Nothing pisses me off more than people who are good at everything except maybe the people who are so good at one thing, that they don’t simply redefine their universe they change how we all have to consider whether we can even exist within it.
By that metric phenom Caitlin Clark should really be pissing me off by now. But instead I can only bow down, maybe wow-down to her astonishing incredibility. Like Simone Biles, or the more eloquently direct comparisons to Steph Curry, Caitlin Clark has changed the game she plays for everyone.
When Clark soared above her team logo at half court to plant a three-pointer and set a new all time scoring record in the NCAAW, while also scoring a Kobe Bryant-esque career high 49 point outburst - and when including dishes, had a hand in something like 78 of her teams points in Iowa’s 106-89 win over Michigan, oh wow. That is a lifetime of incredible work on display right there. This is Steve Jobs leaving his garage and heading into Silicon Valley. That’s the worlds’ axis altering. Clark could rack up even more points in the NCAAW, as she is still eligible, but increasingly unlikely, to represent the University of Iowa for the 24-25 season.
That Caitlin Clark sets the record with a logo shot. Well, of course, why not. That's elan-topping athleticism.
When your sport's biggest name is your sport's biggest name because they’ve been kidnapped and trapped in a Russian gulag (and well done all the people who worked to get Brittney Griner home - I wept. WSJ’s Evan Gershkovich next…), then the emergence of a talent like Caitlin Clark is a Mega Godsend. That’s right even marketing execs who can’t shoot a hoop can’t even drop this ball.
LSU vs. Caitlin’s Iowa in the Championship game, this is college athletics remember, not the pro-leagues, drew a television audience of ten million viewers. I am not even certain that Match of the DAy can do that.
Current WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson - named after her dad’s favorite Steely Dan song - (oh god I love Americans), has pondered aloud whether Clark or North Carolina guard, Raven Johnson, would have the greater impact in the pro leagues. I think finding out over the next few years once they've been drafted, is going make the watching the WNBA just about as thrilling as sports can be.
Essentials
Main image: Caitlin Clark by John Mac wikipedia
