“Trying to preserve their mental health” – Amid Caitlin Clark discourse, journalist claims ‘harassment’ pushing black women to seemingly stay silent
Journalist says some black women fans refuse to comment about Caitlin Clark to “preserve their mental health.” [photo: Imagn]
Caitlin Clark is perhaps the name on very basketball fan’s lips. Everything she does, whether on the basketball court or not, gets a ton of coverage. Clark’s games with the Indiana Fever consistently draw record crowds.
The rookie sensation never fails to draw attention regardless of what she says or does not say. More often than not, she has legions of fans who will take up her defense against bashers and critics. The discussions on social media involving her seem to get routinely get toxic.
NBC Sports’ Natalie Esquire posted on X, formerly Twitter, a message that promptly got both positive and negative reactions:
“A number of BW have been harassed incessantly over a certain player, even when speaking positively, so when you don’t see posts about said player, that’s likely b/c folks are trying to preserve their mental health. But you’d have to be in tune to know that.”
No one had to be told the “certain player” the journalist talked about was the Indiana Fever rookie. Esquire’s claim that some refuse to comment to preserve their “mental health” was greeted with both pushback and affirmation.
One fan told her to keep Caitlin Clark’s name “out of your mouth” if the former lawyer can’t mention her in posts. Esquire didn’t take that sitting down:
“Oh see what you’re not gonna do is tell me how to post from my account. I actually don’t mention her much at all ON HERE. But I post what I want & y’all don’t dictate that. EYE do.”
Natalie Esquire is also a content creator who usually writes power rankings or talks about the WNBA in her podcast called “On Her Turf.” She does mention Caitlin Clark and most teams in her discussions.
The opposing views about Clark and her thousands of fans aren’t going to go away anytime soon. There is likely even going to be an uptick of such talks as the Fever will be making their first playoff appearance since 2016.
Natalie Esquire thinks opponents may not want to see Caitlin Clark’s Fever in the postseason
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever have regularly been in Natalie Esquire’s power rankings. Indiana surged in the standings since the Olympic break. From barely making the playoffs, they eventually grabbed a stranglehold on the No. 6 in the playoffs. The Fever’s prize for making the postseason will likely be a date with the Connecticut Sun.
Esquire had this to say about the likelihood of a Sun-Fever showdown:
(3:17 mark)
“Their [Fever] backcourt has been on a roll. Caitlin [Clark] and Kelsey [Mitchell] are just doing very ridiculous things right now. … I just don’t know if this is what you wanna see heading into the postseason.”
The sportscaster added that the Fever-Sun will likely go the distance and that Clark’s team has a big chance of pulling off an upset.
