The NCAA women’s basketball tournament final and semifinals got record-setting viewership this year, with the final getting 9.9 million viewers and peaking at 12.6 million. That’s not the only record that this year’s tournament set, The New York Times notes, with others including “the highest tournament attendance (357,542); the highest scoring final (102-85); the highest scoring half in a final (59 points by L.S.U.); most double-doubles in a single season (by [Angel] Reese with 34); and [Caitlin] Clark’s performance in the round of 8 with the first 40-point triple-double in a Division I N.C.A.A. tournament, men’s or women’s.”
While the NCAA men's final did have somewhat higher viewership, at 11.2 million, the women’s final got extremely respectable ratings for a sports event, college or professional, women’s or men’s, doing better than events including the 2021 NBA finals and the 2020 World Series. This will all have been devastating for the growing crowd of people who care passionately about women’s sports—but only for spiteful political reasons.
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When the issue is trans women in sports, conservatives rise up in supposed defense of cis women. But the rest of the time, the contempt for women’s sports is out in the open.
By contrast, many male athletes are public in their respect for the women’s game. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, for instance, has drawn praise from Kevin Durant, Patrick Mahomes, Steph Curry, and LeBron James. And when Angel Reese drew criticism for taunting Clark during the final, James and Shaquille O'Neal were among the many professional athletes who spoke up in defense of Reese. The greatest male athletes take these women seriously. Viewers were thrilled by the women’s tournament. The whiners about “woke” are only making themselves look ridiculous.