Revolutions are unimaginable to foretell — the mandatory substances should occur at simply the best time to spark change. The world is never prepared for a revolution, but it surely’s finest if the people who find themselves part of it hop on board. Within the WNBA’s case, it appears the league cannot get out of its personal method as the game rises to uncharted territory, because of Caitlin Clark.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert appeared on CNBC’s “Energy Launch” Monday with anchor Tyler Mathisen. When requested by Mathisen in regards to the “darker…extra menacing” tone followers have adopted on social media concerning the Clark-Angel Reese rivalry, together with conversations on race and/or sexuality, Engelbert’s response targeted on the rivalry however failed to deal with the bigger issues at hand.
“There isn’t any extra apathy. All people cares,” she stated, according to an ESPN report. “It’s a little of that [Larry] Chicken-Magic [Johnson] second if you happen to recall from 1979 when these two rookies got here in from an enormous faculty rivalry, one white, one Black. And so we’ve got that second with these two.
“However the one factor I learn about sports activities, you want rivalry. That is what makes folks watch. They wish to watch video games of consequence between rivals. They do not need everyone being good to at least one one other.”
Engelbert continued by saying she tells gamers, “If somebody’s typing one thing and also you would not ask their recommendation, ignore it.”
Girls’s Nationwide Basketball Gamers Affiliation government director Terri Jackson rebuked Engelbert’s feedback in an announcement Tuesday evening.
“Right here is the reply that the Commissioner ought to have offered to the very clear query concerning the racism, misogyny and harassment skilled by the Gamers,” the assertion stated. “There’s completely no place in sport — or in life — for the vile hate, racist language, homophobic feedback and the misogynistic assaults our gamers are dealing with on social media.
“This isn’t about rivalries or iconic personalities fueling a enterprise mannequin. This type of poisonous fandom ought to by no means be tolerated or left unchecked. It calls for rapid motion, and albeit, ought to have been addressed way back.”