From the moment the ball was first tossed up in Sunday’s NCAA women’s basketball championship game, politics were in the air. On multiple fronts.
In a society in which women are subjugated and relegated to rigidly defined gender roles, women’s sports are inherently political.
The idea that sports are a “man’s game” stems from the misogynistic belief that fierce competitiveness and technical mastery aren’t traits women can possess — whether naturally or through hard work. To be clear, Sunday’s title game literally might not even have happened if not for laws mandating that women have the same opportunity as men to participate in college athletics.
And what a treat: The game itself was a testimony to the value of those laws. We got stellar, meaningful play and all the exciting chippiness that comes with it.
The game pitted Iowa guard Caitlin Clark, the sharp-shooting superstar, and her Hawkeyes against the LSU Tigers. Clark has become a media sensation thanks to her dominant play … and her willingness to trash-talk opponents, both of which I love to watch.
And some people have noted that the gushing praise for Clark, who is white, and her outward displays is different from the way many Black athletes — especially Black women — are portrayed when they act equally demonstratively. This explains why LSU’s Angel Reese, a star in her own right, relished the opportunity to stunt on Clark using the same “you can’t see me” taunt Clark had recently deployed.
Here’s Clark’s taunt against Louisville in the Elite Eight:
And here’s Reese’s taunt against Clark on Sunday:
Reese has faced criticism for her passionate play before, so logically, a swagless horde of observers began to denounce her after the taunt, seemingly ignorant of the fact that she was using an opponent’s own trash-talking against her. (Looking at you, Keith Olbermann.)
Reese, the newly christened champion who was named the tournament’s most outstanding player, had…
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