There are many possible dimensions to discuss with the debate around Chennedy Carter’s hard foul on Caitlin Clark away from the ball in the Chicago Sky-Indiana Fever WNBA clash Saturday. Those include how it was called a common foul on the floor and only upgraded to flagrant a day later, how Carter refused to address it with media but then weighed in on social media, and how her Chicago Sky teammate Angel Reese seemed to celebrate the foul, drew a fine for not talking to media at all, and then spoke to media Monday to say people are watching the WNBA because of her and not just Clark.
In addition to that talk about Carter and Reese, there have been lots of other conversations here. Those have included discussions about ESPN’s coverage of this and WNBA veterans’ treatment of Clark, both as teammates and opponents. And this has spilled over into intense media debates involving everyone from Matt Barnes to Stephen A. Smith to Monica McNutt to Pat McAfee to Sean Hannity to The Chicago Tribune‘s editorial board (with that latter one disavowed by some from their sports department).
But while race has been an underlying current in some of those conversations, it generally hasn’t been as explicitly stated as Bob Costas did on CNN’s NewsNight With Abby Phillip Monday night. There, in conversation with host Phillip and his fellow CNN contributor Cari Champion, Costas said a flagrant foul by Alyssa Thomas against Reese last week drew less wide media attention because it was a “Black-on-Black incident.”
This came after the show played Reese’s comments Monday about how she believes people are tuning into women’s basketball for more people than Clark, including herself. “The reason why we watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person. It’s because of me too, and I want y’all to realize that.”
Costas addressed that and said Reese was she’s talking about last year’s LSU-Iowa championship game, which did indeed pull record at-the-time ratings, as did those teams’ Elite Eight clash this year. (There’s a point there, there have been strong WBB ratings in college and pro games without Clark too. But the Caitlin Clark Effect does remain an above–and–beyond thing.) But this got particularly notable when Costas brought up Alyssa Thomas’ flagrant-2 foul on Reese last week:
Bob Costas had a strong take why Alyssa Thomas’ flagrant foul on Angel Reese last week received less coverage than Chennedy Carter’s on Caitlin Clark this weekend. “It’s because it’s a Black-on-Black incident.” pic.twitter.com/zOQN9zheMD
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 4, 2024
“But to your earlier point, there was an incident recently where Alyssa Thomas, who happens to be African-American, grabbed Angel Reese by the throat and threw her to the floor,” Costas says. “Flagrant-2, ejected from the game. The reason why that doesn’t spark as much conversation isn’t just that Caitlin Clark is a bigger star than Alyssa Thomas. It’s because it’s a Black-on-Black incident.”
Phillip chimes in with “Wow. He said it.” And Costas continues “You don’t have that dynamic that people can comment on, yes, but also exaggerate and make the entire story sometimes.” Phillip said “That is really the between the lines of what’s going on.”
Champion then weighs in with an endorsement of Costas’ take. “And also, no one cares. No one cared about the WNBA when women of a certain color were beating up and bruising each other, because it’s been happening since the league’s inception. We have this star, this woman that people love, they want to protect her, so now, all the new fans and the new analysts and the new people have so much to say. Bob, thank you for saying that and acknowledging that, because you’re a legend in the sport, and you’re also gracious enough to say ‘Look, I’m not an expert in the WNBA, but what I do know from history is this is why she’s being treated this way and no one else is.'” And Costas says “Yes, because I’ve seen it in every sport. A newcomer is tested, and to some extent, resented.”
Phillip then says “What’s wrong with players being aggressive to a certain degree? Competitive?” Costas says “Not in the way Chennedy Carter was, that was a flagrant foul.” Phillip says “Yes, but there’s a process for that. The game handles that by penalizing a certain player. Why does it have to be [airquotes] jealousy?”
Champion says “I have asked this question. I’m sorry, I’m livid, my blood is boiling about this topic, I’ve been so angry all day, because it’s so simple to make women versus women a conversation. But it’s so simple. There should be more layers to this sport. If you’re really going to welcome yourself to the WNBA and cover it and talk about it, can we be more than just ‘jealous’? Can there be some real, true competition? Can they just be athletes?”
Costas says “I know you’re speaking generally, because that’s not where I’m coming from.” Champion says “That’s not where you’re coming from at all. He and I have had this conversation, and you know what I’m saying.” Costas says “I do.” Champion says “Why isn’t it so simple?” Costas says “I think it would be foolish to say that resentment and jealousy are not part of the mix, because those are human emotions. But to elevate that above everything else and discard everything else in a complicated dynamic, that’s the wrong way to go.”
It’s certainly notable to see Costas explicitly discuss what he believes to be a racial dimension in the differing media treatment of the Carter foul on Clark and the Thomas foul on Reese, and to see his comments there endorsed by Champion and Phillip. And while the Thomas-Reese incident did receive wide coverage from The New York Times to Fox News and beyond, the Clark one has definitely blown up more.
Costas also correctly notes that that’s not exclusively about race. As he says, Caitlin Clark is indeed a bigger star than Alyssa Thomas (in terms of drawing power, at least; Thomas‘ 13.8/9.6/9.0 points/rebounds/assists per game this year look better than Clark’s 15.6/5.1/6.4, especially with her increased efficiency, but Clark is pulling more viewers in). And as mentioned, there are many more dimensions to consider with the Clark incident, and some of what’s blown it up so much has been various media meltdowns over it.
But Costas and Champion are both correct that there have been similar flagrant fouls in the WNBA, both last week and throughout history, that have drawn much, much less wide comment. And they have a point that race does seem to play a part in why the Carter-Clark incident is being discussed so extensively, including by people who don’t usually cover the WNBA or even sports.
[Abby D. Phillip on X/Twitter]
