welcome back to the Stephen A Smith show right here over the digital Airways of YouTube and of course ihart radio let me get to some sports items that's my wheelhouse I got a couple of things a few things on my mind actually uh I didn't mention it in my colde open but I'm going to mention it now and that's Caitlyn Clark herself of the WNBA let's get to the WNBA and this Sensational rookie from the Indiana F who continues to be box office Clark and the F currently lead the WNBA in average game attendance and
per game TV viewers ship but despite the attendance and viewership records there seems to be some haterade in the league in regards to Clark starting with WNBA Legend Cheryl swoops herself she recently spoke on her podcast queens of the court and didn't mention the rookie when speaking of Indiana's rise and the standings here's what Cheryl swoops had to say look at this quote here I think the Olympic break really helped Indiana I'm going to shout out to Lexi Hall I'm a Big Lexi Hall fan Lexi Hall shot the leather off the ball in their game
against Seattle Kelsey Mitchell is just stroking she's just shooting the basketball Aaliyah Boston almost a triple double if Indiana continues to play the way they're playing like this they too are going to move up in the standings end quote so no no no Caitlyn Clark Sher TOS no no no no no no CIT no Caitlyn CLA respectfully Cheryl swoops you have any idea how that makes you look you have any idea how that serves to stain any kind of critique of Caitlyn Clark because that gives spotter to those who believe she's being hated on and
ostracized to some degree do you realize that Cheryl swoops you're insane to do that let me tell you why you're insane to do that because Cheryl swoops is one of the greatest players ever in the history of basketball that's why see you won a championship in college at Texas Tech you won three Olympic gold medals you won four WNBA championships you know basketball you know basketball better than me you know basketball than any of the F you know basketball better than most of the men that play basketball there is no way in hell you just
accidentally left Caitlyn Clark's name out of that Soliloquy that you dropped about the Indiana Fever stop it you know that stop it and then y'all wonder what happened see remember when I was on the air on ESPN and I got into it with Monica mcnut Stephen hey if you I'm talking to you Stephen you if you had promoted the WNBA more if you had talked about it more they would have played more games like I had the power to go up to ESPN and to say you know directors and producers and cameraman and and everybody
else flocked to the WNBA at the time when it wasn't nearly as popular as it was today that's what Monica mcnut accused me of but it's okay it's just a disagreement see y'all act like some buzz and it's a problem no it's a debate show she has her opinion I have mine I happen to believe she was wrong I happen to believe I was right and I haven't believe the facts have shown that I was right how was the attendance for Team USA in the Olympics what would it have been like if Caitlin Clark was
playing on that team remember the first game look at this right here National broadcast viewership what are we talking about here 1,000 what is that 1. 219 is that the number cuz and the game afterwards got 485,000 views so the fever in their game against the Minnesota links was 1.29 Million on Ion on ION follow game didn't even get half the rapers go ahead and look everywhere you turn Indiana Fever is breaking records all Cheryl swoops did was validate all the speculation that this folks hating on Caitlyn Clark that's all she did because to know
basketball like Cheryl swoops does to be as accomplished as she is to be the Hall of Famer that she is all alkalides that are welld deserved and I'm certainly not attacking Sher hoop the person because I think she's a wonderful person she's certainly always been nothing but class and nice to me I'm only addressing a point how do you talk about the Indiana Fever and mention a multitude of players and now one of them is Caitlyn claw who by the way as a rookies leading the league in assist how do you do that how do
you do that I told y'all that I've argu argued with the great Andrea Carter outstanding analyst for ESPN right here on this podcast I've argued with Jana oguma who's an outstanding basketball analyst the two of them together oh my God that's an a te no doubt about it nothing but love for both of them and Monica mcnut One of the voice preeminent voices of the New York Knicks and what she's doing with her career they know they got my support all love but I'm waiting for you to say I was right Caitlyn Clark can ball
she should have been on Team USA because you needed the marketing Buzz I didn't say she was better than all 12 players that were on the team instead of her even though when they almost lost to France I was getting nervous di terasi wasn't on the court I said you need somebody that can shoot and then COA showed up and was doing her thing and Ela Wilson did her thing and I was good what I'm saying is if you remember their first game they had about 13,000 fans somebody else had 15 everybody else had over
20,000 plus you think that would happened if Caitlin Clark was on that team you think that would have happened if Angel Reese was on that team but especially Caitlyn Clark Caitlyn Clark is coming some people think she's already arrived I don't I think she's gonna be even better and I think that what she has done for women's basketball especially in this country has been phenomenal there is no woman no matter how great you were as a player Cheryl swoops there is no woman who should negate mentioning Caitlyn Clark and what Caitlyn Clark is doing for
the game I know the Monica mcnut and others were getting very very frustrated at all of the buzz that was going in her Direction not to hate on Caitlyn Clark in any way because I'm sure Monica mcnut does not feel that way she just knows that there were people on the ground pounding the pavement that were doing so much for women basketball everywhere that deserve their praise she was absolutely right in saying that we don't disagree but that's Utopia reality is it didn't happen to this level until Caitlyn Clark showed up call it the Great
White Hope call it white being right call it whatever you want see I'm a person that doesn't I recognize that reality but I don't resent it I figure out ways to do it to my advantage I ain't apologizing for that West I ain't apologizing for that Griff I ain't apologizing for that gay I ain't apologizing for nothing there are people in our industry who happen to be white that got paid I ain't mad at them I'm grateful to them thank you for setting the stage hell yeah ain't hate rise and TI lifts all boats whatever
it takes for everybody to get fed I'm all for it you a WNBA player Caitlyn Clark gonna get you paid I figure out a way to be her friend or her friend of me that's what Angel Reese has done Angel Reese could play she was doing good things at LSU do y'all notice when she became relevant when she was waving her hand over her face mimicking what Caitlyn Clark was doing to the competition before she ran into LSU and got bum rushed in the final four that's what made Angel Reese popular in route to LSU
winning the national championship a couple of years ago in women's college basketball and then we watched Angel Reese and her popularity elevat along with her nil money and Beyond and we paid attention to her and then Caitlin Clark took her out but we still remembered and then Dawn Staley in South Carolina came along and said kayln Clark we love you we appreciate you we gonna send you home with thisel and in the postgame celebration on the podium accepting the national championship trophy what did Dawn sty do celebrated Caitlyn Clark because she's smart what did AEL
Reese do this year with all the talk about Caitlyn Clark what does she do she goes out on the court she competes against her and then suddenly their teammates in the allstar game and they get long and slapping high fives when Caitlyn Clark delivers an assist her or something along that line and everything's cool cause Caitlyn because Angel Reese figured it out she said there's a way for me to be the meal ticket too if I have to use her to help me do it okay because Angel Reese's game clearly is good enough her personality
clearly is Sensational enough the issue is she wasn't she wasn't running from it she embraced it Cheryl swoops take notes you ain't playing no more you're a Hall of Famer and a champion and a basketball Savant you know good and damn well you had no business talk about the Indiana Fever without mentioning Caitlyn Clark come on Cheryl swoops come on you are so much better than that come on
