of her talent and fame and they're being unnecessarily violent (again with the racist dogwhistles) and they have a vendetta against caitlin.

anyway tl;dr

the "caitlin clark effect" is basically like. this huge surge in attention that womens basketball has gotten, and CC is given ALL of the credit for it, despite the sport having been steadily growing for years now. thousands of people come to games, millions tune in to the games on TV, etc. but...... it's only for games caitlin's team (the Indiana Fever) is playing. yeah the attention has brought new fans in who otherwise wouldnt notice womens basketball or care about it at all, but for the most part the new fans are not basketball fans, they are caitlin clark fans.

This post is an example of how weird it all is and how the fans act.

and now the newest controversy is that she wasn't named to the US olympic team, despite her being huge for TV ratings and public hype/attention for women's basketball. the reality is that she simply was not good enough to be a better asset to the team than any of the 12 women who were selected. and this USA team is one of the best teams ever put together. it's not a popularity contest, it's not about TV ratings or ticket sales, it's about winning. but instead, her not being picked is being called a "snub" and has added fuel to the "poor caitlin everyone is so jealous of how much of a star she is and they're retaliating against her for it!" narrative.

her popularity and fame are propelled by some very dark political currents, and it has become part of this huge american cultural split that right wing extremists are making from mainstream society. she's Special because she's talented in a sport that's been historically dominated (or, lets be real, built) by black women, and there's the angle of gender non-conformity there too (female athletes regardless of orientation are already seen as like "butch lite" and need to be super feminine to compensate) and homophobia (lots of lesbians in basketball lol) and she's seen as this figure who is [nobly] disrupting the status quo of that subculture.

[ccfever]

I’m so bored by the angel vs Caitlin stuff even if it is good for the league bc I do not enjoy watching angel or sky play except for when Chennedy is going off and even then I don’t really watch. Sky v fever games are fun though. I’m looking to the future which is Aja vs Caitlin but even Aja didn’t have to beat maya at prime goat status because maya quit the race man. and also as for paige vs Caitlin which moves me a bit bc it’s for the new gen and something cute for the younger TikTok viewers I need Caitlin to dead that shit once and for all when she gets to the league because even final four did nothing bc it was really Hannah’s game. I am so annoyed at UConn fans STILL going off even after that embarrassment of a game saying wait till paige reminds you her injury made yall forget… like forget WHAT I remember watching Caitlin her freshman year with a lame ass team (I love yall) or aari McDonald both deadass have just as good of a season if not a better season than paige and I remember even lamecocks complaining that paige got all the coverage and Caitlin got none in comparison. Hilarious to think about now

first of all thank you for the essay second of all i agree 👍

the sky do not play a style that moves me but carter going off especially against the aces was entertaining. that’s the only sky game i watched that’s not against the fever and i did just because i found it interesting that they were leading. i’m always on fraud watch for top teams

that being said yeah i don’t really care for any of the ROTY stuff anymore because they set angel up so bad by making her out to be this generational player that’s gonna be the magic to caitlin’s bird when in truth caitlin is magic and bird combined. she’s jordan, she’s lebron, she’s steph. just one of those undisputed great players that you can’t help but tip your hat to. now we have people undermining both these rookies’ accomplishments just to one-up the other when it was never really like that.

as for paige... her fans have bigger fish to fry. sorry but that debate has been over for years. if she goes off then good for her. but my rook is in a different stratosphere now and i don’t really care if her fans want to say she’s a better player. if she is then good for you. but if you want to compare college career résumés, the data is there. next year she’ll get drafted to the wnba, and y’all can compare her numbers to caitlin’s numbers this year if y’all want.

but idgaf. my sights are set on this offseason and the moves we can make to get this team rolling because i genuinely believe with a defensive guard and some 3&D wings we can make a finals push next year.

and, of course, with a good head coach lmfao

that’s where my mind’s at right now. idgaf about all that other shit, but hey. good for them ig

[cali-d-love20]

I am officially tapping out of the WNBA for right now. These new CC fans are racist as fuck and they are sucking the life out of the game for me. Just because you didn’t watch a sport until 2 months ago doesn’t mean there were irrelevant athletes in the pros. CC is dope in her own way but my lord the narrative of “WNBA athletes weren’t shit before CC” is genuinely insane af. Like hello Candace Parker fucking exists shit heads

[gotham--fc]

Fever did so much better yesterday but I’ve noticed at least three that hardly pass to people that are open. We got better at staying out of foul trouble too. Hull, Smith, and Mitchell really made a difference but Mitchell is also one of those that refuses to pass to teammates that are open at times. The way that some of them like to throw their rookies under the bus is honestly fascinating to me like you all haven’t been great in years but thanks to two rookies over the course of two seasons you’ve gotten better, idk it’s almost like the rookies have ✨value✨. The three players I’m talking about also were the ones that kept trying to be cute or try hitting threes when they might hit a rare three every once in a while or trying to do back passes 🤦🏽‍♀️. They were ahead and squandered it so many times because they had players that wanted to do dumb shit. But it least we lost by 2 it’s far better than losing by 36 and 11 so we’re making progress.

As for CC and Boston I’m actually done with the hate they get they are the ones that are still less experienced than most of their teammates but their teammates like to throw them under the bus during games it seems but never criticize the other pros that led us to being down in the first place and keep missing shots.

I’m sorry are we watching the same team?? Are we watching the same game??? Is there another Fever I haven’t heard of that y’all are watching?????

I don’t want to bamboozle you about my wnba allegiance so to be clear I am a Chicago sky fan, I’ve been watching the Fever bc I want to see how Caitlin does. I’m a basketball fan in general so I’ve been watching most of the games, I’ve been trying to watch all of the rookies debuts bc I’ve gotten into college basketball this year and I want to see the players I followed in college play in the wnba

Now that that’s out of the way genuinely wtf are you talking about????

First of all you are not about to come into my inbox and talk shit about Kelsey Mitchell. Kelsey Mitchell was hurt the first 2 games, came off the bench, played limited minutes, and the team sucked. Kelsey Mitchell starts the next 3 games, and the Fever improves. It’s not that hard to see her impact.

And if you want to get into passing the ball, you have no idea what a player sees or reads on a play. A player may be open but the passer doesn’t see them, or they see them but know the pass will get intercepted, or they can’t find a passing lane, you have no idea what Kelsey Mitchell sees when she has the ball. Also, this is a game about trust. When you pass the ball you need to trust that your teammate can do something with it. And why the fuck would Mitchell trust anyone but herself? When CC and Boston either turn the ball over or miss over half their shots in what universe does Mitchell not trust herself to get a bucket over them?

Yes the team had many chances to win or close the game out and they didn’t and that’s not on individual players. I’m so sorry to be the one to break it to you but the Fever is not a good team. The Fever is playing like a team that only won 18 games over the past 2 seasons. They’re playing like a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016. They are in a rebuild. They completely started over after 2016. Indiana is building a team around Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark. That means they’re going to suck so hard for the next couple seasons until Boston and CC get it together and they get some more pieces.

Yeah the rookies have value but they’re not god. No one comes out of college and dominates in the wnba unless you’re Candace Parker. Yeah CC was a dominate college player but all y’all are forgetting what happened to Kelsey Plum in 2019. First draft picks get shit on because everyone in the league wants to rough them up, they’re not prepared for the jump between college and the wnba, AND they have all the media and attention for being first pick if they don’t live up to expectations which again no one enters the wnba and dominates unless they’re Candace fucking Parker.

If you want to talk about players missing shots. Okay so players keep attempting 3s and missing? And who does that most often? Caitlin Clark. Caitlin Clark attempts logo 3s all the time and misses. She tries to be fancy and hit crazy shots and she misses. Let’s pull up the stats shall we?

Game 1: lost 92-71. Caitlin Clark had 11 three point attempts and 4 makes. That’s 36% efficiency. The next highest three point attempts? Nalyssa Smith with 3. Everyone else had 1 or 2 or 0 attempts.

Game 2: lost 102-66. Caitlin Clark had 7 three point attempts and 1 make. That’s 14% efficiency. The next highest was Kelsey Mitchell with 3. Everyone else 1 or 2 or 0 attempts.

Game 3: lost 91-80. Caitlin Clark had 10 three point attempts and 4 makes. That’s 40% efficiency. The next highest was Kelsey Mitchell with 8 attempts and 3 makes, so 37.5% efficiency. Everyone else had either 3 or 1 or 0 attempts.

Game 4: lost 88-84. Caitlin Clark had 7 three point attempts and 3 makes. 42.9% efficiency. Next highest was Kelsey Mitchell with 6 attempts and 2 makes, so 33% efficiency. Everyone else had 2 or 3 or 0 attempts.

Game 5: lost 85-83. Caitlin Clark had 8 three point attempts and 2 makes, 25% efficiency. Next highest was Kelsey Mitchell with 7 attempts and 2 makes so 28% efficiency.

Caitlin Clark has a 32.6% three point efficiency this season. Kelsey Mitchell has 32%. Katie Lou Samuelson and Lexie Hull are both at 50% efficiency, Kristy Wallace at 30%, Nalyssa Smith at 28.6%, and Erica Wheeler at 20%.

Please tell me which players take too many 3s and don’t hit them, because the only player who takes even close to as many as CC does is shooting them at the same efficiency as her. If you want Kelsey Mitchell to stop shooting 3s and pass more because you don’t think she hits enough, then you should want CC to do the same.

Also I want you to tell me how the players are throwing the rookies under the bus. I have yet to see any player say anything to media that isn’t positive towards the rookies, and if CC and Boston are getting cooked it’s not their teammates fault. Indiana is a bad team. The coaches and front office have set up CC and Boston as the teams saviours and if they’re getting cooked and torn apart by the media for not delivering that’s not the team’s fault. No one on Indiana can make CC or Aliyah play better.

Every other team has a roster and a bench where they can sit their rookies if they’re having a bad game or not ready. They can afford to sit their rookies and let their vets play. Seattle pulled Nika after 2 minutes in her debut because she was getting cooked. And they can do that. Indiana does not have the roster or the bench to sit CC or Boston if they’re having a bad game. They have to start and they have to play because they have to. Indiana has no choice but to play them and hope they figure it out on the court because they are building their team around them. None of the players blame CC or Boston for the team being bad they’re all aware of what team they’re on. They know they won’t contend this season. They know they won’t contend for a few seasons. But they also know if they’re going to turn the team around that it must come from their rookies, so they have to figure out how to play and how to perform and how to deliver and the team can’t afford to hold their hand and walk them to the answer.

I want to know anon how long have you watched the wnba? If you’re a Caitlin stan who’s only started watching this season for her then I don’t want you in my inbox talking about shit you don’t know anything about. If you’re new that’s great! I’m always trying to get people into the wnba, I’m happy there’s so many more fans now, but I’m not okay with these news fans talking out their ass about how everyone is being mean to their favs when everyone is treating them like they treat every rookie. Caitlin is on a bad team and they’re not going to get better. The curse of going first is you end up last, and the Fever are going to suck until they don’t and CC or Boston or anyone else on the team will not change that.

[bballlvr8]

if any of yall clark fans think it’s okay that caitlin hasn’t spoken on the amount of weird shit her fans do i i really encourage u to watch her podcast where she speaks on how those sickos have followed her home and sent that AI shit to her family and how she expressed that it’s sad that it’s happening to other players (i think i can guess the ppl she’s referring to).

I’m just gonna say it now those Clark fans do sick and weird shit to anybody they feel is getting more shine than CC or can challenge her in anyway.

at first, I said thought it was a black-and-white thing and in most cases it is but with her fans, it’s not because they go at any and everybody they can and she says nothing.

It’s so easy to nip stuff in the butt right then and there, but no, she’s on Instagram every day but she just happens to not be on Twitter. She just happens not to see those post where her fans are telling WNBA players their tumor should’ve took them out again, she says nothing.

I am going to watch it probably tomorrow because I’ll have a lot more free time. I just feel bad because a lot of these women have been stalked and harassed because of cc fans. 

[female-buckets]

re: transitioning fans from college to wnba -- what do you think the wnba could do better. I agree whatever it is they're doing now isn't working

I'm from Tucson so am most familiar with University of Arizona wbb. Aari McDonald smashed school records and revitalized our entire wbb program before going to the Dream 3rd overall. the demographics of the fanbase (lesbians, retired people, retired lesbians) completely flipped (tons more students and young families on top of the regulars), but that didn't translate to them becoming Dream fans. Even as a Mercury fan, I don't keep track of what she's doing beyond games she plays against the Mercury. There was more UofA excitement for Sam Smith even though she mostly rode the bench for the Mercury while she was up there.

it seems like part of it is people wanting that "local" identity of supporting a familiar player in a familiar place where they can see them play in person, but that's just a guess based on what I've seen in my small corner

The local hero effect definitely does bring fans!

Besides lesbians and sporty parents, the other WNBA audience is basketball geeks. And that's the category that's easiest to expand. If the WNBA emphasized and promoted that side of things, it would bring in more people.

Think about how many people watch professional chess streamers. Millions. Millions! To watch and enjoy chess, you have to study it at least a little bit. And millions of people study chess just for the sake of watching professionals play. There's no dunking in chess. But millions of people find it exciting to watch because they studied chess a little so they feel involved.

Basketball is like chess. There are only a dozen different plays yet every single game is different. I think the WNBA should be marketed as the league for nerds. The WNBA should provide everything a nerd could ever want. Analysis, scouting, explanations of different strategies. They can even teach the lingo and slang pros use to talk about all this. Then they can have pros chat about it naturally without having to dumb it down. No other league does that and it would set the WNBA apart. They should make all that fun and accessible for someone new to basketball. But also there should be enough depth to keep a hoops nerd interested. People say if you want to learn the game of basketball, watch the WNBA, not the NBA. So let's lean into that and teach the game.

Chess streamers didn't get views through fashion and lifestyle branding. They got viewers by teaching basic chess strategy. People want to feel smart and involved.

[breannastewart]

did you see that tweet about how stewie seems frustrated and a bunch of seemingly liberty fans got mad about it? i don't think the person who tweeted it was wrong?

I know which one you're talking about, I liked it, but didn't bother looking at what anyone said because I rarely dive deep into what wnba twitter is doing anymore, so I went back after reading your anon and... yeah. wnba twitter is just like that. and even more so, new york sports fans are some of the most entitled and whiny sports fans on the planet, and I am signing this statement as a new yorker who lives in the city, and likes different new york sports teams. in an ironic twist the OP who said it is maybe the only person I have agreed with on multiple takes that's part of that SC groupie podcast thing. wnba twitter has taken a drastic turn when I believe one of them is in the right lol. and she was. there's nothing wrong with saying stewie's frustrated, if you have eyes and pay attention to her energy, mannerisms, etc, you'd see it. like I said the other day answering the other anon, I fully believe I don't think even she expected to have to handle so much of this on her own as she has. and they get mad like "the she should have stayed in seattle people will be loud now" and I hate to break it to these new york fans, who I can promise you are mostly bandwagons now anyway that they got a "super team" and it isn't about people being dumb and not accepting her personal reasons for moving closer to home, that I agree with, but from a strictly team and play stand point, that new york team is not special. as a stewie fan who is still a seattle fan, watching her with this group is barely different than her last two years in seattle and that is the comparison anyone with a brain is talking about. non existent bench, blown leads, new people brought in each of the last two years, sometimes relying too heavily on her. that all happened there. the difference is she didn't look nearly as irritated or frustrated because more often than not, they could figure it out and trusted one another and the atmosphere surrounding those teams just felt lighter even when things sucked. I do not see that in new york, and I do not see true accountability for it. you can't manufacture true chemistry and understanding of one another just because you want to put a bunch of stars together. there's a reason even me as a no one fan, did not pick new york as my team despite living here. they didn't pass the vibe check for me before all of the super team blow up, and they definitely don't now. but no one on wnba twitter has a brain, so. they'll just get mad and yell at you instead.

[batlleonafc]

I am joking about the hottest nba players, nobody probably did it with men, I only say that because people do it with women. The things that women shows their personality, to me now it is only seem a outfit catwalk, and for some people and media it is just a way to then write their list of the most beautiful/sexy (I find it really humiliating for women and whoever does it is not a truly fans of the WNBA). Then it's really bad when they talk about women only because their outfit or their beauty and start to ask about their private life...

Sadly that's what's gonna happen if they wanna grow the game🤷🏼‍♀️