As we age we appreciate the special moments. Stay active to be able to enjoy them.
Ms. Clark is not poor in a monetary sense, nor at six feet tall is she short by normal women standards. Caitlin Clark is rich beyond any college student’s dream; NCAAW basketball has come into the economic big time. Iowa women’s basketball sells out opposing arenas and garners more viewers than the NBA. Clark is in her fourth year at Iowa; she is twenty-two. Clark has set almost every record in scoring and assists. Her basketball skills make her one of the few. An athlete compared to legendary men like Steph Curry, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan, not just the legendary women players. This year’s NCAA tournament has numerous women where six feet tall is average height. There were at least two women who are six seven in the Sweet Sixteen. Caitlin Clark is the focus of our nation’s sports attention, hero to legions of little girls.
Caitlin is poor in the sense of deserving of sympathy. All the sports world will be focused on Caitlin Clark. Iowa is a Cinderella team, despite the expectations and attention given them all year. There is some category of person called a five-star athlete. As a non-athlete it is difficult to imagine what skills it takes to earn that designation. However, the top teams have several in their collegiate programs. Iowa has one. Iowa can only win as a team. When the Hawkeyes are moving the ball without turnovers and shooting high percentages from three-point land, they are hard to beat. The losses this year came after the Hawkeyes had big leads but allowed teams to come back. Iowa can only beat the top teams by being on. They will not win the inside game and will not get many offensive rebounds. Chances are the Hawkeyes will fall short of an NCAA championship. Only three more wins, but LSU, USC, UConn, South Carolina, and NC State make the three wins tougher than slalom skiing in Iowa.
It will be disappointing to sponsors. Heartbreaking to little Caitlin fans all over America. The Iowa team knows they have had a special magic for four years and will survive. Caitlin Clark is another athlete for whom fans and marketers have unrealistic dreams. The quarterback cannot win Super Bowls alone. A pitcher cannot win a World Series alone. Michael Jordan could not win six NBA championships alone; he needed Scottie Pippen. Magic Johnson had Greg Kelser and Larry Bird did not. It would be fantastic to see such a wonderful team like Iowa take a title. Those Five-Stars, make it unlikely.
Iowa’s Stuelke is six two; she is the tallest on the starting roster. Caitlin Clark will have to handle rude questions and analysis from those who are jealous of her skills. She has handled interviews with grace. Ms. Clark is not far removed from the little girl called Ponytail Pete. A girl competing against boys. Causing parents to complain, it was unfair to allow girls to play in the boys’ league. It is the silly questions; the unfair expectations that make Ms. Clark poor. Why did you miss that shot? Answer it didn’t go in.
Clark will move on to the WNBA; her Iowa teammates will not. This Hawkeye experience comes closer to the true student athlete, than the NCAA pretense in the major college men’s sports. I will be sad to see the season end; the excitement quickly fades. Sports are passion in the moment. Illuminations in the sky that dazzle then go faint. Poor little Caitlin Clark will move on to a professional career. She will try to say the right things and lift up her fans, but it will be painful to watch some of the attitudes and silly questions. Cheer on this team, appreciate the miracle season they are striving to accomplish. Cheer heroes but do not make villains of other players or referees. Let the little girls dream of being the next Caitlin Clark.
Sports forget champions quickly, but it is momentous in the moment. There is a consolation for those of us who were never stars barely allowed to try out. As we age our bodies carry fewer old wounds. Our knees do not hurt. May sports inspire all of us to stay active and help maintain health as we age. Strive to keep at it; age will come. People are either living or dead. Enjoy such a rare moment as has been Caitlin Clark and Iowa Hawkeye basketball. Yes and Go Hawks