Caitlin Clark Facing Unfair Media Criticism Gets Called Out: “That’s Not Real Sports”

When the new media rights partners joined the NBA, fans were relieved when they collectively sought to change the negative coverage of the past into something positive. Sadly, in the WNBA, particularly when it comes to Caitlin Clark, that has not changed.

In the past, the likes of Sheryl Swoopes and other naysayers had platforms where they were loud about their criticism. But slowly and steadily, the Hall of Famer was removed from her shows.

Be it the podcast, Gil’s Arena, or eventually losing the play-by-play analyst role she enjoyed with ESPN. That is because fans quickly called out the respective networks for allowing the biased coverage to continue.

With the new media partners, most of that negativity had seemingly passed. However, some analysts have evidently been trying to nitpick their way into criticizing the Indiana Fever superstar. That has not sat well with a certain Ryan Ruocco.

For this league to grow, people have to feel more comfortable being critical and it not being a personal attack or hating. And People have to be critical of more than just Caitlin Clark, quite frankly… Everybody else… people are very afraid to say anything bad about even if it’s a very small, micro thing. And that’s not real sports.

Ryan Ruocco said

During this interview with the Girls Tripp podcast, the ESPN play-by-play commentator pointed out that the league needs a bit of criticism to push its players and teams to do better.

But so far, most of the negativity has been pointed at Caitlin Clark and, to some extent, Angel Reese. Ruocco also added that players have to be accepting of that criticism, particularly when it is not a personal attack, as was the case when Candace Parker placed the Dream forward in the C-Tier.

Aliyah Boston reveals how Caitlin Clark handles critical narratives

Ryan Ruocco does have a point that there are some analysts who focus most of their criticism towards Caitlin Clark, while reserving their judgment on others.

For the player in question, it could become difficult, as she has to juggle the narratives while also focusing on basketball. When Mundo Deportivo’s Toni Canyameras asked Aliyah Boston how her teammate handles these problems, she replied:

There will always gonna be comments… The way she shows up every single day, she knows that we always have her back, no matter what… She handles it with grace.

Aliyah Boston replied

The three-time All-Star believes that her point guard has her head in the right place, which is how she manages to avoid getting distracted by the discourse. However, Clark has in the past taken shots at the media for creating ‘clickbait’ narratives using her name.

The league may be in a transformational phase, but time and again, as Ryan Ruocco mentioned, the media has to either dish out criticisms for everyone or not do it at all.

Caitlin Clark and the Fever fight with their hands to win home-court advantage

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever are currently in fourth place in the WNBA standings. They might be a way away from trying to eclipse the Minnesota Lynx for the top spot, but can do their best to battle for second.

The only problem is that the teams below them are also capable of making such a run, which makes it harder to take a game casually. In fact, the Fever have the toughest remaining schedule amongst all playoff teams.

They will face the Lynx twice, and the stingy Washington Mystics once in the final four games. Except for the New York Liberty, every other team has an easier playoff schedule, with some facing the worst teams in the league to end their regular season.

That gives the others an advantage, while piling the pressure on the Fever to improve. Since Clark, Aliyah Boston, and head coach Stephanie White will be away on USA Basketball duty, it makes it that much harder for them.

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