Wither Caitlin Clark?

Can you stand another piece on Caitlin Clark? (Don't worry—if your answer is 'no' I completely understand.)

Ironically, that is part of the problem. You see, deserved or not, Ms. Clark is the most-heralded female basketball player to enter the WNBA in some time. And there has been much speculation as to why.

There are many potential reasons. First off, she's white. And secondly, she's heterosexual. In a league primarily made up of gay Black women, that makes her an outlier from the word go.

And when she shows up with a shoe contract and several corporate endorsements (as well as the cover of Time magazine), what I call the jealousy factor skyrockets upwards. It's very easy to imagine competing players thinking “I'll take that bitch down a notch or two.”

And many have. From her opening night struggles where she set a WNBA-record with 10 turnovers to a recent game versus the Chicago Sky in which guard Chennedy Carter administered an indefensible cheap shot to her, there appears to be a concerted effort to baptize Clark into the hard knocks world of professional basketball.

And adding to the drama is the fact that Clark is, yes, a trash-talker. Which is fine—as long as you can back it up.

Before a three-point contest during an NBA All-Star weekend, Larry Bird stood up in the locker room and faced his competition. “Which of you is going to finish second?” he asked. There was no response.

And just who won that three-point contest?

Guess.

However vigorous Clark's chutzpah, it has been tested. And will continue to be. At least until she demonstrates a Michael Jordan-like ability to shred her opponents and devour them.

To her credit, she has maintained a very marketable demeanor in public, appearing gracious, confident and in control. She has everything to gain and nothing to lose by ignoring her haters.

They will exist regardless of her career arc.

But this isn't the last of Caitlin's indignities. 2024 is an Olympic year, and the USA must assemble an Olympic team to participate. And the basketball neophytes who have recently descended on the WNBA have made their feelings clear: as the most popular player the league, isn't it Caitlin's birthright that she be named to the team?

Not quite.

While event-specific teams such as this may appear otherwise, the powers that be seek the best players for these teams, not the most-famous. And whatever her potential, Caitlin is not one of the premier point guards in the WNBA. She very well may be one day, but not today.

Struggle isn't new. Nor is it unusual. Ms. Clark is the latest in a long line of highly-talented athletes who made the jump from college to the pros and didn't find instant success.

But given her level-headed and focused approach, success is imminent. We (or rather, you) just needs to be patient.

BG

By all accounts, Brittney Griner is a gentle soul. Quite a feat, considering the challenges being a six-foot nine-inch female who weighs two-hundred five pounds and is openly gay present. (Not to mention that unless your name is Giannis Antetokounmpo or Joel Embiid, she can probably kick your ass to the dark side of the moon in a game of basketball.)

As players in the WNBA often do, she had traveled to Europe to play a second season following her 2021 WNBA Finals appearance with the Phoenix Mercury. It is unknown if she had successfully smuggled cannabis into Russia previously, but this time her attempt was unsuccessful.

I don't pretend to know Russia's drug laws or precisely what is meant by “a small amount” of cannabis, but I'm guessing that even in Vladimir Putin's Russia, this is not the equivalent of a first-degree felony. And yet Griner has been treated nearly like a serial killer.

Detained in February and tried in August, she was sentenced to nine-years in prison. Her legal team filed for an appeal and were denied in October. Now comes word that she has been sent to a penal colony, an extraordinarily harsh punishment in light of her crime.

At first glance, it's hard not to wonder if she is being treated more severely owing to her status as a celebrity. After all, this is Putin-land, where cases like this proceed in whatever fashion will guarantee maximum exposure.

A commonly held belief is that Griner is a political pawn, kept in storage until such a point she can be used as a bargaining chip in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine. And if this is the case, does it make sense to let a valuable prisoner languish in such deprived conditions?

This is supposition, of course. For all I know, Putin lost a butt-load on the Mercury in the 2021 WNBA Finals and this is his preferred manner of extracting revenge. But given the dire reality of Putin's twisted autocracy, the probability remains that this woman has become a pawn in his latest political drama.

All that is left is for the U.S. and Russia to determine her worth before the inevitable negotiations begin.

Another chapter in the book of human cruelty.

We'll Always Have Paris

Amid a grey and soggy spring featuring two distinctly uninspired Major League Baseball teams, the Chicago Sky began their defense of the franchise's first WNBA championship. But it wasn't as pretty as their eventual league-best won-lost record would indicate.

An opening night defeat to the Los Angeles Sparks bordered on ugly, with repeated turnovers (especially on the offensive end) short-circuiting possessions. The Sky appeared unfocused and distracted. But six games in, the Sky stood at 4 -2.

It continued, with the Sky winning twenty-one of their next twenty-seven games. To that point, they never lost two in a row. Need more? How about their 3-0 record versus the Connecticut Sun, a team that had presented a major hurdle in last year's playoffs.

With just three games left in the season, a pair of sloppy losses to the Seattle Storm and Las Vegas Aces gave the Sky their first two-game losing streak. A lifetime spent as a Cubs fan was not required to wonder if perhaps the Sky might have gotten a bit too comfortable.

Thankfully, they finished the season strong with a decisive win against last year's Finals opponent, the Phoenix Mercury.

Bring on the playoffs!

They started as ignobly as had the regular season. The seventh-seed New York Liberty exploded out of the gate and beat the Sky in Chicago, outscoring them by eight in the fourth quarter. This was not good.

The Sky were able to refocus and take games two and three.

Next up was the Sun. After seven straight losses to the Sky, I don't imagine motivation was an issue in Connecticut. Nor do I imagine a lack of confidence was an issue for the Sky. With home court advantage in the five-game semis, Chicagoans had every right to feel optimistic.

Owing to a brutal third quarter, game one went to the Sun. No big deal. A team that good was bound to win one sooner or later, right? Game two was a reassuring win for the Chicagoans. They were confident and dominated the game.

On Connecticut's floor, the Sky also took game three. I permitted a small smile to manifest itself upon my face—the Sky were back in control.

Game four was a chassis-shaking, tire-shredding disaster. The Sky were never in this one as the Sun took out their long-simmering frustration and punished them over four quarters of a WNBA playoff game.

Ouch.

Would a return to Chicago re-animate the Sky? Or had Big Mo shifted irreparably to the team from the East coast?

Connecticut took the quarter number-one 24-16. Chicago took the second quarter by the same score. They also took the third quarter 18-8. A certain Cubs fan was ready to let go.

But as the hoary old sports cliché goes, the Sky had been here before. They knew what they had to do.

Only they didn't.

They shot 2 for 15, snagged 3 rebounds and dished out 2 assists. They did not visit the free throw line. Not once.

The Sun? They shot 8 for 15, pulled down 14 rebounds and handed out 8 assists. They went 8 for 8 from the free throw line. They outscored the Sky 24-5.

I can't imagine a WNBA title contender ever played a worse quarter of basketball.

Under different circumstances, I would have called Candace Parker's early exit from the court a bad case of over-indulgence. The byproduct of a bloated sense of entitlement. But given the Sky's fourth-quarter meltdown, to come so close only to have it ripped from your hands had to have been excruciating.

And with the expected retirements of Parker, Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley, the look of next year's Sky will be very different. They're still talented. But will they remain legitimate title contenders? Not so sure.

We are often told to appreciate the moment. To be in it. That a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. And sports is pretty good at imparting those lessons. The unexpected run to a title by last year's Sky team was as inspiring and as mind-blowing as it gets.

And I'm happy to say I wallowed in it.

But being in the moment and being vested and engaged ain't so hot when your team crashes. It eventually renders us as Humphrey Bogart in the movie Casablanca, when he ruefully tells Ingrid Bergman “We'll always have Paris.”

So it goes.

Looking Skyward

Not quite sure why I keep thinking of the Chicago Sky and their out-of-left-field WNBA title.

Maybe it's a matter of context. The world is full of division and conflict amidst a lingering pandemic. Their championship stands in stark relief; a beacon of collaboration, unselfishness and perhaps even hope.

It was revealed last October that following their underachieving 2020/21 season, the Sky were as frustrated as their fans. Despite the arrival of a difference-maker (Candace Parker), they had struggled to a 16 and 16 record.

For a franchise still feeling the sting of Sylvia Fowles' and Elena Delle Donne's unceremonious departures, the arrival of free-agent Parker was a big deal. But after yielding such tepid results, it threatened to become another disappointment in a city grown used to them.

But the Sky embraced the maxim that the post-season is a new season—one where everybody is 0 - 0. And in that embrace, they re-committed to each other. They looked each other in the eye and said “I'm here for you. I'm playing for you.”

Forgive my bias, but it's a little hard to imagine a male team doing the same. As I imagine it, I see lots of finger-pointing. Accusations. Chest-puffing. Agitated calls to agents. “Get me out of here!”

Which is the exact opposite of what happened at Wintrust Arena.

The results speak volumes. The Sky went on an 8 – 2 run, beating statistically-superior teams in three consecutive rounds. I admit to not watching every post-season every professional sports franchise has ever embarked on, but the Sky's triumph was—if not singular—extraordinary.

Sport is rich in metaphor. Their ascent following an underachieving and potentially fractious regular season is the living embodiment of clear-eyed assessment. Of moving on. Of knowing how to re-boot. Of how to start fresh and finish strong.

Do I even need to spell out the lesson here for our ruptured civilization?

The Sky didn't win because they stomped around the lockeroom in a vain (and ultimately self-destructive) attempt to prove who the alpha dog was.

No.

They won because they regarded each each as equals and strengthened their bond. It was about we, not me. Unity—not control. They forged an identity as unbreakable as an ingot and handily defeated all comers.

You might construe this post as an editorial on toxic masculinity and I could only reply “perhaps.” Looking at a world largely created by men, I can't honestly say we kicked ass. In the most literal sense, yes. But in the larger one of creating a good and just and sustainable civilization?

Nope.

The most startling picture I ever saw was the one taken by the crew of Apollo 17. There was planet Earth in all its gorgeousness, hanging like a Christmas ornament and set against the infinite darkness of space.

(I mean, can you even imagine the effect it would have had on Galileo or Copernicus?)

And while man has expertly plundered its riches and created immense wealth for the few in the process, we haven't done such a great job of caring for it and, by extension, us.

So if the future is indeed female, fine. Maybe gender double-x can restore our humanity and bring to the table policy not centered on profit and control. And wouldn't it be the biggest kick in the ass ever if the Sky's championship helped light the way?

Just sayin'. 

 

Consider Ass Kicked!

Wow. I don't know where to begin. I'm overwhelmed. Overstimulated. I. Am. Buzzed. (Which is probably why I set a personal-best on my morning constitutional today.) Like some other people I could name, I am feeling it.

So. The Chicago Sky concluded their playoff run yesterday afternoon. It was one which culminated in a stirring 80 – 74 victory over the Phoenix Mercury and a WNBA championship.

But it didn't go according to script.

The team I saw through the first the three quarters was one I haven't seen in a while. Perhaps a dozen missed lay-ups and point-blank shots. Threes lofted early in the shot clock with no one underneath to rebound. 

And considering they were shooting just eighteen-percent, there were lots of them.

Errant passes. Rushed passes. Sluggish defensive rotations. It was not pretty. But considering how fast the Sky had gone from zero to sixty these past weeks, it would be entirely understandable if they were feeling the heat of a white-hot spotlight.

Nevertheless, it served to mute the sold-out crowd. Their unmet expectations pooled behind them like water in a reservoir. The faces gathered at the Sky bench during time-outs were dour. Disappointed. This was not happening.

After being outshot and outscored in each of the first three quarters, the scoreboard read Mercury 63, Sky 54. Not an insurmountable margin, to be sure. But with so little evidence it would be, fans could be forgiven for steeling themselves against the possibility the Sky might not clinch this day. 

I know I was.

I'm not sure exactly when it changed.

In my happy haze, I remember Allie Quigley hitting several threes. Then it was Candace Parker's turn. A match had been lit. Fans expressed their pent-up delight. The arena was stirring.

Something was definitely afoot.

The revitalized Sky continued to score. Defend. Pass. To play like the team they had been throughout their wondrous run. It was one of Stefanie Dolson's shots from the paint that finally put them on top. The crowd erupted. Delirium was Wintrust Arena's new normal.

A Courtney Vandersloot jumper and and two free throws put the icing on the cake. The screaming and the cheering and the bedlam did not stop. So this was what it's like to be at a championship clincher!

I was beside myself, but in a healthy, non-multiple-personality-disorder kind of way. This couldn't be happening, could it? Not after those first three quarters? I checked the guy next to me. He was beaming. “Can you believe this?” he said. I shook my head “No.” I was smiling beneath my mask.

I raised my arms above my head and howled.

On the Mercury's final possession, Brittney Griner put up a three. It bounced off the rim and fell. Parker picked-off the rebound and dribbled up court. Only seconds stood between the Sky and a title.

The horn sounded. Disbelief. They had done it!

The realization that it was over was both a happy and sad one. I watched the players congregate at center court, where bits of gold and blue foil floated down from above. Hip-hop boomed over the PA. To (almost) quote David Bowie, I was floating in a most peculiar way.

At last I exited the arena. The late-afternoon sky was cloudless and brilliant blue. Perfect. I went for a walk to soak up whatever ambiance might be lying around. The Phoenix team bus was stationed at the southeast corner of the arena. Two players exited to applause from a pair of die-hard fans.

It was not acknowledged.

(I later learned that Griner, Diana Taurasi and Skylar Diggins had boycotted the post-game press conference. Their petulance reminded me of the Detroit Pistons and the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, where Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer (among others) skulked off the floor before the game four rout had even concluded. Is it possible Taurasi and the two Pistons are somehow related?)

Finally, I must give a shout-out to Dolson and starting center Azura Stevens. They endured the brunt of inexplicable calls against the Sky. To wit, Griner and Mercury forward Kia Vaughn appeared to body, shove and grab Stevens and Dolson with impunity, while the Sky centers were hit with fouls if they so much as perspired on their Phoenix counterparts.

Ditto an invisible offensive foul on Quigley. Huh? In one aspect at least, the WNBA has achieved parity with the NBA: its officiating is equally inconsistent and arbitrary. In the context of that officiating, yesterday's game was a horror show.

Okay. Enough.

I drove home in contented silence, happy for all concerned. I hope they keep this memory close for the remainder of their lives. It is so very, very special.

There's Something Happening Here...

On the surface, the season was a letdown. After the signing last May of two-time MVP and future Hall-of-Famer Candace Parker, you could say the sky was the limit. Armed with a pair of all-star guards in Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley, the Sky seemed primed to make some serious noise.

But injuries to Quigley and Parker helped stunt what should have been a coming out party, and the Sky stuggled to a .500 record, finishing 16 – 16.

But as innummerable promotional campaigns have stated: That was then. This is now.

Edging into the playoffs as the number-six seed, the Sky defeated the Dallas Wings in a win-or-go-home contest 81 – 64. Considering Dallas went 14 – 18 during the regular season, was the number-seven seed and that the game was played in Chicago, well, it could almost qualify as a foregone conclusion.

The surprise came in round-two.

Facing the four-time WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx (22 – 10) in Minnesota, the Sky had a great big challenge in front of them.

They played tough in a see-saw battle until mid-way through the third quarter, when a series of fast-break opportunites broke the game open. Outscoring the Lynx 27 – 20 in the fourth-quarter, the Sky walked away with an 89 – 76 win.

Four players finished with between fourteen and nineteen points (Vandersloot, small forward Kahleah Copper, center Azura Stevens and reserve Diamond DeShields) while another (Quigley) ended with eleven.

And what of power forward Candace Parker? Eight points, three assists and four rebounds.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the beauty of it. Up against a team six games ahead of them in the standings and on their floor, the Sky beat the Lynx by thirteen with their most-prominent player suffering through a mediocre game.

Kaboom.

And the Sky have continued that onslaught against the Connecticut Sun.

The Sun ended their season on a fourteen-game tear to finish with the WNBA's best record at 26 - 6. Four of their starters were named to the All-WNBA Defensive first or second team. And the Sun owned the legue's best defense, finishing with a defensive rating of 91.7.

All the Sky have done is beat them in a double-overtime thriller that featured just the second triple-double in WNBA playoff history and then apply their own defensive clamps while pulling out a 86 – 83 victory yesterday afternoon in Chicago.

On the cusp of a WNBA Finals appearance for just the second time in franchise history, fans can be excused for looking forward. I've been following sports for half a century, and this team has every earmark of being a Cinderella.

They're peaking at just the right time after a season of stops and starts. With that season under their belts, they're gelling and surging and appear to have that magic combination of talent and grit.

Forcing fourth-quarter turnovers against the Sun and then watching as Vandersloot tore down court and fired the ball to Copper or Quigley or hit the shot herself was as thrilling as anything I've seen in professional sports lately.

Especially from a team with 'Chicago' on its chest.

I can't speak for other WNBA franchises, but seeing the Sky perform in an arena at seventy-percent of capacity was heartening. The NBA's poor cousin, the WNBA—however deserving—doesn't enjoy the wall-to-wall coverage and isn't the mass-marketed colossus its big brother is.

But like seeing a band on the verge of breaking through, yesterday's game was played in front of passionate fans not-at-all hesitant to vocalize their support. No, it wasn't a sell-out. Scalpers aren't salivating over game-four.

But the fans in attendance were genuine. Real. No one was there to be seen. (And if they were, there weren't enough ESPN cameras to capture their on-trend prescience.)

Something's happening here. The Sky are rocking the WNBA, and it is so very, very cool to witness. At the risk of sounding like some deranged BDSM submissive, I am going to beg these women to kick my ass. 

And kick it hard.