Caitlin Clark on blocking out the noise, learning on the fly and giving herself grace
After practice on Wednesday, Caitlin Clark shared how she spent rare down time and how having meaningful practices will help this team. Plus, a team dinner at last!
If you watched any news or sports program on TV or read mainstream sports websites, it was nearly impossible not to see the discourse on Caitlin Clark and the perceived treatment of the league’s No. 1 pick this year.
It all stems from a hard, flagrant foul from Chicago’s Chennedy Carter that was ruled a common foul in real-time. It was a one-point Fever win on Saturday and if they had lost, that miscall, which was later upgraded to a flagrant-1, could have been the difference.
Postgame, there was no accountability from Carter who replied with “next question” and then “I ain’t answering no Caitlin Clark questions.”
Even worse, Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon stepped in with “That’s enough, we’re good,” despite it being fair line of questioning on a significant sequence on the court.
And Carter’s cheap shot, along with rookie Angel Reese cheering that move on from the bench, led to Clark and WNBA being in Block A on TV. For those that don’t know, that’s the primary segment; the lede. It was even discussed on NBC News and ABC News, along with the cable news programs.
(The next day, the Sky were fined $5,000 and Reese was fined $1,000 for not following media policies.)
Clark stays off social media for the most part, but just imagine her trying to watch TV on Monday and Tuesday, two rare days off for the Fever, and she’s inevitably discussed every half hour.
“I watch the other WNBA games as much as I can,” she said after practice on Wednesday. “Movies, random shows. My little brother is living with me so he plays a lot of video games so sometimes I get caught watching that.”
She said she “absolutely” can block it all out.
“I don't really hear the noise,” Clark continued. “I just come here and play basketball every single day, and that's what I focus on, and this is my job. Everything else, all the external noise, doesn't faze me.”
It may not faze Clark, but it is new to the Fever, who are relevant for the first time since Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings retired in 2016, and to most of the players on the team. Heck, even most of the league.
“People are going to talk,” Clark said last week. “That's what it is. It's good for the game, but at the same time, you can't control what people are going to say or what people are going to write. That's how it's been my entire career.