“I just try to navigate it the best I can. But it’s emotionally exhausting. It’s draining.” These were the words of Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark, who recently sat down for an interview with ESPN and revealed her frustrations with the narratives around her, which even make her “fearful” of postgame headlines. With everything that has happened around her, it’s not hard to see where the 24-year-old is coming from. Take the Alyssa Thomas incident as an example. But it looks like Monica McNutt isn’t entirely sympathetic.
In her conversation with TJ Maxx, the ESPN analyst questioned her use of the word “fearful” and argued that, despite being one of the league’s biggest stars, Clark still has room for “a little bit more accountability and self-awareness.” Now, for Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, McNutt’s comments perfectly illustrated the problem with how the media has covered the Fever point guard.
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“All she has done is elevated the league, the game; she got them the collective bargaining agreement, she got them to fly private,” Portnoy said in the latest episode of Wake Up Barstool. “All she has done is advocated for the WNBA. Whenever she’s asked, she said, ‘Thank you’ to the players who came before. She wants to succeed in this league, and she’s just basically been treated like dirt.
“I do think the media makes this into a race story exactly how Monica McNutt just did. She doesn’t owe anybody anything. She always takes the high road. She’s actually more than lived up to her bargain by consistently taking the high road.”
For what it’s worth, Caitlin Clark, throughout her career, has repeatedly condemned any form of hate directed at other players by people claiming to be her fans. But at the end of the day, she has no control over what strangers post on social media.
So for McNutt to suggest that Clark doesn’t need to be fearful because she isn’t the one targeted by hateful fans once a player does something “outside of the parameters of competition” to her on the court feels a little out of touch with the point Clark was actually trying to make.
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Caitlin Clark never claimed to have it worse than anyone else. If anything, her interview was about the emotional toll of constantly becoming the center of conversations that take the spotlight away from the basketball itself. And this latest controversy has done that once again.
Her interview and McNutt’s comments on it came during All-Star Weekend that celebrated the WNBA’s growth and showcased some of the league’s brightest talent. But within hours, much of the conversation shifted away from the sport and toward yet another debate surrounding Clark. The very cycle she admitted has become “emotionally exhausting.”
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The post “Treated Like Dirt”: Monica McNutt’s Call for ‘Accountability’ From Caitlin Clark Prompts Dave Portnoy To Slam WNBA Media appeared first on EssentiallySports. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
