NPR’s Scott Simon and sportswriter Howard Bryant talk about how off-court WNBA drama has obscured on-court performance.
Transcript
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
It’s time for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: WNBA All-Star break, but controversy has gotten more coverage in the games. And King James, I guess he likes Philly cheesesteak. Howard Bryant joins us now. Howard, how are you?
HOWARD BRYANT: Good morning, Scott Simon. How are you?
SIMON: I’m fine, thanks, my friend. Look, WNBA All-Star game tonight, but a lot of people are paying more attention to what’s happening with Indiana Fever players off the court. Caitlin Clark – earlier this month, a group of 11 Republican members of Congress sent a letter to the WNBA commissioner, demanding the league take accountability for what they call multiple attacks on Caitlin Clark during the games.
Then Sophie Cunningham, who this week told ESPN she’s against having transgender athletes in women’s sports, saying, quote, “I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” For a league that’s had some tremendous growth recently, seems like the action on the court has become almost secondary, hasn’t it?
BRYANT: Yeah, secondary and very difficult in a lot of ways, simply because, you know, people say all good – you know, all publicity is good publicity. But the WNBA is in its moment. There’s an enormous amount of attention placed toward it, and not all of that attention is good. I think it’s been a really interesting thing where certainly a player like Caitlin Clark sort of represents an avatar for so many different things. She sort of ceases being a basketball player for all of the different factions and all of the different cultural things that are shifting in the country as well. She sort of stands for a lot. Like a lot of famous people, they, in a lot of ways, cease to represent themselves and represent a lot of the fractures in the country.
As we’ve seen, the question about race in the W. And I don’t think the WNBA personally has a racial problem. I think they have a Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham problem, in terms of how they are marketed and all of these things. It’s just a really, really volatile time in the game. There are plenty of white players in the W who are doing really, really well, and there’s no controversy. So it’s really fascinating what is happening when you get and when the culture war comes into your sport. Personally…
SIMON: We should note…
BRYANT: Yeah.
SIMON: …President Obama told Caitlin Clark when he greeted the team yesterday, don’t let all this nonsense get you down.
BRYANT: Well, that’s right, Scott, and I think what’s really interesting about it is that just because it’s a narrative doesn’t mean it’s necessarily true. I think one of the things that women’s sports has always had a huge problem with is the – especially women’s basketball – the number of people who find ways to attack the sport – they don’t even watch the sport. But this is what happens when you have a phenomenon, and Caitlin Clark is certainly a phenomenon.
And also, you know, her on-court behavior is very polarizing in all of the different ways. So, you know, we could talk about this for an hour and then hours and hours after that, but what you really have is a game and a sport in a lot of transition because there’s a lot of new eyeballs and not all of those eyeballs are necessarily positive ones.
SIMON: Let me ask you a quick basketball question (laughter).
BRYANT: Basketball?
SIMON: Anyone looking better than the Minnesota Lynx? What do you look forward to in the second half of the season?
BRYANT: Not on the scoreboard. They’re 22-6, and they’re back to their old ways of being a really, really dominant team. I like Golden State. I think it’s great when you’ve got a brand-new team. I mean, they’ve only been in the league a couple of years. There’s a nice, you know, bunch at the top of the league, and, you know, Indiana’s in there as well. So, of course, there’s the Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham piece of it, too. And Dallas as well, with Paige Bueckers. So there’s a lot of good teams in there in the playoffs, unlike the, you know, unlike the NBA. The playoffs are short, so there’s a lot of room in there for upsets and for some real dynamic stuff happening.
SIMON: And in men’s basketball. LeBron James moving on. Philadelphia. Why not – (chanting) Cleveland rocks. Cleveland rocks.
BRYANT: Well, he’s only done Cleveland twice. But, you know, I don’t know what you can expect from a man who signed a two-year contract. He’s going to be 42 and 43 years old. But he is LeBron James, and every team LeBron James has played for has gone to the NBA Finals. In fact, you know, not every team he’s played for has won it because the first iteration in Cleveland – they didn’t win the championship. But he’s the – arguably the greatest player of all time, and the energy that he brings to Philly, he’ll get it back from the town as well. They’re excited and they won a championship. And what better way than to have LeBron?
SIMON: Yeah. Howard Bryant, thanks so much. Talk to you soon, my friend.
BRYANT: Oh, my pleasure, Scott.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G.’S “BIG POPPA”)
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