The recent noise about Caitlin Clark prompted me to put down a few words about women’s sports and what I see as a continually growing problem that, to my mind, isn’t addressed enough.
As we all know, and I normally assume nothing, there is an alternate universe out there that has managed to seep into the real world at an alarming rate. This is a universe filled with unbridled opinion, advice, dogma, self-righteousness, the overwhelming need to be right, and worst of all, hate. It affects every one of us, every element of life, every discipline, including the world of women’s sports.
Those who choose to denigrate, minimize, marginalize, and dismiss women’s sports tend to do so from an antiquated and often misogynistic point of view. This bears no resemblance to the real world. I suppose that if one chooses to live in that particular type of cocoon, far away from the realities of the world, it makes some sort of peculiar sense.
Regardless of who makes outlandish statements, or who speaks in absolutes, from basement dwellers to so-called professional commentators on network television, it is all symptomatic of a portion of our so-called culture that lives deeply embedded in an antique world, a world that only exists and is perpetrated by those who feel the need, the senseless need, to be right.
There is no greater mediocrity than the pursuit of being right, and those who choose to do so have made the choice to live in a world that is contrary to the real world.
Is Social Media as a “vast wasteland”?
Women’s sports have long been a significant part of our social structure, and have, in recent years, become an even stronger presence. Yet the detractors seem to have an endless supply of sophomoric wisdom that has infiltrated and become a significant part of social media. On May 9, 1961, Newton N. Minow, in his first speech as chair of the Federal Communications Commission, referred to television programming as a “vast wasteland.”
If television were replaced by the term “social media” the message contained in his speech would be no less impactful. He went on to say, “When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse.” Again, replace television with social media. How right he was, and still is.
Nearly every women's conference tournament set an attendance record:
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) March 13, 2024
Big Ten: 109,000 total, first-ever sellout
ACC: 67,081 total, most since 2009
SEC: 64,905 total, most-ever
Big 12: 33,128 total, most since 2013
Pac-12: 29,288 total, 2nd-most everhttps://t.co/ZHlqBo4HR0 pic.twitter.com/fSFC1WLQJb
Sports are an important part of the fabric of our society. They unite large groups of people, they are a useful and meaningful distraction from whatever worldly woes with which one might be burdened, and above all, they provide us all with a great source of entertainment. But sports also bring out the worst in people. A team, a league, or an entire sport can become the target of such monumental hatred that it defies description.
Innumerable trolls do nothing but spew hate across all platforms of social media. Women’s sports in particular draw an almost endless stream of criticism, dismissive, minimizing and marginalizing invectives, and flat-out hatred. I cannot say where this all comes from. To call it misogynistic is too easy. I believe it runs deeper than that, so deep that those who spew this kind of claptrap garbage very likely have no idea what the deeply rooted cause may be.
How to have a civil conversation about women’s sports
The sad thing is that hate has been around since time began, and is not likely to ever vanish. So how do those of us who support women’s sports combat it? There is that school of thought that says if you ignore it long enough, it will simply fade back into the much from which it came. Not dignifying it is not, to my mind, being submissive. It serves no purpose to enter any kind of debate with those who hate.
As I have often said, you cannot have a rational discussion with irrational people, and those who choose to speak in hateful words about women’s sports are indeed irrational. No one has said that we have an obligation to like women’s sports. No one. I don’t particularly care for American football, but I don’t hate it. I prefer the football that the rest of the world enjoys. Why would I waste my time and energy hating something like a sport, unless I derived some sort of bizarre sense of accomplishment out of doing so?
In simple terms, if you don’t like women’s sports, fine. But then ask yourself: what pleasure do you get from the hate? And please, don’t speak in absolutes. When someone says, “Nobody likes the WNBA,” well, as the words come out of your mouth you know it isn’t true. Of course, there are plenty of tap dancers among the critics who try and find clever ways to disguise their hatred. But, it is thinly veiled and beyond obvious. The sad this is that it comes not just from internet denizens, but professionals as well.
Caitlin Clark and the Future of Women’s Sports
Perhaps what Caitlin Clark and others bring to the table in addition to great skillsets is a sense of future. Not only for young girls but boys as well. Some day we are going to hear kids say “I want to shoot like Caitlin and JuJu Watkins and Paige Bueckers and Hannah Hidalgo and Madison Booker.” “I want to be able to post up like Ayoka Lee, Cameron Brink, and Kamilla Cardoso.”
“I want to facilitate like Sabrina Ionescu and Georgia Amoore,” and anyone else who has the ability to inspire young people to want to play not just basketball, but any game they choose.
Look at all the young boys dying for a Caitlin Clark autograph 🥲 pic.twitter.com/FlOjlw7gX3
— Bri Lewerke (@brilewerke) March 9, 2024
As far as I’m concerned, hatred is borne out of fear. As fear grows, so does hate until it blinds us from any reasonable answer to “What is it that you’re afraid of ?” Social media is never going away. That’s a given, but everyone has the option, the right, the need, to just turn it off and re-enter the real world. As much as there are many things out there to which one can be genuinely afraid, women’s sports are not among them. You don’t have to like it, but you don’t need to hate it either.
And that, my friends, as they say, is that.’ — Martin Ruben.
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