Editor’s note:Amy Bass (@bassab1) is a professor of sports research at Manhattanville College and the author of “One Goal: A Coach and a Team, as well as the Sport that Split Town” as well as “Not the Triumph but the Battle 1968: The Olympic Games and the Making of the Black Athlete.” Olympics and the The Making of the Black Athlete,” in addition to other titles. The opinions expressed in this article are her own. Learn more on CNN.
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It was a truly amazing thing that happened over the weekend. Americans go to sleep the night before discussing women’s basketball, and then woke up on Monday continuing to talk about the game. It’s difficult to believe considering that this is the second time the NCAA uses the same terminology and branding specifically for women and that huge MARCH MADNESS logo that was previously reserved only for men’s teams that is bold and vibrant underneath the feet of big names like Angel Reese of LSU and Caitlin Clark from Iowa.
This change occurred when gender discrimination was exposed through a flurry of posts on social media, created by the Oregonian Sedona Prince (who is a participant in the WNBA draft) and will be in 2021 pointing out inequities everywhere including food and fitness facilities. In the past, the women’s Final Four ticket prices were greater than those for men -but this is largely due to the fact that the Dallas’ American Airlines Center, where the female games took place was substantially smaller in comparison to NRG Stadium in Houston, which is the venue for the men’s Final Four (normally an area to host rodeo and football).
Instead of being forced to argue the argument to support the women’s game (again) it is clear through the rumours and debate sparked through Reese as well as Clark (and the critics) that it has arrived. Days later, we are continuing to debate the morality of trash talking and the issues of bad or at lowest inexperienced officiating.
That’s not to say that gender discrimination in sports has been eradicated or ignore the crucial concerns about race that were raised in the wake of LSU’s loss to Iowa in the women’s championship. We want to stress the fact that, without doubt as well on a variety of scales the current NCAA competition, both women’s and males’ with LSU as well as UConn being crowned champions and UConn crowned champions, was a game for the older generations.
Four key lessons to take away:
The women of Iowa defeated the powerful defending champions from South Carolina at the University of South Carolina Friday night, in a match that drew ESPN record-breaking 5.5 million people watching, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley made use of the post-game microphone to reiterate her stance during the course of the season. Staley shrewdly and judiciously called the media’s narratives of Black players as aggressive and physically imposing.
As reported by The Greenville News, Iowa’s coach, Lisa Bluder, said in the days leading up to the game that she had been told the act of rebounding against Staley’s players is like “going to a fight in a bar.” After losing, Staley was direct in her denial of the characterization: “We’re not bar fighters. We’re not Thugs.” Staley resisted against the idea of describing teams such as the Gamecocks she plays with in these terms and describing White team members as “passionate” as well as “fierce.”
The stance of Staley”I’m not changing “I’m not going to change” is in perfect harmony to that of LSU’s Reese who was who was the “Bayou Barbie” who was wearing an actual crown over her championship hat. She posted on Twitter in January that she was aware the way she portrayed herself both on and off the basketball court could be described as “too too hood” and “too gritty” in the mainstream basketball stories. In the days before LSU won the historic title for the first time, Reese challenged fans and media to “normalize the women who show passion for basketball instead of becoming a source of embarrassment.'”
In many cases, even when women are successful it is not because they can winfor example, ask the USWNT regarding their reaction after the 13-0 World Cup blowout of Thailand in the year 2019. However, the discipline of female sports passion does not happen evenly, which is evident in the reactions to Reese’s alleged taunting of Clark during the final minutes of the final match, and the racism-based vitriol she was accused as being “classless” as well as “unsportsmanlike” which clearly demonstrates the dual standard Black athletes are well-versed with.
“When other people make the same mistake do it, don’t be silent,” Reese said after the game. “This is for people who are similar to me.” The reaction to Reese’s “you don’t know the me” gestures, especially taken in context of the remarks of Staley, is a clear illustration of that point. The people who lost their minds in Twitter (and it’s true that we’re talking about Dave Portnoy, Dave Portnoy) are capable of picking and choosing the players whose swagger on court is a an integral part of the gameand Clark herself isn’t a novice to bad language or hand gestureswhich is why she’s ridiculed in profane terms.
The sound that rang out throughout the past couple of weeks was that of brackets getting crushed into bits. Men’s Purdue’s top seeded team had the first top seed exile, beaten with Fairleigh Dickinson, on St. Patrick’s Day, only the second occasion the number one seed lost in the initial round. Others with number one seeds fell shortly afterward, leaving no team remaining at the end in the Sweet Sixteen. For women there were two teams that scored the top spot, Stanford and Indiana, lost in the second roundan event that has not been seen since 1998.
Every year March Madness features at least an underdog tale that is entertaining, which includes a low-seeded David defeating a top-seeded Goliath. This year, however, was a bit more and showed how the power of a low-seeded victory or an unanticipated win typically generates greater excitement than a win that was anticipated. The year of 2012 wasn’t the first time that there was an male Final Four with no number one teams — it was happening just a few years ago -However, it was the very first time that they were eliminated this early.
Like Americans are awestruck by a great rags to riches Horatio-Alger’s story that bolsters their belief in the power of hard work, and perhaps a chance of luck, regardless of the circumstances, people are thrilled by the awe and shock of a seeded team being knocked out early and, for the time being usually. The teams like FDU as well as Florida Atlantic (on its improbable journey through Final Four) Final Four) became men’s college basketball’s versions of Rocky Balboa, allowing fans to see that often David does win no matter the cause there’s something positiveeven happinessto be found in it.
Although LSU’s Reese won Player of the Tournament honors while Iowa’s Clark is awarded the Player of the Year award. Even though Clark appeared to be deflating at the end of the final game following her highly debated technical foul, there’s no doubt her play throughout the tournament established the tone for her career.
When they faced South Carolina in the semis, Clark pulled down 41 points with six rebounds, eight points and assists. This ended the Gamecocks win streak of 42 games and sending her team to the final game. When they played in the Elite Eight against Louisville, she scored the most impressive triple-double with 41 points recorded for a triple-double in NCAA tournament basketball time (and it is true for the people who inquire, whether man or woman or in the event that you want to maintain track, it has been her 11th triple double). Although a lot of praise was given to her including Billie Jean King to LeBron James however, the most lauded the ace of it all was Magic Johnson who tried to make it appear in the most favorable way possible.
“What can make Caitlin’s double-double of 40 points unique is that there are so few players who have one of these,” Caitlin tweeted. “Not myself, Michael Jordan, or Larry Bird!”
The topic of sport-washing has been a constant theme in everything starting from the male World Cup to the LIV golf tournament, there’s no doubt that the excitement of a sporting event can appear as if the world is in nothing to worry about. Whatever it was, whether it was Clark’s incredible figures, FDU’s believe-in-magic victory, Lamont Butler’s buzzer beating leap that pushed San Diego State into the final against a roaring Cinderella Florida Atlantic squad or LSU getting a trophy there was plenty of fun on the sidelines when the riveting sport took place on the on the stage.
The never-ending debate about names, images and similarity (NIL) regulations (or in the absence thereof) as an example, disappeared into the background. It was even with the NCAA currently headed by the former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, being the focus of the attention of a Congressional panel at the time of the event. As the panel was hearing the sports historian Victoria Jackson tried to pop the American March Madness bubble to provide some context for the ridiculousness of the event. “I suggest you go to other countries than the US to explain the multi-billion dollar industry of sports which is run by amateurs that are dominated by coaches who earn millions of dollars,” she wrote on Twitter. “Not only are you an entertainment source and blowing minds away, but it serves as an important opportunity to look outside the US the bubble of college sports and rethink what’s good here, and what’s not.”
The excitement and glamor for the women’s sidethe record-breaking 9.9 million people watched the game and the maximum audience was 12.6 million caused a pause in the perception that women’s professional sports, with a steady growth rate yet are not as popular as the men. They haven’t yet reached the level of discussion in the watercoolers which the LSU and Iowa championship game generated this season. The reason is that what’s next for hundreds of stars across multiple teams for women which is the WNBA is simply not able to accommodate the level of talent that has been displayed over the past few weeks.
While these teams continue to set the bar higher which makes perennial favourites such as South Carolina, Stanford and UConn ever more difficult to play in, the overcrowded marketplace of professional women’s basketballonly 144 roster spots available implies that when players such as Reese and Clark are able to find their respective teams probably in 2024 draft, the league has to be thinking not only about expanding (always something to be mindful of) as well as development having no parallels to the G league of the NBA. In addition, Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner’s Russian imprisoning put a vital focus on the reason why most of the top WNBA players opt to join other leagues in addition to earning greater sums than their home contracts allow, it acts as a warning to those who do notcannot — even be a part of the WNBA in any way.
The next step We don’t know. However, what exactly occurred? It was great, actually.
NOTE: Iowa doesn’t get an invitation to the White House. The state lost. Don’t repeat that. We should not do that.