Coach Craig Robinson tried to recruit me for the women's basketball team when I was a middle school Mustang. I agreed in seventh grade, which is how he discovered that I could shoot over the goal from the three-point line and should ride the pine until the final 120 seconds of any game. While he trained future state champs, I decided to go the cheerleading, soccer, and swimming route.
Until I graduated, Coach Craig would find me in the hallways at school. "Big Bird! All you gotta do is stand in front of the goal. I can teach you to sink a layup!" He bought me a Big Bird stuffie every Christmas as a silent plea to join the team despite me being the worst tall person basketball player that ever lived. Coach died in 2020, and as former players and friends, we signed a basketball to give to his wife. He left an indelible mark on our lives.
Women's sports is a transformative experience. I learned that women are my teammates; it takes all of us, not one of us, to shine. Traveling together, winning and losing, competing and training, builds unbreakable bonds. During the game, there's a shared mission and a common enemy. So, we talked trash to other teams, their coaches, and any family members who wanted to tussle, too.
Yes, this is about Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
First of all, Kim Mulkey fits (the outfits and the actual fits) stay in my feed, so I've loved following LSU. And my jaw stayed on the ground watching Clark sink free throws during the SC game like it was as ordinary as me brushing my teeth. I tuned in for the final four games and the national championship. And God save me from the internet because I also tuned in there.
Angel Reese talked some trash (so did Caitlin during the tournament games), and boy, oh boy, did folks have plenty to say about it. Never mind that Angel Reese was named Most Outstanding Player of the Year for the tournament and broke the record for double-doubles with 34. Never mind that Caitlin broke the men's and women's records for points scored in the NCAA tournament with 191 and won numerous national awards and trophies for the season. Women can't do a damn thing well without commentary, so pundits who ain't ever given a care in the world about women's ball decided to offer their inappropriate and offensive two cents while pitting two women against each other. (Because two women can't be great in plenty of settings, and don't you forget it.)
Being exceptional and talking trash doesn’t belong to men.
There’s a racial and gendered component to the discourse.
The gendered component is these girls can beat the wheels off any man, woman, or child. Period. Give them their flowers and hush up! None of this internet heat would happen to men. Men can be mad in meetings, mad on the court, or mad at home. They can compete and play with little pushback on their attitudes or actions. It's unfair and boils down to genitals. Still! In 2023! I kept thinking, Lord, would I have to go to jail? Because what if it was my daughter? My friend's daughters? To me, they are still COLLEGE KIDS. I want the world to stop being so harsh on young women, young players, and young people. Thank God, these queens are built different because the one thing they won't do is respond to the pressure by assimilating or saving face.
The racial component is on several fronts and laced with class.
Bless her little heart, Jill Biden pulled a super saltine move and decided to invite both teams to the White House. If I'm giving a generous benefit of the doubt, I bet Jill thought, wow look at these two teams, with players breaking records - maybe if we elevate women's sports and bring both teams to the White House because wouldn't that be good for everyone? She made a mistake. Her intentions were good. The impact was not. The harsh truth is (and I hope I'm wrong) that if Iowa won the national championship, I'm not sure the same White House invitation would've been extended to LSU if they lost.
Caitlyn and Angel both made the same "you can't see me" wave in front of their faces during the tournament, but only one of them was called an effing idiot, totally classless, and received harsh comments about being ghetto. Race and class collide.
As I wrote in my second book, Love Is the Resistance; we don't talk about class enough. Poverty puts people on the wrong side of the tracks, and tropes about the trailer park, the hood, and the ghetto refuse to die. It's harder for people without the "right" socioeconomic status, the "right" pedigree, and the "right" normative lingo to move through the world without experiencing crippling critique and troubling barriers to success.
It's a tired American story, and I'd like to push an eject button from this nonsense.
But here we are, on Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, the day of the last supper, and I want Jesus to help folks do better. Like many of you, I have remained seated at his table, even though folks let their racist, sexist, and classist flags fly freely. (Bring back shame! Because it is shameful!) We are still here, trusting somehow that His grace is sufficient for us, that His power is made perfect in our weakness, that all things are being made new.
I've had to trust that his promise is true. I'm holding on to hope. Because of history and patterns, the present doesn't look like anything new. But women's basketball encouraged my heart.
Cry in your cornflakes if you want to but these girls won the National Championship with record breaking attendance and record breaking skills. Angel told the truth on the national stage, and she don't give a rip what anyone thinks about her. Caitlin said Iowa shouldn't go to the White House and that Angel shouldn't be criticized. Iowa’s coach, Lisa Bluder agreed, and tweeted: “I gratefully acknowledge the First Lady’s sentiments, but a day at the White House should belong solely to the champion, LSU and Coach Mulkey.”
New patterns are emerging. And I suppose as people of faith, we are nothing if not prisoners of hope.
Love to love you,
Ashley
QUICK LINKS:
VOX: The taunt that eclipsed the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, explained
TEEN VOGUE: LSU and other black women are held to unfair standards in public
CNN: Caitlin Clark defends Angel Reese
ESPN: Championship Game Highlights
2022 Maundy Thursday piece by me: My mama’s house smells like love
Kim Mulkey Fits*:
*Worth noting not everyone is a fan of Kim Mulkey, particularly the way she handled support of Brittney Griner as a gay player at Baylor Christian University where she was coaching and public support of Brittney when she was detained in Russia.
1) Here for all the women's sports content. 2) *It's me, hi. As someone who worked in very close proximity to KM for several years, I can attest that her dislikability goes lightyears far beyond the public BG stuff. But sure, her fits are fun. 😂
👏🏽👏🏽 all of this!
🔥the fits!
👀 doeees the nickname “Big Bird” still live on..?