You know those old WWE gimmicks before the Attitude Era? One dimensional. Lame. Isaac Yankem, anyone? Jemele Hill is the Isaac Yankem of sports commentary.
He sees everything through the prism of race. As such, his comment is neither interesting nor creative. Just like Glenn Jacobs he always had to say something about bad teeth, everything Jemele says has have a racial aspect.
As such, Hill appeared in an interview with Uproxx this past weekend. And wouldn’t you know it? He thinks coverage of the biggest star in women’s college basketball gets favorable coverage because she is white.
Shocking, no one said that.
Now, Hill does give Clark a little credit. Then he immediately squashes it by saying that interest in the women’s game was on the rise before the Iowa star arrived.
“It didn’t start with Caitlin Clark, but they’re treating it like it does,” Hill says. “And so it’s already creating a false narrative that is doing a disservice to the public.”
RELATED: USA Today column: Future of women’s college basketball ‘must be black’
Jemele Hill: White women get twice as much coverage as black women
Of course Jemele Hill couldn’t stop there.
And here it is:
“A study I cited recently for a piece I wrote in The Atlantic [found that] when you compare [the coverage] from, say, someone like Bueckers, Sabrina Ionescu, or Caitlin Clark to A’ja Wilson, who dominated basketball at every single level. She’s probably the best player in the world right now. And I’m not trying to act like she doesn’t have any coverage, but the coverage that non-white women, or particularly black women sometimes get, isn’t even close. It’s two to one.”
– Jemele Hill
There is no doubt that A’Ja Wilson is an incredibly complete player. She became a two-time WNBA champion and WNBA Finals MVP.
But in every sport, sometimes the people who behave the most offensively tend to get the spotlight. Anyone remember those “Girls Dig the Long Ball” MLB commercials?
Maybe, Jemele. Perhaps Caitlin Clark gets more coverage because she averaged 28.4 points per game during her college career (31.7 of hers this year). This, compared to Wilson who averaged 17.3 during his career at South Carolina.
Oh, and then there’s the whole matter of Clark setting an NCAA Division I scoring record. A minor thing, we know, but one that tends to get fans’ attention. He tends to get ratings.
RELATED: WNBA Legend Sheryl Swoopes Says ‘Black People Can’t Be Racist’
Jemele Hill then cited Aliyah Boston as evidence that Caitlin Clark gets more coverage while the black player doesn’t. Boston, who also played for South California, averaged 16.8 points during his best season (2021-22) and 14.1 for his career.
“Caitlin Clark seems to have a great personality, but it’s not like Caitlin Clark goes around saying crazy things,” Hill says.
“They’re just covering up his excellence, and that’s good enough,” he continued. “While it appears that Black athletes receive the same amount of coverage or even equal coverage, there must be something more [beyond basketball].”
Hill’s nonsensical comment follows a USA Today article last month that was eager to push Clark out the door because “women’s basketball needs the faces of (the) future to be Black.”
Hill and USA Today tend to gloss over the past. They pretend the insanely positive coverage of black players was never there.
Cheryl Miller was one of the biggest stars on the planet even outside of basketball. Maya Moore, Sheryl Swoopes and Candace Parker took a back seat to no one.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
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