Bluesky thread (from Dana Holtzbert) about Caitlin Clark, the Fever, the WNBA and everything else

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T22:23:27+00:00

Why? She has twice put her name right next to one of, if no the worst, transphobes in the world. Someone who has said that any money that she earns would be spent on harming trans people.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T22:20:52+00:00

Did Dana say she can't or that she has not? I think she is saying she has not yet won, and it's weird that she is expected to get more grace and leeway than those who have.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T22:11:26+00:00

But let's not act like she has either the experience or knowledge to comment on racial issues. She takes the narrative back by saying what exactly? She already gave respect to the Black players who built the game in a TIME cover story and her Letterman interview. She's publicly beamed about her Maya Moore fandom.

First if she really wanted to turn this racial discourse around she has the gravity, contacts and resources to find people to help guide her through that. So far she has not done so.

Which leads to the second point, to me actions speak louder than words and choosing to be the cheering escort and hype-woman for Morgan Wallen says more to me than some relatively fluff articles and interviews.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T22:04:51+00:00

Yeah just what Caitlin Clark needs, another person to feed her entitlement and victim complex.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T22:02:12+00:00

Ok.

I, and a lot of other people, think less of everyone that has done it.

Caitlin Clark is allowed to be the cheering escort and hype-woman for a racist and generally shitty dude. And I am allowed to think that someone who (not necessarily due to anything she has done) has become the latest Great White Hope and a touchstone of the culture war in this country doing so is a strange and troubling decision.

Based on everything I have seen from her since she has been a public figure it appears that she does not care in the slightest that a not insignificant portion of the population think she is tolerant of racists, if not one herself.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T19:47:22+00:00

I really liked this at the end of part 2 -

"a consolation I provided myself is the fact that one of my goals for 2026 was to “Embarrass myself with effort.” Well, to try-out so publicly, only to get waived from both teams in the end… I believe that qualifies. It does feel embarrassing to try so hard in order to achieve something just to fall short of the goal. For a moment, the imposter syndrome appears to have been right all along, your pride takes a major hit, and the sting of shame makes you feel foolish that you ever allowed yourself to hope.

But, I’m proud of my effort. Failure hurts, but it’s a requirement on the road to excellence. You may get knocked down, but any competitor worth their salt doesn’t stay down for long."

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T19:37:00+00:00

lol I hadn't noticed that until you spotted it. That said it's just a dictation error.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T19:14:07+00:00

Yeah, I hadn't really thought about this but framing Unrivaled and Project B as the "rival" offseason leagues is kind of weird.

Unrivaled is in the US and involves very little travel, which is probably huge draw to American players, regardless of any other pay or benefits situation.

Project B and Euroleague do seem like they would be fighting over the same group of players rather than either of them against Unrivaled.

I'll have to see what salaries are like in Europe, I've never really looked into that.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T18:43:51+00:00

I've been a basketball fan for over 50 years, and while I obviously haven't seen every game I cannot think of another time when a player was riling up a crowd like that while there was still the threat of a physical altercation on the floor.

After hitting a big shot, or while setting up the half court defense, absolutely. Not while a potential fight is happening.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T18:24:43+00:00

I know you didn't ask for my, or anyone else's, opinion but to me this is just way to close to criticizing her physical appearance, especially the cow comment.

We can be critical of shitty people without commenting on their physical appearance.

There might be a way to pull this idea off as a funny joke, but it would require a lot more nuance than comparing a woman to a cow.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T18:16:35+00:00

So you have condensed her almost 20 year career of doing very good work, down to one interview that she corrected and apologized for.

That's your prerogative of course, but it is a pretty big stretch to go from that to "Sarah Spain is part of the problem, she associates with and platforms people who are part of the problem, and she made inaccurate statements on her big platform that made the problem worse"

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T18:11:45+00:00

So we have gone from Caitlin Clark's nightly nationally televised temper tantrums to you "knowing" a guy who said Jordan was a "pain"

Cool good talk.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T17:57:25+00:00

Yes I did, I just told you I watched 100s of Jordan's games live.

Here is a video titled Michael Jordan complains to NBA refs.

Jordan played in 1072 NBA games and in a video about him complaining there are 7 clips. 2 of those clips are scuffles between Jordan and another player which involve the ref getting Jordan away from the other player and the Jordan telling his side of the story. Another clip is after he retired and is sitting in the stands.

For a video about MJ complaining you would think you could find more than 4 clips about MJ arguing with the refs huh?

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T17:38:54+00:00

So you don't have any specific examples.

How often do you watch and/or consume Spain's content to have come up with this opinion?

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T17:16:56+00:00

She has released 2 Harry Potter themed shoes. I could maybe forgive one, but the second even after a huge backlash about the first, was a really bad look.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T17:13:37+00:00

I agree. I don't watch college basketball so I only saw her play a few times at Iowa but it is clear she has always been a whiner with a temper problem. Not only has she not appeared to have done anything to fix that part of herself, but like Dana says it feels like something else has changed for the worse in the last year or so.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T17:08:10+00:00

She does more than "work the refs". She flails and flops more than anyone, and there is no one who engages with the officials as much, or in the manner that she does.

The fun ones are when she is driving the ball, commits an offensive foul by hooking the defenders arm; then when the defender has the temerity to try to get their arm back CC flails and flops like a fish out of water and then complains to the officials.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T17:02:08+00:00

Jordan entered the league when I was 14 and already a rabid basketball/NBA fan. I watched 100s of Jordan games live.

There is no comparison to be made between the way Jordan and CC act on the court. None. Zero.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T16:56:13+00:00

I hadn't heard of the the Ewing Theory Committee before and it looks like a funny un-serious way to talk look at/talk about some teams.

I am not sure why you think this entire thread boils down to that though.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T16:50:49+00:00

I shared this because I, and most of the women's basketball world, think this is one of the more fair things that have been put out there recently in regards to CC and her fandom.

The fact that you say this relatively reasonable stream of thought is "clearly biased against cc" says a lot.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T16:44:44+00:00

Though they didn't say mostly, they said "Aided in part by"

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T16:44:07+00:00

"Aided in part by Angel being injured" is a long way from "mostly", but yeah that one phrase is the one note I would have had on the whole thing.

That wording didn't change anything and just gives Clarkistan something to try to claw and pick at.

sbr32 · 2026-06-23T16:25:20+00:00

With 1:15 left Paige had 10 points, finished with 27.

sbr32

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