Shannon Sharpe goes off on ESPN analysts minimizing Caitlin Clark

Caitlin Clark was named to the All-WNBA first-team and the unanimous choice for AP Rookie of the Year, and Shannon Sharpe is taking a victory lap.

While his former FS1 partner, Skip Bayless, recently admitted he “felt guilty” praising Clark because he considered her a “new right-wing symbol,” Sharpe went on First Take Monday morning and called out everyone who attempted to mask the WNBA star’s greatness. Starting with the people on ESPN.

“Caitlin Clark is box office. She’s doing this. And instead of giving her credit, y’all trying to make it about, ‘oh y’all poo pooing the old guard…’ Nah, I ain’t gonna let it slide.” – Shannon Sharpe pic.twitter.com/NjdBMRU450

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 23, 2024

“A lot of this noise came by people that were sitting on this network,” Sharpe ranted to Andraya Carter and Stephen A. Smith on First Take. “They tried to minimize her saying, ‘Well you giving her all this credit, what about the women that came before her?’ What the women came before? What they did cannot be taken away. That ain’t got nothing to do with Caitlin Clark. But there is a lot of people that tried to make sure they keep Caitlin Clark in her place because what you’re doing if you give her all this shine, you minimize what they done. You can’t minimize Maya Moore or Candace Parker or Lisa Leslie… or any of the other great players.

“Caitlin Clark, what she’s doing, doesn’t minimize what they’ve done. But we should’ve been giving her the credit. We saw the ratings, we saw the merchandize sales, we saw the attendance, but y’all want to make it about something else… Caitlin Clark is box office. She’s doing this. And instead of giving her credit, y’all trying to make it about, ‘oh y’all poo pooing the old guard. Y’all never talked about the old guard like this’ Nah, I ain’t gonna let it slide.”

Sharpe has been a fierce defender of Clark since the Indiana Fever made her the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft. Earlier this season Sharpe called out Team USA for leaving Clark off their roster at the Paris Olympics, and more recently, he put the WNBA on blast for its “jealousy” of their most popular player.

Carter, however, wouldn’t excuse Sharpe from wrongdoing in the continuous debate surrounding Clark and her importance to the WNBA. After Sharpe finished his Monday morning rant on First Take, Carter noted the Pro Football Hall of Famer added to the noise by trying to “paint a picture around Caitlin that the league was against her” based on the actions of just a few.

Clark has been dragged into a culture war, to no fault of her own. But much of that culture war stems from claims that she’s being treated unfairly by the WNBA’s entire roster of current and past players. And as Carter noted, that’s an exaggeration leaned on by many of the league’s newest fans who are here solely for the Clark debate.

[First Take]