After LSU beat Iowa state in the NCAA women’s basketball final this past Sunday, most of the social media conversations did not surround the new title holders. Instead, a lot of the attention was on LSU’s forward Angel Reese making the famous “Cena taunt” towards her rival Caitlin Clark.
Several people started to call her actions unsportsmanlike and petty, with others being much more critical.
What some didn’t know, or did not acknowledge, was that Clark had done a similar hand gesture to Reese before. The hypocrisy of some condemning Reese while letting Clark off the hook prompted several people to call out the double standard that was created. Reese, a Black woman was called “classless” for her actions, but no comments were made about Clark.
USC senior Reagan Griffin plays on the scout team that helps the USC women’s basketball team practice. He said there is often a lot of trash talk during practice and that some players definitely talk trash in games as well. As a competitor, he thinks Caitlin Clark is probably more disappointed about losing than anything else:
GRIFFIN: Trust and believe Caitlin Clark, if she’s mad about anything, she’s mad about the fact that she lost, you know, she’s not mad about the fact that Angel Reese is doing whatever.
When you are an athlete of that caliber, some taunting is not going to cause any type of reaction.
GRIFFIN: I would say Caitlin Clark has been the best college basketball player, man or woman by far. And Angel Reese having been another one of those better players wants to assert herself as somebody who can compete on that level. Right. So from my vantage point, it’s like I kind of just comes with the territory of being the best.
Journalism professor and sports columnist, Miki Turner said that this type of criticism comes from the inherent sexism and racism that exists in sports today. Turner thinks that Clark is not thinking about her interaction with Reese, she is only focused on this memorable loss for Iowa state.
TURNER: Angel has been called ghetto. She has been called all kinds of names. And that’s the way she plays. She’s playing, you know, out her culture, as it were. And, you know, it’s it’s it’s a shame that it’s happened, particularly at this point in the women’s game, because, you know, women have come so far in athletics, particularly women’s basketball and the collegiate level. And it’s a shame that something like this has to overshadow what was a momentous win for LSU.
Turner says a double standard exists within sports and in today’s political climate, reactions like this are not unexpected, but still are disappointing.
TURNER: Caitlin had been doing this throughout most of the dance, actually, you know, throwing up the hand and the ring finger. And, you know, she just got it’s, you know, thrown back at her by angel. So, you know, no harm, no foul, as Chick Hearn used to say.
Despite the attention being on the drama between Clark and Reese, Clark came to the defense of Reese, saying that it is part of competition.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Grace Gerstner.