Sports Season Extravaganza: From NHL and NBA Semifinals to Caitlin Clark’s Impact on Women’s Basketball
Story by Mitchell Smith
Hello everybody, it’s a great time of year for sports fans. The NHL and NBA are almost wrapped up in semifinals play and set the stage for their Finals showdowns. The French Open is in full swing, MLB is slowly taking shape, and the US men’s ICC take down Canada in the first ever US hosted Cricket World Cup games being held in New York, Texas, and Florida. I took an interest in Cricket back in 2008 after I watched Slumdog Millionaire, which cleaned up at the Oscars that year. I even bought a Cricket bat and would play with the kids when they were younger. I think it would be cool if it caught on in the US. Among various other sports once again one person has brought life to a league.
Caitlin Clark has been the highlight of Women’s NCAA basketball over the past couple of years and has sparked the interest of many sports fans to check out her play. As the NCAA finals wrapped up, I’m not even sure who won this year, Clark was not there and we all know she fell short last year against LSU. Clark a month after her final NCAA game was drafted into the WNBA to the Indiana Fever and right back at it on the court. Once again 1 person single handedly got the game buzzing and people watching. I’m not saying Clark is the greatest player ever, I’m not saying the league would shut down if she suddenly couldn’t play basketball any longer I’m just saying she has impacted the game like no other. She has had an impact on viewership tremendously for me and millions across the country. Last year at this time I had no idea the WNBA was even playing. This year I checked out a game and another, and then started following. There is a lot of talent out there. These women play with passion and excitement.
Clark isn’t out there putting up 30 points a game or triple doubles every night. This is what most people look at, what type of numbers is she putting up? Then she becomes overrated because her team is only 2-8 on the season. If you look at viewership that has been on the rise in recent years and attendance which has skyrocketed this year, you see the major impact Clark has had to get people interested and see what the league has to offer. Last year I did an article on Clark and Angel Reese having the potential to boost the WNBA much like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson did for the NBA. This has been a different experience though. Magic and Bird were drafted by 2 teams who had a longstanding rivalry dating back to the fifties. The matchups between them especially in the finals were electrifying for the times and for the NBA. There is no chance for Clark and Reese to see each other in the finals, and even if they meet in the play offs there is no rival between their teams. So it is a whole different ball game and it really is Clark that is drawing in the people to watch. She is single handedly changing the game. It will be interesting to see how the game changes moving forward and if there ever will be a trade to line up Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark to square off in a WNBA championship. Have a great week everybody.
