... He had a few good players to help him out. Clark, in fairness, has mostly white girls from the midwest on her team. Great girls, but wouldn't start on many top programs.

Boom!

Because she was taking her teams to back to back final fours. Do you think if Mahomes took Tech to the CFP he wouldn't have been just as much of a media darling?

Martin to Vegas!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If Kim Mulkey is at the draft who’s guarding hell?</p>&mdash; Barstool Iowa (@BarstoolUIowa) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarstoolUIowa/status/1780011212614389927?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ok, so **** Clark aka Ben Stiller. I'm all the way in... literally and figuratively, on Cameron Brink.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5zZZhVg...JyYXUyb2d0MDRr



Click this if you want to see some hilarious yelling about the patriarchy from people who 100% have never watched a WNBA game but still can't believe the contracts


the entire WNBA over the course of the whole season generates $60m total but that hasn't stopped people freaking out about it. Get mad at economics and capitalism I guess? I hate numbers! Math is sexist.

I forgot about all those titles Texas Tech won with Pat at QB where he had to overcome atrocious defensive play by his teammates to will his team to win the title... oh wait, that never happened until he went pro, was mentored by Alex Smith, and spent a couple years with Andy Reid on a team setup for success. Just saying, give Clark some time. It's like crowning Patrick as the GOAT over Brady, just let him cook for awhile and see how much he can accomplish.

Work in fast food in California...get some OT every week and make that

They need a changing of the guard. There is too much resentment from veterans who are bitter they couldn’t grow the game while at the same time wanting their flowers.

If they want to make more money then grow the damn game. This is not like women’s soccer where they’re making money on their own. They’re borrowing other sports assets and still can’t make money. You would think they’d embrace clark instead of rooting for her to fail. I mean, the fact that it’s even debatable that she belongs in the Olympics just to grow the game shows the extent of their delusion. We saw this same delusion from the old guard in USWNT soccer too.

If it was more entertaining people would watch. Simple as that. They need better TV deals/numbers to make more. No one is watching women's sports other than the outlier championship game and final 4. I expect to see these CP heroes starting official Indiana Fever game threads.

I don’t know if Caitlin clark is gonna fix the wnba. She will certainly help but it’s a hell of a hole to dig out of. There’s something to be said about the college environment that I’m not sure translate to the wnba. However I imagine you get some of that same bump like guys like shohei or wemby get where casuals who would otherwise never watch the angels or spurs are curious to watch the fever play a game or 2.

Others have made this comparison but I am repeating it since I feel as though it is a much more appropriate comparison than let's say comparing Kobe Byrant to Michael Jordan. Clark isn't just hyped for the 2 runs to the women's NCAA finals, she really is the closest NCAA/NBA/WNBA player to Steph Curry if you factor out sex/biology. She can pass the ball, dribble the ball, shoot 3's from far beyond the 3-point line and drive to the basket.

Curry happens to have had great impact on winning. But even Allen Iverson who often really didn't have a great impact on winning, received a ton of hype since his game was different. Many fans liked watching a short player with great athleticism try to battle against much taller players. Iverson's combination of scoring, speed and jumping ability for a player his height was pretty unique so he got a lot of attention.

The WNBA is a toxic product. College ball is the last step normal people can tolerate. Even the local girls completely disappear from everyone's radar once they assimilate. Even Clark entering the league while her following is at its peak is not going to fix it.

Unfortunately, I think the NIL system is going to continue to ruin a lot of the college ball experience from a fan's perspective. Look at what it has already done to HVL's following. At this rate, she's moving from hero to zero unless unless her final landing spot revives everything.

There's alot of really talented women's players, so again that's why I don't understand why only she is followed. No one watches the WNBA and there are TONS of great players playing in it. That's what's so weird...

No one else shoots 40% from 3 ft behind the line and has crazy passing assist every game.

I can't tell if you're joking or ... ??

Not joking, he's just a moron

WNBA Averaged about 500k viewers per game last season.

2023 USFL - a crap product at best - averaged almost 1 million viewers per game.

NBA 1.5 million per game.

NFL 17.9 million per game

It is pretty simple - people need to watch. And they don't.

Women need to watch. It can’t just be dudes keeping women’s sports alive.

There’s some lesbian sports bar in Portland that only shows women’s sporting events. At least they’re leading by example. I couldn’t get my wife to watch a WNBA game for anything. She will willingly watch the Royals. Never seen her tune in for a softball game.

It is called "The Sports Bra" and apparently is quite popular with the "Ladies".

I - Thank God - live far from Portland; but the word on the place I hear is that its popularity has ****-all to do with sports and is basically a Les/Trans/Whatever bar that has many TV's.

I just watched her on McAfee's show. She's very likeable and bright. Will definitely watch her first game in the WNBA if it's not buried on some lame cable network.

Women's sports only fail because women don't watch them. Women outnumber men in this country.

The NFL could lose every female fan and while revenue would dip, the league would be fine.

Cue Bill Burr

Not too bad for a single event, but will it translate to a significant increase in long-term WNBA viewership?

Meanwhile, the last two NBA drafts have averaged 4 and 5 million viewers respectively.

Exactly. I didn't post it because I'm not yet trusted to post links. LMAO

How the hell are they going to watch when they are busy making sammiches and refilling guys drinks?

So much for women being superior multi-taskers.

That’s not true. Women’s soccer is widely watched and heavily monetized. College women’s basketball has done pretty well. It’s the wnba that hasn’t caught on. And who knows… maybe it never will even with Caitlin Clarke.

Totally unrealistic to think they can match men’s sports, but why should they have to? If they can make enough money to turn a profit, which USWNT does but wnba does not, then it is not a failure.

Why is that unrealistic? There are more women than men in this country.

About what? There aren't other talented women players?

I listened to a podcast on this. There’s some chicken and egg stuff going on too. The idea behind this particular sports bar was that a bar like BWs often will not even show women’s sports even if they were asked to. So arguably a lot of people don’t watch women’s sports simply because they are not exposed to it.
I don’t think it’s a lesbian bar. It’s just owned by lesbians. I’m guessing it’s a place where lots of teen girls playing sports go to watch games too.

So to some extent the question is if someone truly invested in some of these women’s sports leagues would they thrive? Womens volleyball is a perfect example. It’s booming in Europe. And women’s soccer is only just now starting to his ground. And that volleyball trend seems to be carrying over nicely in the US. These are sports where arguably the league didn’t take off because people didn’t invest in it, not because there was never any interest.

What is your problem? The world is full of talented women athletes, it's just that no one wants to watch it. What about that is false?

For the same reason mls will never be more popular than euro soccer. Mens American sports has decades upon centuries of roots and allegiances. Not to mention infrastructure from best in class game day experiences to marketing and by a mile… media that pumps a gajillion to maximize viewers.

On top of that we are only just now seeing a generation of young girls motivated to be pro athletes. Even still, it is in pursuing a dream to be a scholarship athlete. Unlike men’s where the dream is to become a multi millionaire.

Men betting better athletes plays into that too. But we’ve seen from women’s tennis and soccer that if you have marketable talent they can generate plenty of interest in spite of that. Alex Morgan and Caitlin clark are clear examples of that.

I'd nobody wants to watch it, why you in here shitting all over it?

Don't give a shit yourself? Don't bother posting in here.

The root of the problem is that women's sports...especially team sports...generally aren't as entertaining as men's sports. If there was money to be made, people would invest in them, including plenty of men.

When you look at the rise of women’s soccer it’s mind boggling that it took so long. And I think that’s the point. Are people just not interested in women’s sports or are people just too dumb to not pump money into it. Forget ratings, do you realize how much money Nike has made by creating a new category? Who knew? Girls who grow up playing soccer buy a shitload of soccer gear.

So yeah, there’s an argument to some extent that if you build it they will come, but nobody has been willing to build it. It was true for women’s soccer. I’d bet it will be true for volleyball too. It hasn’t yet translated to wnba for whatever reason. I’m not sure that it can, but who knows.

That’s bullshit. Women’s tennis is arguably just as popular as men’s despite way less marketing, or at least it was when Serena was around.

Women’s soccer, last years debacle aside, is extremely popular. It was underinvested for decades and I’m guessing when Nike started raking in billions they realized how damn stupid they were for not promoting it sooner.

And women’s pro volleyball is only just now getting started.

There was money to be made but no one with the proactive foresight to realize it. It’s chicken or the egg because you are assuming that without world class facilities, marketing, mega media deals some of these sports wouldn’t take off.

Who am I shitting on? I just talked up the countless talented women athletes that get ZERO respect and you attack for no reason ROFL

Kc current is a perfect example. Imagine that, you get mahomes involved and build a new stadium and they draw crowds and interest. Of course it is not mls caliber crowds. But bringing in 10k on the regular attendance is nothing to sneeze at and something the best teams in the wnba aren’t pulling in. By some peoples logic the empty stadiums were proof there was no interest as opposed to saying people will come if you give it the infrastructure to grow.

So you just choose to shit in Clark? Who's had the best career out of all of them so far?

Ok

I didn't "shit" on anyone. I asked why you don't watch or follow other women's sports? There are PLENTY of women close in talent.

I chose to shit on Clark because she plays for Iowa. And I loooooove to shit on Iowa

I'm only referring to sports in the USA, but tennis is a 5th or 6th rate sport at best, whether you're talking about men or women.

As far as soccer, what does Nike raking in billions have to do with viewership? Selling soccer gear to kids doesn't equal adult viewership. Not in the USA, anyway.

No major sports in the US started out with world class anything, yet here they are.

Sports in the USA mostly did not allow women. And they had decades to evolve from a court with peach baskets to a small gym to small to big arenas.

Look at the kc current or the new pro women’s volleyball league. Or even the mls. You would have given up on the mls for the decades where they were hemorrhaging money and huge markets could only find a few thousand fans. It took decades to build fan loyalty, star power, add new markets which were willing to build great stadiums. Hell look at the kc current. Imagine giving up on women’s soccer in kc because of past failures versus saying all it took was mahomes and a new stadium to create interest. And as they make more money, they can pull in bigger media deals, and with those deals pull in better star players, and with that pull in even bigger media deals. Those fans with better experiences will raise young kids who grow up to be loyalists. That’s how this works. It doesn’t happen overnight. And it takes investment and patience which mens sports like mls got, but women’s sports largely did not. The irony is I think the one exception is the wnba who got investment and just could not grow the game.

And yeah the huge sponsorships like Nike absolutely matter. Large sponsors drive media, sponsorships. Because Nike wants more viewers so they can sell more cleats and shorts. It has absolutely materialized into outstanding tv viewership for national women’s soccer games. That is in spite of lack of investment in a women’s pro league which seems to be a turning tide. So again, there is probably a lot more chicken and egg here. Where you assume investment isn’t there because of a lack of viewers, it can easily be argued just the same that viewers aren’t there because of lack of investment.

Hell, is anyone going to pretend that a lot of Caitlin Clark’s and angel reeses large followings aren’t largely due to NIL that finally allows college athletes to be marketed and celebrated?

There is no reason to think that with enough time and patience, women's sports can't become as big as men's sports...even in the same sports currently dominated by men's leagues.

The only thing that would make it unrealistic is if women's sports are inherently inferior products that not even women prefer to watch over men's sports.

I doubt women’s sports in most cases will ever be bigger than men’s sports. But several have a good shot to be much more popular than they are today and pull in respectable numbers. I don’t think the quality of play matters nearly as much as you think it does. I know several parents of teenage athletes who follow women’s athletes because they can relate.

But I think you’re also missing on how much star power, game day experience and media blitzing matters. Both men and women were way more into USWNT and women’s tennis when Alex Morgan and Serena were relevant vs when they’re not. And now you see it with Caitlin clark. You have your typical fan girls who don’t know shit about ****, but lots and lots of men seemed to love watching the women’s final four even knowing it was a much more inferior product.

Don't know with the Men's with NIL and transfer portal was a better product this year. It always has been. However the women's games were more competitive, had rivalries and it was actually better executed basketball.

The best thing the WNBA could do is orchestrate games so that Clark bombs/makes threes all game long and then gets in a fist fight with Angel Reese.

Ratings through the roof.

These old worn-out hides like Taurasi need to quit their bitching and thank the gods Clark showed up and will bring at least a temporary bump in viewership.

They should do everything possible to frame the Clark/Reese rivalry as a modern-day Bird/Magic rivalry. Two skilled players who are polar opposites in virtually every way, who have already faced off in college. There's also the obvious "black vs. white" factor that drives up interest.

Of course the WNBA's version of Michael Jordan will need to explode onto the scene in the next few seasons to maintain whatever momentum they build, but that's another topic.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8UxRQOSFsuc?si=ilxJdNty_CSWihfK" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Careful the fanboys are fierce ROFL

I couldn't give a shit less about Iowa I just can't help pointing out when idiots are wrong

Gregg Doyel is such a loser.

He got downgraded from CBS Sports to the Indy Star and may lose his job… again.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Reporter: 🫶<br><br>Caitlin Clark: &quot;You like that?&quot;<br><br>Reporter: &quot;I like that you&#39;re here.&quot;<br><br>Caitlin: &quot;Yeah, I do that at my family after every game.”<br><br>Reporter: &quot;Start doing it to me and we&#39;ll get along just fine.&quot; <br><br>Caitlin: 😳<br><br>(via <a href="https://twitter.com/IndianaFever?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IndianaFever</a> / YT)<a href="https://t.co/BBjU881K7a">pic.twitter.com/BBjU881K7a</a></p>&mdash; ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClutchPoints/status/1780681923553017878?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I think the men’s ncaa are figuring shit out. They’re now competing with Europe and g league for talent and I don’t think anyone’s figured out NIL yet. I think men’s basketball will rebound but even when they were strong, women’s ncaa has been selling out final four for a while now even without nearly the same caliber of superstars. Crazy how underwhelming superstar talent has been the past few years.

Creeper status.

and didnt her boyfriend transfer to Butler?

He'll be working for Clay Travis by the end of the week.

Totally creepy. And inappropriate. But I generally think he was just doing some fanboy stuff and got caught in an awkward moment. Looking through this socials history, he just seems excited a team he’s covering is going to be relevant. But yeah, this might mean the end of his employment.

That's the other McCaffrey, Patrick. Her boyfriend, Conner, played at Iowa as well, but now works for the Pacers.

Thanks. Have not followed Iowa BB much.

But---hmmm He works for the Pacers and she is on the Fever

Some speculate that's one of the reasons she left Iowa is that Indiana had the first pick and Conner was in Indy.

makes sense.

She ain't married to that chump so folks need to chill out :evil:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Breaking: Indiana Fever&#39;s Caitlin Clark – the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft – is nearing a lucrative, eight-figure endorsement deal with Nike, per industry sources. Clark is set to receive her own signature Nike shoe.<br><br>Story with <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeVorkunov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MikeVorkunov</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/benpickman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benpickman</a>: <a href="https://t.co/pjBBTmHc78">https://t.co/pjBBTmHc78</a></p>&mdash; Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1780779250054041652?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3a3bd0f65.jpeg


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80% that’s true.

Bwahahaha that's brilliant from AB ROFL

Anyway I've seen a kid who has Clark's range from three but also has great shot creation and ball handling skills even at just 15 years old. She already has 20 plus college offers on the table too. Her name is Kaleena Smith. Incredible talent and I hope she gets to go against Juju before she leaves for the wnba.

BTW someone should start a womens basketball thread for those of us who will start watching it now :D .

I can't remember if it was Doyell or Dennis Dodd. But way back when the Chiefs squeaked into the 2006 playoffs at the last minute, one of them wrote a column about going out to eat that night and his waitress was excited about the Chiefs getting in. And he mocked this random woman in his column for being excited about her team. It was gross.

So **** Gregg Doyell. Even though it might not have been him. He's a douche either way.

And I bet she's white since you brought her up!

Please bet your whole life savings chump :LOL:

Both those guys are idiots, so you're good either way.

nike gave her 20 million

hard to believe she was only going to make 70 something thousand as the first overall pick in the wnba draft

WNBA brings in like $200 million in annual revenue. So she’s getting fair market value in her league.

For a comparison, Major League Soccer generates $2 BILLION in annual revenue.

It was sarcasm. Most of the hate CC gets is because of skin color

Pretty sure wnba lose money every year.

She could always try out for an NBA team.

They do… the WNBA has yet to generate a profit in the nearly 30 year existence of the league.

The NBA covers their operating losses.

Yes, the “evil” “toxic masculinity” of the NBA continues to make it possible for the WNBA to even exist.

I have watched a few games. They are boring, slow and no excitement. I almost think it is the wnba itself. The girls were more exciting in college.

Maybe the wnba should purge the old heads. Who also seems to be not liking the status Clark and Reese are getting.

Will be interesting to see how bad she gets fouled by some of them.