Coach Bruce Pearl says he&#8217;s using the spotlight of the Auburn Tigers Final Four run to draw attention to the last American hostage believed to be alive in Hamas captivity.
“It just bothers me tremendously that people are gonna pay attention to a basketball coach winning a basketball game when we have an American held hostage in Gaza, named Edan Alexander, and nobody knows his name,” Pearl told The Daily Wire.
Pearl, who has been wearing a “Bring Them Home” dog-tag as a necklace, opened a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vocally-pro-israel-coach-leads-auburn-to-the-final-four?row=0&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;title=Vocally+Pro-Israel+Coach+Leads+Auburn+To+The+Final+Four&amp;category=News">press conference</a> viewed by millions after Auburn’s victory over Creighton last month by drawing attention to 21-year-old Alexander. 
“I just felt compelled to say his name when I knew everybody was listening and have the discussion,” Pearl said.
Edan was born in Rockville, Maryland, before moving to New Jersey. He joined the Israeli Defense Forces after high school and was taken captive during Hamas’s October 7 massacre while at a small outpost by Kibbutz Nir Oz. He has been seen in Hamas propaganda videos.
Pearl said that he hopes President Donald Trump is close to crafting a deal that will bring home the remaining 59 hostages in Hamas captivity. 
Following the remarks, Pearl was connected to Alexander’s father, Adi, and learned that his other son, Roy, was a basketball fan.
“He called me and told me just how much it meant to him,” Pearl recalled. “I said ‘I’d just love to meet you, I don’t know what else I can do for you.’&#8221;
Pearl said he decided to bring him to a basketball game that weekend in Atlanta, and invited the whole family as his guests.
“I just wanted to spend time with him and just to let him know that they&#8217;re not alone,” Pearl said. “There are so many, so many people, including so many American Jews that are praying for him and his family to bring his son home.”
Despite having a different religion from the majority of his athletes, Pearl said they all connect over being children of Abraham and talk about God “every single day.”
“Most of my student athletes are Christian and I&#8217;m a coach, so my job is to bring people together—that&#8217;s what I do. And religion, unfortunately, sometimes has found ways to separate people to create division and divide,” Pearl said, adding that he prefers finding common ground.
“What I tell my players, about 95% of whom are African American, is, yes, there are absolutely obstacles to success and yes, there are obstacles to success being Jewish. There are obstacles to success being African American. But there are not road blocks,” Pearl said. “ I don&#8217;t want to hear that. You can&#8217;t do it because of this or because of that. I don&#8217;t want to hear it.&#8221;
Pearl said that his success and the success of two of the other coaches in the final four who are Jewish is proof that America is the “greatest country in the world where there is opportunity for everybody.”
&#8220;It can be done and Todd Golden and John Scheyer and Bruce Pearl are great examples of what can be done,” Pearl said, referencing the other two Jewish head coaches in the Final Four. 
Pearl credited his team&#8217;s success to God.
“The only way I can explain it, is it&#8217;s a God thing, like God&#8217;s got his hand all over this. Why me and why us? God reminds me all the time who I am, where I came from, and my love of my country, and my love of my faith and my ancestral homeland, Israel, means as much to me as, as life itself,” Pearl said. “I&#8217;ve been in this work for a long, long time, but it&#8217;s just that maybe more people are noticing now because we&#8217;ve had some more success.”
Looking forward to the upcoming games, Pearl said his team will have to play the best two games of the season in order to win the national championship. 
“I&#8217;m so proud of our guys,” Pearl said. “We will have to play the two best games of the year against Florida and the winner of the Houston-Duke game if we&#8217;re gonna be crowned national champion, but there&#8217;s only four teams left in the country that are still playing for the National Championship, and Auburn is one of them.”

Michigan State v Auburn

Bruce Pearl Uses Final Four Spotlight For American Hostage Edan Alexander: ‘Nobody Knows His Name’

Basketball

Hostages

Israel

For the first time in 17 years, the four top-seeded teams in the March Madness tournament will meet in the Final Four — and in the same city as the last time it happened.
On Saturday, the University of Florida Gators beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders, and Duke University defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide. On Sunday, Auburn defeated two-seed Michigan State, while Houston defeated Tennessee. Florida and Auburn, both from the SEC, will meet in the semifinals, while Houston plays Duke on April 5 at the Alamodome.
Such a matchup hasn&#8217;t happened since 2008, when Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina, and UCLA met in San Antonio. That year, Kansas defeated Memphis to take the crown.
Duke, coached by Jon Scheyer, is favored to win the title, with star freshman Cooper Flagg seeming a probable choice for the most outstanding player.
However, the Blue Devils face a tough match against Houston; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6243379/2025/03/31/final-four-no-1-seeds-duke-auburn-florida-houston/">according</a> to statistical archivist Ken Pomeroy, Duke has the best offense in college basketball, but Houston has the best defense. Additionally, Houston led the country in 3-point shooting, making almost 40% of their shots. One key difference could be Duke’s youth: their frontcourt of four freshmen will face three players who are 22 or older.
Florida, led by star player Walter Clayton Jr., defeated Auburn earlier in the season 90-81/
Duke has won the national title five times, all coached by Mike Mike Krzyzewski, who also brought the team to the finals four times. Florida won the national title in 2006 and 2007 under Coach Billy Donovan. Houston made the finals twice, in 1983 and 1984.
Auburn has never played in a national championship game.

NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament – Elite Eight – San Francisco

Final Four Is All No. 1 Seeds For Only The Second Time In March Madness History

Alabama

Duke University

NCAA

Three Fresno State University college basketball players are at the center of a university and NCAA investigation into alleged sports gambling, including two players accused of betting on their own games.
One player, Mykell Robinson, has been removed from the team, and two other players, Jalen Weaver and Zaon Collins, have been suspended over their potential ties to sports gambling, ABC 30 Action News <a href="https://abc30.com/post/fresno-state-mens-basketball-players-allegedly-placed-bets-games-played-sources-say/15946235/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. According to the report, Robinson and Weaver allegedly placed bets on their own team, including bets that the Bulldogs would underperform in total points and rebounds in one game. Collins, meanwhile, is being investigated for placing bets on professional sports.
Fresno State, which is in the middle of its worst season in program history, will now lose two of its top three scorers — Weaver and Collins — for the foreseeable future, according to <a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/43969441/fresno-state-holds-players-source-confirms-betting-inquiry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN</a>. Weaver is averaging 12.5 points per game this season, while Collins averages 12 points per game. Collins also leads the team with 4.7 assists per game.
The Bulldogs moved to 5-23 on the season after their last loss to Air Force, which put them on a 10-game losing streak. The team&#8217;s head coach, Vance Walberg, reportedly discovered the alleged gambling by the student-athletes and notified the university&#8217;s administration.
Robinson — who averaged 10.3 points per game — has not played since January 11, while Weaver and Collins were suspended just before the team tipped off against Air Force on Saturday. The Bulldogs, playing with only seven players, lost in overtime, 72-69. Just 30 minutes before the game started against Air Force, Fresno State announced that the two players were &#8220;being withheld from competition as the University reviews an eligibility matter.&#8221;
&#8220;The University and Athletics Department will have no further comments regarding the matter at this time,&#8221; Fresno State added.
Fresno State, currently part of the Mountain West Conference, announced last year that it would join the Pac-12 effective July 1, 2026.

Fresno State v UNLV

College Basketball Players Allegedly Placed Bets On Games They Played In

California

California State University Fresno

College basketball

Crime

Fresno, California

gambling

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/university-of-florida" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Florida’s</a> men’s basketball coach didn’t violate Title IX, an investigation into allegations from multiple women found.
Todd Golden was accused of sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, stalking, and cyberstalking by multiple women, some of whom were students, ESPN <a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/43585673/florida-coach-todd-golden-cleared-title-ix-investigation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The school conducted a four-month-long investigation and determined there was “no evidence” Golden violated Title IX.
&#8220;The University of Florida takes these matters seriously and works deliberately to ensure that due process is upheld for everyone,&#8221; university spokesperson Steve Orlando said in a statement obtained by ESPN. &#8220;After a thorough investigation that included dozens of interviews over the past months, the University of Florida has found no evidence that Todd Golden violated IX. The Title IX office has closed its investigation.&#8221;
A spokesperson for the University Athletic Association also told ESPN that the matter was closed.
&#8220;We take these matters seriously and understand the need for the process to be conducted with strict confidentiality and discretion,&#8221; the UAA said in its statement to the outlet. &#8220;Throughout this process, Coach Golden has demonstrated tremendous focus and professionalism, and we commend him for that. As the Gators move forward, we reaffirm our commitment to promoting a championship experience with integrity.&#8221;
In a letter to one of the accusers, the university said that there was no evidence showing Golden had committed any sexual harassment during “a university program or activity,” which is required for it to be actionable under Title IX. During the Obama and Biden administrations, this definition was expanded to allow schools to act as quasi-judicial systems punishing students and staff for crimes that couldn’t be prosecuted in the actual courts. It allowed women to accuse men of actual crimes without needing to prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt, as is needed in criminal court.
In Golden’s case, there do not appear to be any police reports of any of the actions he is accused of committing, hence the accuser’s use of school Title IX policies. But because the Biden administration’s policies were thrown out, schools must use definitions enacted during the first Trump administration, which narrowly define a school’s jurisdiction to punish accusations. Accusations that don’t involve settings and events directly tied to the school can no longer be used to damage someone’s reputation without going through proper legal channels.
It is unclear whether the university found the accusations to be false or unsupported, or whether the school simply didn’t have jurisdiction to proceed against Golden.
Golden’s attorney William Shepherd posted a statement saying the end of the investigation meant the complaints against his client were “meritless.”
&#8220;Coach Golden and I have respected the process throughout while actively engaging with the university. However, there were many who did not respect the investigative process,&#8221; Shepherd <a href="https://x.com/JonRothstein/status/1883918850548457552" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in the statement. &#8220;Instead, they sought to target Coach Golden and drive their agenda and this investigation for their own self-interest. Some leaked confidential material to the media; falsely posed as a UF lawyer in an effort to intimidate; harassed UF students and parents to try to generate a false narrative; and harassed my client, his family, and his friends.”
Shepherd did not respond to a Daily Wire inquiry prior to press time.
Attorney Karen Truszkowski, who represents one of the accusers, admitted to ESPN that the reported behavior didn’t fall under Title IX, but claimed &#8220;certainly evidence that there was questionable activity that occurred&#8221; at a university event attended by Golden, though she didn’t expand on that accusation to the outlet.
Golden himself posted <a href="https://x.com/CoachToddGolden/status/1883933459107963252" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a statement to X</a> following the investigation’s end, reminding people not to “rush to judgement based on allegations.” He also thanked his supporters.
In November, Golden suggested he was consulting with an attorney about whether to bring defamation cases against his accusers, but it is unclear whether he is pursuing the matter.

Todd Golden

Investigation Finds Florida Basketball Coach Didn’t Violate Title IX

General

Title IX

University of Florida

WNBA star <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/caitlin-clark" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Caitlin Clark’s</a> alleged stalker will remain behind bars following his chaotic hearing where he seemingly pleaded guilty following his arrest over the weekend.
In an Indianapolis courtroom on Tuesday, 55-year-old Texas Michael Lewis had several outbursts in which he first declared he was “guilty as charged” before the judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alleged-caitlin-clark-stalker-says-wants-stay-jail-yells-guilty-charge-rcna187596">NBC News</a> reported.
He yelled “Throw me the booky!” and “I’m free! I guess you got the wrong guy!” while also claiming that his name didn&#8217;t include a “Jr.” in court records, the outlet noted.
During the hearing, the Marion County Superior Court Judge Angela Davis tried to read the charges against him saying he “terrorized, frightened, or threatened” Clark and caused a “reasonable fear of sexual battery.” 
Lewis replied, “Can I say something?” before Davis replied, “Not yet.”
Each time the Texas man would interrupt, the deputies in the court tried to get him to stop and straighten up.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Caitlin Clark&#8217;s Alleged Stalker Appears In Court, Says &#8216;Guilty As Charged!&#8217; | Click to read more 👇 <a href="https://t.co/JyDblVW0Vg">https://t.co/JyDblVW0Vg</a>
— TMZ (@TMZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/TMZ/status/1879302279578124376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
When asked if the man was dealing with mental health issues, Lewis told the court, “I need my medicines.” When the judge inquired if he needed an attorney, the alleged stalker said he couldn’t afford one and that he needed his medication. He was also asked if he lived in Texas, and he replied, “Sort of, I live in my vehicle.” 
The Texas man signed court orders agreeing to stay away from Clark’s home and have no contact with the Indiana Fever star. Judge Davis told him, “If you violate stay away or no contact orders, the court will revoke your bond.&#8221;
The judge ordered that Lewis be held in lieu of a $50,000 bond. Lewis then replied, “I don’t want bond, bail, whatever. I’m here. I’m staying.”
He was charged with one count of stalking, accused of engaging in a “course of conduct involving repeated or continuing harassment of Caitlin Clark that would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized,” according to court documents from Marion County prosecutors.
On Sunday, Lewis was arrested for felony stalking, accused of making several disturbing, sexually explicit messages and threats online against Clark, before traveling to Indianapolis where he was taken into custody, <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2025/01/13/caitlin-clark-stalking-arrest/?adid=social-tmzlikeshop-ig">TMZ noted</a>.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/caitlin-clark-reacts-to-being-left-off-olympic-team" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Caitlin Clark Reacts to Being Left Off Olympic Team</a>

2024 WNBA Draft

Caitlin Clark’s Alleged Stalker Will Remain Behind Bars After Chaotic Hearing

Caitlin Clark

Sports

stalker

WNBA

There are a lot of stories out there about lottery winners who go on to destroy their lives. Something like 70% of them supposedly go bankrupt within a few years. And it&#8217;s not hard to see why. When you give a lot of money and attention to a person who didn&#8217;t earn any of it, that person doesn&#8217;t suddenly change overnight. Instead, more often than not, all of their worst character traits are amplified ten times over. And in many cases, that leads to a very public and humiliating collapse.
This is a principle that doesn&#8217;t just apply to individuals. It applies to organizations too. Unearned fame and fortune are far more destructive than they might appear. And right now, there&#8217;s no organization on the planet that proves this point more than the WNBA. The league just posted its highest average game viewership in 24 years. They&#8217;re bringing in massive new sponsorships, at least by the league&#8217;s standards. They&#8217;re selling out arenas, which used to be unheard of. This should be a dream come true for everyone involved in the WNBA — from the executives to the players to the reporters who, for their sins in a past life, have been cursed with the job of covering a women&#8217;s basketball league. Everyone should be overjoyed.
But there&#8217;s a big problem. All of this success — every bit of it — is due to the presence of one player in the league: a generational talent named <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/caitlin-clark" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Caitlin Clark</a>. She&#8217;s the reason the WNBA just won the lottery. Without Caitlin Clark, no one cares about any of these players or the league. With her, most people still don’t care. But a lot more people care than did before. And everyone knows that. Therefore, everyone in the league other than Caitlin Clark is doing exactly what so many lottery winners do. They&#8217;re allowing all of their worst personality traits to surface. They can&#8217;t help themselves.
Several months ago, I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-player-diversifies-the-wnba-champions-of-diversity-are-somehow-not-happy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">covered</a> the many cheap shots that Clark has had to deal with on the court. Some of these cheap shots look a lot like <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wnba-upgrades-foul-on-star-caitlin-clark-to-flagrant-1-violation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criminal assault</a>, but of course they weren&#8217;t prosecuted. I also talked about the many &#8220;champions of diversity&#8221; in the media who are strangely very unhappy about the diversity that Clark has brought to the WNBA, a league that&#8217;s mostly made up of black players. There&#8217;s been a lot of resentment in this league lately, in particular since this season began.
And the thing about resentment, as we all know, is that it tends to fester over time. It gets worse and worse. And that&#8217;s exactly what we&#8217;re seeing now that the season is winding down and the playoffs are underway. Over the past week, race hysteria in the WNBA has somehow reached yet another inflection point. The league is currently in the midst of the single most contrived racism scandal in any professional sport, at least since the fake noose in Bubba Wallace’s garage.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1453-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
Specifically, a bunch of WNBA players have come out claiming that they&#8217;ve been victimized by &#8220;racial slurs&#8221; and other racist attacks. In other words, they are now accusing the people who have started showing up to WNBA games — for the first time in more than two decades — of being horrible racists.
Now for the fine print. None of these &#8220;racial slurs&#8221; — some of which have supposedly occurred during games — have actually been caught on camera. There&#8217;s no visual or audio evidence that might substantiate any of this. There isn&#8217;t a single credible report. And that&#8217;s extremely unusual, obviously, given that there are cameras and smartphones at every WNBA game. 
You&#8217;d think that, if a mob of racists were buying up WNBA tickets so they could heckle the players with racial slurs, then the video would be all over the internet. But those videos are not all over the internet. They aren’t anywhere on the internet. So instead we have to take the players&#8217; word for it. 
Here&#8217;s Brittney Griner, for example:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 Griner" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mSIhS7oAfsI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The question was about the massive growth of this league, which was dead in the water just a year ago. &#8220;What do you think of all the new fans,&#8221; asks the reporter. And instead of some gratitude — some appreciation for the people who saved the WNBA, who pay to come out to see bad players like Brittney Griner — we get resentment. The fans are racist, says Griner. They buy tickets just so they can yell racist things. And not only that — these racists happen to be magicians. They can shout racist things while also being completely invisible. You can hear what they say, but it&#8217;s impossible to record it or broadcast it anywhere. They&#8217;re like ghosts. They just appear in the stands, shout the N-word a few times, and then they disappear.
Put aside the fact that Griner is obviously lying. Let&#8217;s say, hypothetically, that someone did shout a slur at a WNBA game, and it really bothered Brittney Griner. Nothing about the answer makes sense, even in that context. Why would that be the first thing that Griner mentions when the reporter asks about the fans? Why not say, &#8220;The overwhelming majority of the fans are great people, and I&#8217;m so happy they&#8217;re paying money to see me playing basketball as badly as I do&#8221;? 
If anyone should be striking a note of gratitude, it&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/brittney-griner">Brittney Griner</a>. Less than two years ago, the Biden administration traded away a Russian arms dealer — someone who conspired to murder American citizens — in order to get Griner out of a Russian prison. So Griner has every reason to be extremely grateful to this country — not just because of the paycheck for playing basketball poorly, but also because the United States is a lot nicer than a Siberian gulag. At the very least, you&#8217;d expect Griner to be happier than the usual WNBA player. But that&#8217;s obviously not the case.
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a></h3>
Of course the media — especially the sports media — is uncritically reporting on this phantom crisis of racism at WNBA games. Just search “WNBA racism” in google and you’ll get dozens and dozens of mainstream media articles frantically shouting about the racism crisis in the WNBA. Many other players have raised the alarm about this invented epidemic. Here’s another one:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;It&#39;s heartbreaking that &#8230; the excitement around the league is at its highest, but the racial slurs and the derogatory comments and the online bullying are also at their worst.&quot;
ESPN&#39;s Andraya Carter says there is &quot;no space&quot; for WNBA fans who dish hate: <a href="https://t.co/5ggjUdk4Dk">pic.twitter.com/5ggjUdk4Dk</a>
&mdash; Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) <a href="https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1839159138716160240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Notice the sad music in the background. Law enforcement might have to get involved. WNBA games have become Klan rallies, from what we’re told. You won’t see any of that on video or hear any of it. But take the WNBA’s word for it. Take the media’s word for it. Yet some WNBA players are still upset that the media isn’t making an even bigger deal out of the fake racism scandal. Reading from USA Today:
<blockquote>“Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese says the media should have done more to combat the ongoing issue of racism in women&#8217;s basketball before it reached a boiling point. The WNBA on Wednesday condemned all ‘racist, derogatory or threatening comments’ that have been directed toward players after Connecticut Sun All-Star Alyssa Thomas called out &#8220;racial comments from the Indiana Fever fan base&#8221; following the Sun&#8217;s series-clinching 87-81 victory over the Fever. Reese said this has been a long-standing issue, noting that she&#8217;s been the subject of racially motivated hate for some time. Reese, however, said her pleas for accountability and action have been repeatedly ignored. ‘The media has benefited from my pain &amp; me being villainized to create a narrative,’ <a href="https://twitter.com/Reese10Angel/status/1839457079544656170">she wrote on X</a>. ‘They allowed this. This was beneficial to them&#8230; Y’all a little late to the party and could have tried to put out this fire way before it started.’”</blockquote>
Yes, it’s a fire raging. You won’t see the fire. But it’s there. Trust Angel Reese on this one. This shaming obviously had the desired effect on some in the media. Which led to this line of questioning:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 loaded question" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eBE4PnFI7gk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&#8220;NaLyssa, how did you personally deal with the hate, the racism, the attention, the scrutiny?&#8221; If you listen to these press conferences, you&#8217;d think that skinheads are rushing the court and assaulting the players in the middle of the games. At the very least, you&#8217;d expect that this player would&#8217;ve been subjected to some kind of horrible racist chant from one of the WNBA&#8217;s racist ghost fans.
Here&#8217;s what actually happened. NaLyssa&#8217;s has a girlfriend named DiJonai Carrington who also plays in the WNBA. And recently, Carrington nearly took Caitlin Clark&#8217;s eye out on the court just a few minutes into a game. This is one of many flagrant fouls against Clark that have occurred since she started in the league, and this one wasn&#8217;t even called. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Caitlin Clark HIT IN EYE, NO FOUL on Dijonai Carrington | Indiana Fever vs Connecticut Sun WNBA" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DW8AjbzpYUk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
After this foul, as you&#8217;d expect, there were a lot of angry fans on social media. To a lot of people, this looked intentional. So in response, a USA Today reporter named Christine Brennan did what any reasonable &#8220;sports journalist&#8221; would do. She asked Carrington if the hit was intentional. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="004 Carrington" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PhyF3JgIbK0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
These are obviously reasonable questions from Christine Brennan. They&#8217;re not &#8220;racist.&#8221; They&#8217;re not offensive. They&#8217;re the bare minimum you&#8217;d expect under the circumstances. But Carrington immediately gets snippy and obnoxious in response. And then, just for asking these questions, Brennan — who, incidentally, is one of the biggest <a href="https://x.com/SbondyNBA/status/1839734099054887063" target="_blank" rel="noopener">champions</a> of women&#8217;s sports in the industry — is now getting dogpiled.
In particular, the WNBA Players&#8217; Association <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thewnbpa/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;ig_rid=b7e4450c-3bc6-4366-80b3-052bb522ae36">just put out</a> one of the most demented statements imaginable. They wrote:
<blockquote>We call B.S. &#8230; To unprofessional members of the media like Christine Brennan: You are not fooling anyone. That so-called interview in the name of journalism was a blatant attempt to bait a professional athlete into participating in a narrative that is false and designed to fuel racist, homophobic, and misogynistic vitriol on social media. You cannot hide behind your tenure.</blockquote>
The statement then said Brennan was guilty of &#8220;abusing&#8221; her &#8220;privileges,&#8221; and charged that she does not &#8220;deserve&#8221; her &#8220;credentials.&#8221; It continues: 
<blockquote>We call on USA Today Network to review its Principles of Ethical Conduct for Newsrooms and address what we believe is a violation of several core principles, including seeking and reporting the truth. USA Today Sports should explain why a reporter with clear bias and ulterior motives was assigned to cover the league. We also urge the league to review its policies and take measures to prevent such issues, protecting the integrity of the game and its players.</blockquote>
So we&#8217;re at the point now that journalists can&#8217;t even ask black players about fouls they commit against Caitlin Clark without being accused of racism for asking the question. That&#8217;s how much racism there is in the WNBA. Even asking questions is now racist. Obviously there&#8217;s no reason to take any of these people seriously. 
But, just to make sure I wasn&#8217;t missing anything, I went looking to see if I could find the most egregious examples of racism in the WNBA. And I came across this monologue from a sports commentator named Nick Wright. It&#8217;s from a couple of days ago and it’s about as unhinged as you&#8217;d expect. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="005 Ban Nails FIX" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_iqDjQLN-ag?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
His grand example proving the WNBA is racist is that a woman mocked the player who gave Caitlin Clark a black eye with her nails. Apparently that&#8217;s racist because some black people have long nails. That&#8217;s it. That&#8217;s why this podcast host is invoking the Civil War. Mockery of WNBA players is a threat to the entire country, apparently — at least if those WNBA players are black. If they&#8217;re white, you can mock them all you want. You can assault them on the court, in fact.
What this fake outrage tells you is that &#8220;racism&#8221; isn&#8217;t really what they&#8217;re upset about. This is just too manufactured and overblown to take seriously. They&#8217;re reaching — to a degree that&#8217;s comical and delusional at the same time. This scandal has been invented, out of whole cloth, by WNBA players for one reason, and one reason only: They are wracked with envy and resentment that the most popular player in the league is white. What they&#8217;re really claiming is that Caitlin Clark, by bringing a bunch of white fans to the league, has naturally also brought racism. Basically they&#8217;re complaining that too many white people are watching women&#8217;s basketball now. And for her part, Caitlin Clark has basically <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/sports/caitlin-clark-addresses-racism-following-wnba-statement-those-arent-fans-those-are-trolls" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gone along</a> with this narrative. She made a statement denouncing all of the made up racism.
<h3><a href="http://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH THE TRAILER FOR &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI</a></h3>
The racial hysteria reminds me of the summer of 2020, just playing out on a much, much, much smaller stage. A white woman playing basketball has become the WNBA&#8217;s George Floyd moment. And just like we saw with the George Floyd situation, before long, people are going to start pushing back. No normal person wants to pay money to support a team, only to be told they&#8217;re racist and horrible. That&#8217;s a big part of why the DEI grift has begun to collapse.
And it&#8217;s why the WNBA&#8217;s brief resurgence isn&#8217;t going to last very long either. Very soon, the league will be back on the path to irrelevance and bankruptcy. It&#8217;s clear that none of these players or executives or &#8220;sports journalists&#8221; really want the league to succeed, anyway. To borrow an adage from the world of sports commentary, you might even say the WNBA is like a rubber band — one that&#8217;s been stretched to the limit by pathological narcissists who only know how to complain and demean their own fans on the basis of their skin color. And one deranged sports podcast and self-pitying press conference at a time, that rubber band is about to break.

Indiana Fever v Connecticut Sun – Game Two

Race-Baiting WNBA Players Are Sabotaging Their Own League Out Of Spite

Anti-Racism

Matt Walsh

Opinion

Racism

Women's Basketball

LeBron James faced backlash online over the weekend after he acted rudely toward a young fan in Paris following Team USA&#8217;s gold medal victory at the Olympics.
Video that was posted online showed James scolding the young fan for wanting to take a selfie photo with the NBA star.
&#8220;Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!&#8221; James snapped at the boy. &#8220;Don&#8217;t do that.&#8221;
The kid appeared stunned by James&#8217; rudeness and arrogance.
Moments later, James broke out into a dance as he arrived at the restaurant that he was going to to celebrate the team&#8217;s win.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
LeBron James tells a white kid who’s a fan to back the f*ck up and get out of the way so he can celebrate his gold medal. What a complete piece of sh*t. <a href="https://t.co/IbLAdV10hG">pic.twitter.com/IbLAdV10hG</a>
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) <a href="https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1822776788835303597?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
LeBron James just snaps at a young white fan who wants to greet him and congratulate him on his win. Then he goes off and does a little dance over his gold medal. Brute. I’m heartbroken for the kid. <a href="https://t.co/bf9PlNCICa">pic.twitter.com/bf9PlNCICa</a>
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) <a href="https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1822791294856429621?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2024</a></blockquote>
James faced a considerable amount of backlash online where many were stunned to see how he treated the kid.
&#8220;LeBron James shows his true colors as he shouts as a young boy who politely had asked for a photo in Paris,&#8221; one social media user wrote on X.
Another used posted: &#8220;LeBron James snaps at a kid waiting to take a picture with him. A total POS.&#8221;
Others called the event shameful because the kid was going to &#8220;remember this for the rest of his life.&#8221;
&#8220;Hey @KingJames, f you and that gold medal,&#8221; another user wrote. &#8220;Treat a kid that way, I hope no one ever buys another piece of crap merchandise from you or the @NBA who ought to suspend your a*s for unsportsmanlike conduct…off the court. You show your true character in how you treated that kid.&#8221;

Basketball – Olympic Games Paris 2024 – Day 15

LeBron James Slammed For Nasty Interaction With Young Fan At Olympics

LeBron James

Paris Olympics

Sunny Hostin and Whoopi Goldberg defended rough play in the WNBA after Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter checked Indiana Fever&#8217;s Caitlin Clark so hard that she hit the ground.
The Carter shoulder-check — which was ruled a &#8220;flagrant foul&#8221; — took place during a June 1 game, after which video of the forceful collision quickly went viral.
&#8220;There’s a difference between tough defense and unnecessary— targeting actions! It needs to stop! The league needs to ‘clean up’ the crap! That’s NOT who this league is!!&#8221; Indiana Fever GM Lin Dunn commented.
&#8220;Let’s be realistic, OK? This is basketball, OK? This happens in basketball all the time. Angel Reese got clotheslined the other day,&#8221; Goldberg downplayed the incident during Monday&#8217;s broadcast of &#8220;The View.&#8221;
&#8220;This is, ‘Get out the way or I’ma move you.’ That’s what the game is … A lot of people, however, are reading this as confrontation. But this is not confrontation. They’re not playing on the court. They’re there to win. And just because they’re women, get over yourselves, they’re athletes,&#8221; she added.
&nbsp;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;Let&#8217;s be realistic.&#8221; 
After whining about new attention being given to the WNBC because Caitlin Clark was &#8220;white&#8221; and &#8220;pretty,&#8221; The View&#8217;s Sunny Hostin and Whoopi Goldberg now defend the on-court, physical attacks she&#8217;s been receiving. <a href="https://t.co/IevkKTpD3D">pic.twitter.com/IevkKTpD3D</a>
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1797666588511920500?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Hostin had previously complained that Clark got attention primarily because she was white and straight — despite the fact that she holds the all-time NCAA scoring record — and she also defended the rough play.
&#8220;It’s not dainty play. When you’re sitting there [and] you’re watching, sometimes when that happens you think, ‘Ooh, wow. I couldn’t take it,&#8217;” she said. &#8220;It’s gonna make them better. It’s gonna make Caitlin better. It’s gonna make Angel better. It’s gonna make the league better.&#8221;
Goldberg concluded by giving props to all of the players, adding, &#8220;None of us can beat them. None of us can do what they can do so let’s give them their due.&#8221;

WNBA: JUN 01 Chicago Sky at Indiana Fever

Sunny Hostin, Whoopi Goldberg Defend Brutal Fouls On WNBA’s Caitlin Clark

Sunny Hostin, Whoopi Goldberg Defend Brutal Fouls On WNBA's Caitlin Clark

Women's sports

Sports broadcaster <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/remember-bill-clinton-stephen-a-smith-pleads-with-democrats-stop-disaster-trump-hush-money-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stephen A. Smith</a> said WNBA players are “jealous” of rookie <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/caitlin-clark">Caitlin Clark</a> and all the attention she’s getting after recently entering the league.
During Monday’s episode of “First Take,” Smith reacted to the WNBA upgrading a common foul to flagrant after Chicago Sky player Chennedy Carter pushed the Indiana Fever player to the ground during a recent game, Mediaite <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/sports/stephen-a-smith-believes-wnba-players-are-jealous-of-caitlin-clark-following-hard-foul-in-recent-game/">reported</a>.
“There are girls — young ladies — in the WNBA who are jealous of Caitlin Clark,” Smith said. “She is a white girl that has come into the league. She has burst onto the scene. She hasn’t proven herself yet.”
“It’s not even about them thinking they’re better than her because they probably know it at this particular juncture because they’ve been playing on a level she just arrived to,” he added. “Where the resentment comes in is the hard work, the commitment, the dedication, the pounding of the payment, the being on the grind.”
“All of these years trying to uplift this brand that is the WNBA and is women’s professional basketball; and all of their efforts were in vain until this girl comes along and take the league by storm — takes sport by storm — in college and has accomplished in a short period of time what they haven’t been able to,” Smith continued.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The WNBA confirmed that Chennedy Carter’s foul on Caitlin Clark from yesterday’s game has been upgraded to a Flagrant 1, per <a href="https://twitter.com/alexaphilippou?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@alexaphilippou</a>.<a href="https://t.co/o7QzaFRkL5">pic.twitter.com/o7QzaFRkL5</a>
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/YahooSports/status/1797270950200725779?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2024</a></blockquote>
The sportscaster also said that he would think these players would be “smart enough to recognize and appreciate” the attention Clark has brought to the league and therefore “piggyback off of that to their benefit, and praise her and support her for it while competing on the court against her and trying to take her out.”
The comments were similar to what NBA legends Charles Barkley and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lebron-james-charles-barkley-come-to-caitlin-clarks-defense-against-naysayers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LeBron James</a> have said about the reception and backlash against Clark since being picked number 1 overall in the 2024 WNBA draft.
During TNT’s “Inside the NBA” pregame show, host Barkley <a href="https://x.com/ComplexSports/status/1793432883966706169">reacted</a> to the criticism against Clark after the Fever fell 0-5 to start the season and said “You women out there, y’all petty, man.” He also talked about the comments James made on the “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqJ2u11OTY0">Mind the Game</a>“ podcast when he slammed the criticism against the rookie of the Indiana Fever team.
“LeBron, you’re 100% right on these girls hating on Caitlin Clark,” Barkley said. “Y’all petty, girls. I expect men to be petty because we’re the most insecure group in the world.”
“Y’all should be thanking that girl for getting y’all a** private charters, all the money and visibility she’s bringing to the WNBA,” he added.
James — drafted No. 1 overall in the NBA draft in 2003 — said he’s been where Caitlin is now and offered her support, saying that the best thing she could do was put on blinders and keep working, calling the criticism “the weirdest thing in the world.”
&nbsp;

Harold And Carole Pump Foundation Gala

Stephen A. Smith Says WNBA Players Are ‘Jealous’ Of Caitlin Clark

Stephen A. Smith Says WNBA Players Are 'Jealous' Of Caitlin Clark

Stephen A. Smith

Major figures from the sports and political world remembered <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">basketball</a> legend Bill Walton on Monday after news broke that he had passed away following a battle with cancer. He was 71 years old.
Walton was selected No. 1 overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1974 NBA draft after finishing his college career under legendary coach John Wooden at UCLA, where he helped push the Bruins to a remarkable 88-game winning streak and two national championships. The 6-foot-11 center won an NBA championship with the Trail Blazers in 1977 and was also awarded the Finals MVP. Nine years later, Walton won another NBA championship with the Boston Celtics.
After he retired from the NBA, Walton became a basketball commentator for multiple networks, beginning with CBS in 1990 before moving to ABC/ESPN, where he worked as an NBA analyst until stepping away for a short time in 2009. Walton got back behind the microphone in 2012 as a college basketball analyst for ESPN and the Pac-12 Conference, calling games through the 2023-2024 season. The American Sportscasters Association named Walton one of the top 50 sports broadcasters of all time in 2009.
Former NBA star Julius Erving, commonly known as Dr J., said: &#8220;I am sad today hearing that my comrade &amp; one of the sports worlds most beloved champions &amp; characters has passed. Bill Walton enjoyed life in every way. To compete against him &amp; to work with him was a blessing in my life. Sorry for your loss Walton family. We’ll miss him too. Doc.&#8221;
Magic Johnson posted on X: &#8220;Rest in peace to a friend, 2X NBA Champion, Hall of Famer, and one of the most skilled centers we’ve ever seen Bill Walton! His NCAA Championship performance as a UCLA Bruin against Memphis is by far the most dominate NCAA Championship performance ever &#8211; he shot 21 for 22 and had us all mesmerized! That’s when I first fell in love with his basketball game.&#8221;
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&#8220;They talk about Jokic being the most skilled center but Bill Walton was first!&#8221; Johnson added. &#8220;From shooting jump shots to making incredible passes, he was one of the smartest basketball players to ever live. Bill was a great ambassador for college basketball and the NBA, and he will be sorely missed. Cookie and I send our condolences and prayers to his wife Lori, kids Luke, Nathan, Chris, and Adam, and all of his loved ones.&#8221;
Former President Barack Obama added: &#8220;Bill Walton was one of the greatest basketball players of all time – a champion at every level and the embodiment of unselfish team play. He was also a wonderful spirit full of curiosity, humor and kindness. We are poorer for his passing, and Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family.&#8221;
NBA commissioner Adam Silver <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nba-hall-of-famer-bill-walton-dead-at-71">said</a> in a statement that Walton was &#8220;truly one of a kind.&#8221;
“As a Hall of Fame player, he redefined the center position. His unique all-around skills made him a dominant force at UCLA and led to an NBA regular-season and Finals MVP, two NBA championships and a spot on the NBA’s 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams,” he said. “Bill then translated his infectious enthusiasm and love for the game to broadcasting, where he delivered insightful and colorful commentary which entertained generations of basketball fans. But what I will remember most about him was his zest for life. He was a regular presence at league events – always upbeat, smiling ear to ear and looking to share his wisdom and warmth. I treasured our close friendship, envied his boundless energy and admired the time he took with every person he encountered.”

Celebrities At The Los Angeles Clippers Game

Tributes Pour In For Basketball Legend Bill Walton: ‘One Of The Greatest Basketball Players Of All Time’

The WNBA draft happened last month. According to the latest numbers I read, the event usually averages about 14 total viewers. 
This year, however, the WNBA draft won record ratings, nearly doubling its normal viewership. That added audience is largely thanks to Caitlin Clark, who went number one overall to something called the Indiana Fever. Which sounds like a disease you might contract from a hooker in Fort Wayne, but is apparently the name of a women’s basketball team. Clark, for her part, is easily the most famous women’s basketball star of all time. She’s so famous that I know her name —though I don’t know anything else about her.
If you are in the very small fraternity of people who qualify as WNBA fans, this sudden increased interest in the league — even if it still amounts to basically no interest— should be cause for celebration and gratitude. But we don’t do celebration very well in this culture, and we don’t do gratitude at all, really. So instead people found reasons to whine. And that whining led to what is, surely, the dumbest discourse of the year 2024 so far. I don’t expect it to retain that title until January, but for now it easily lays claim to it. Since the draft, the Left has been complaining bitterly that WNBA salaries are too low. 
It started on social media, with posts like this one from someone named Alyssa Leader, who identifies herself as a public defender. She also has, needless to say, pronouns in her bio. She tweeted this:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Decided to google WNBA salaries before the draft and I actually want to die what the hell. <a href="https://t.co/PNMgiMrm9c">pic.twitter.com/PNMgiMrm9c</a>
&mdash; Alyssa Leader (@alittleleader) <a href="https://twitter.com/alittleleader/status/1780006620459594081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The salaries that have apparently zapped her will to live are $76,000 a year for the top four picks in the draft and $70,000 for the rest of the round one selections. 
In subsequent tweets, Alyssa tells us that the average starting salary for first round NBA draft picks is $10 million by comparison. She says this contrast is “honestly devastating.” There were many other tweets like this from similarly outraged, devastated, and apparently suicidal feminists. Soon the media jumped onto the bandwagon. NBC News had this headline: “Gap between Caitlin Clark&#8217;s WNBA salary and her male counterparts&#8217; draws outrage.” Today.com <a href="https://www.today.com/news/sports/caitlin-clark-salary-rcna147977?search=WNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added this</a>: “Caitlin Clark went No. 1 in the WNBA draft. Some fans are outraged at her salary.”
The outrage made its way up to the White House, where Joe Biden tweeted at 5:00 p.m., right before bed, that:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Women in sports continue to push new boundaries and inspire us all.
But right now we&#39;re seeing that even if you&#39;re the best, women are not paid their fair share.
It’s time that we give our daughters the same opportunities as our sons and ensure women are paid what they deserve.
&mdash; President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1780354983457644819?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Now, we’ll get back to that “fair share” idea in a moment. First, let’s go to the ABC News report on this controversy, which inadvertently revealed the fundamental confusion at work here:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;These women have been underpaid now, for several decades. &#8230; for a generation, people have ignored the WNBA.&quot;<a href="https://twitter.com/cbrennansports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cbrennansports</a> says the &quot;nation is going to wake up&quot; as WNBA draft top-pick Caitlin Clark&#39;s salary sparks a national conversation. <a href="https://t.co/ZhDRoNQxcB">pic.twitter.com/ZhDRoNQxcB</a>
&mdash; ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABCNewsLive/status/1780266191107309650?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The talking head can’t seem to make up her mind. On the one hand she says it’s capitalism. People aren’t watching or supporting the games, so the women don’t get paid much. On the other hand, she says that the women are “underpaid.” Which is it? Well, if this needs to be explained, I will. It’s very much the former. In fact, WNBA players are not underpaid at all. They are, if anything, vastly overpaid. By all rights, as a simple economic matter, they shouldn’t be getting paid anything at all. Here are some basic facts to flesh this out.
First of all, the WNBA has existed for nearly 30 years and it has never once turned a profit. According to WSN.com, a sports betting site, the WNBA generates about $60 million in revenue. For the record, <a href="https://www.vox.com/24132057/caitlin-clark-wnba-draft-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an article in Vox</a> claims that WNBA revenue is in the $100 to $200 million range, which I find dubious. Either way, the NBA, by contrast, brings in $10 billion of revenue with something like $3 billion in profits. That means the NBA generates considerably more than 150 times the revenue of the WNBA. If you’re going with the I think quite generous $100 million estimate for the WNBA, then the NBA makes only 100 times that amount.
Do the math here, by the way, and you’ll see that pound for pound WNBA rookies actually make about the same as NBA rookies. 70 thousand times 150 is 10.5 million. But even then, they’re still overpaid because although the WNBA generates $60 million in revenue — or even if it’s $100 million, let’s say — it makes no profit at all. These women are getting paid salaries to play for a league that, economically speaking, shouldn’t even exist. You don’t have to be a financial whiz to understand that losing money for 30 years is a recipe for bankruptcy. The only reason the women’s league stays open is that the NBA subsidizes it. Every year, the men’s league hands millions of dollars to the women. The NBA is the WNBA’s sugar daddy. The men keep the women’s league afloat, so that everyone can feel good about the fact that a women’s league exists.
You are probably familiar with those charities where you can metaphorically “Adopt” a child from the third world by sending money to the charity that supposedly goes to the child’s family. Well, that’s what the NBA is to the WNBA. They have adopted it like a third world child.
What does this mean? It means that, again, nobody watches the WNBA. The leftists on Twitter and in the media complaining about WNBA salaries have never watched a game in their lives. They’ve never sat down to watch a women’s game on TV, much less have they purchased tickets to watch at the arena. They’ll support the league by whining on its behalf on social media, but they won’t support it by actually supporting it.
Last year the WNBA had its most watched regular season in 20 years. The average audience for each game was 500,000 viewers.
To put that into perspective, 500,000 is about the viewership of CNN’s weekly 10:00 p.m. show with Charles Barkley and Gayle King. And that show was just canceled after 6 months because the audience was so low that it wasn’t sustainable. 500,000 for a professional sports league that airs on network television is an even more catastrophic embarrassment, and would be even less sustainable — if not for the fact that the WNBA doesn’t have to sustain itself. Which is fortunate for the league, because it would be out of business in a month if it did have to sustain itself.
Joe Biden wants these women to get paid their “fair share.” Well, what’s a fair share of zero dollars in profit? That’s a math problem so easy that even our vegetable of a president should be able to do it. The fair share — the actual fair share — is nothing. Zero.
That’s what you deserve to get paid when you put a product on the airways that nobody cares to watch. That’s the simple reality here.

Basketball player dribbling ball

WNBA Players Are Actually Being OVERpaid

Women

Women&#8217;s basketball star <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/caitlin-clark">Caitlin Clark</a> has reportedly landed a historic shoe contract with Nike.
Clark is in line to sign an eight-year deal after the shoe company offered the women’s basketball star $28 million and a signature shoe, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/sports/basketball/caitlin-clark-nike-deal-415ee8ec?st=jt8jyb6zzw9snx3&amp;reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported.
Negotiations between Clark and athletic companies such as Puma, Nike, Under Armour, and Adidas began in February and reportedly got pretty intense, according to the outlet. Reps for Clark from Excel Sports Management allegedly made it clear they weren&#8217;t taking offers that amounted to less than $3 million a year.
Puma reportedly thought that request was too high and walked away from negotiations. The brand already has a deal with Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty, which includes her own signature shoe.
At the time, Clark had yet to announce her plans to enter the WNBA draft and several companies reportedly made their offer based on her remaining at the University of Iowa and playing for the Hawkeyes one more year.
“She played herself into a position where it wasn’t even contingent on staying in college,” someone familiar with the deals told the outlet. “People just wanted her.”
The WSJ noted that some shoe executives were surprised by how well-prepared Clark and her reps were during a Zoom call.
 Adidas offered the basketball star $6 million over four years, but with the offer being so far off the mark, that left Under Armour, who came in with a $16 million offer over four years and her own signature shoe, WSJ noted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
In just one hour, Fanatics has completely sold out of Caitlin Clark&#8217;s Fever jersey in sizes XS, M, L, XL, and XXL, per <a href="https://twitter.com/darrenrovell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@darrenrovell</a> <a href="https://t.co/KPzpckeQgh">pic.twitter.com/KPzpckeQgh</a>
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheDunkCentral/status/1780060114185064590?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2024</a></blockquote>
However, Nike&#8217;s offer would be record-setting for women&#8217;s basketball, giving Clark another shot at breaking a record, WSJ noted.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-nba-star-paul-pierce-was-only-impressed-by-caitlin-clark-after-she-beat-a-bunch-of-black-girls">Clark</a> recently set a new record when she went <a href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/39951045/indiana-fever-select-iowa-caitlin-clark-top-pick-2024-wnba-draft">number one</a> overall in the 2024 WNBA draft to the Indiana Fever, and afterward her new jersey shot to the top of Fanatics — the official online retailer for the league, <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2024/04/16/caitlin-clark-indiana-fever-jersey-history-fanatics-wnba/">TMZ</a> reported.
The sports site said it put up preorders for her No. 22 jersey — which sold out and has become the top-selling draft pick jersey in the company’s history across all sports, the outlet noted.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/caitlin-clark-breaks-ncaa-scoring-record-set-by-pistol-pete-maravich">Clark</a> previously became the top scorer in NCAA basketball history.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/caitlin-clark-breaks-record-for-jersey-sales" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Caitlin Clark Breaks Record For Jersey Sales</a>

Caitlin Clark Lands Historic Shoe Contract: Report

Iowa

Nike

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