I focus on college football, I’m an expert on college football. But as a sports fan, I have opinions on many different sports and leagues. In this edition of Mike On Sports, I explain why Angel Reese’s jealousy of Caitlin Clark is good and bad for the WNBA.
Angel Reese is jealous. If you don’t think she is, you need to have your head examined. From her comments about how people tune into the WNBA for her as much as they do for Clark to her constant jabs on social media, she’s jealous. Her reasoning doesn’t matter although many make this a racial issue. It’s may or may not be as well, but it’s certainly jealousy.
https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1797752597773713756
So there is good news and bad news to all of that. The good news is that Reese and Clark are now the Larry Bird and Bill Laimbeer of the WNBA. Or Bird and Magic. Or Bird and whoever. This kind of rivalry is great for the WNBA. It’s become physical, and I’ll get to that in a second, and it’s edgy. One side (Clark) seems to take the high road while the pettiness of the other side (Reese) is palpable. It’s great entertainment.
The bad news? It could get out of control. Many of the WNBA players are jealous of Clark. Heck, even her own teammates don’t seem to stand up for her or like her. At the very least, no one seems to have her back. And now with Reese’s recent dirty and flagrant foul getting so much attention, some players are going to try to get in on this.
https://twitter.com/JoshReynolds24/status/1802392945452286251
We’ve seen WNBA players get attention for hitting or mocking Clark like these examples…
More Sports News
https://twitter.com/EmmanuelAcho/status/1796968402247921688https://twitter.com/FDSportsbook/status/1800315288392720408
But with Reese, it’s now reaching the next level. The jealousy league-wide will increase, Reese will continue to realize that playing the villain to Clark’s hero will get her attention and others will try to get their 15 seconds of fame. A message needs to be sent and a suspension for Reese might do it. There was zero attempt to go for the ball and 100% attempt to knock Clark out of the game. And that wasn’t handled properly.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Nothing about the WNBA product is really interesting. It’s basketball on a much less athletic level than the NBA and it’s clear few people care about the actual product. This is about everything but basketball and it’s working for the WNBA. But there’s a good chance it will end poorly if it’s not handled better.
