Music N' Other Drugs

The last time I remember a WNBA season having this much preseason juice was in 2004 when Diana Taurasi, Alana Beard, Nicole Powell, and Lindsay Whalen were taken with the first four picks of the draft. 601,000 people watched as the league welcomed them into the fold, which was a record that stood until last month when Caitlin Clark drew 2.45 million viewers and became the most fascinating story in American sports in the process.

One would think that having such a transcendent collegiate player making her debut would be a blessing for a league that has struggled to turn a profit in recent years, but the narrative heading into tonight’s game has once again been reduced to the white vs. black mentality. She rains threes like Steph Curry, carries herself with class, and appears to be above the kind of petulant race-baiting that has come to define mainstream discourse in 2024, so why is it that so many people are rooting for her to fail?

Now, before you suggest that a soon-to-be 36-year-old white male has no business weighing in on such things, keep in mind that I’ve actually seen Diana Taurasi and Nicole Powell face each other in a live game. I saw how lightly attended the arena was as well as how highly competitive the women on the court strove to be. Had all of you out there griping about the attention that Clark is getting or the number of televised games she’s allegedly undeserving of been this interested in the league and its players from the beginning, perhaps the situation would be drastically different.

Former X/Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently referred to his creation as “freedom technology,” which is laughable considering how most people are using social media to destroy themselves from the inside. What exactly has anyone been freed from?

If anything, they’ve become prisoners to a victimhood mentality that encourages them to use the platform to bury anyone with whom they disagree. I’m constantly reminded of that quote from “Vanilla Sky” in which Tom Cruise’s character says “What’s the answer to 99 out of 100 questions? Money,” only, in our reality, the media wants you to believe that the answer to 100 out of 100 questions is racism regardless of how many other issues might be at play.

Because social media is driven by emotion rather than logical reasoning, so-called influencers get away with dumbing down complex situations without ever being called out on anything they’ve said. There are a lot of reasons why the WNBA isn’t viewed in the same light as other major sports organizations and pretending as if there’s only one is just lazy.

If you want people to watch, you have to give them something worth watching. Individuality and differences of opinion amongst players should be encouraged, but, when an entire league that should be looking to appeal to the widest audience possible aligns itself with a worldview that not everyone believes in, it’s plain to see why the general public feels alienated from the product. They should be focused on presenting an exciting brand of basketball predicated on athleticism and entertainment, not partisan politics.

With the men’s league bogged down by load management and player entitlement, Clark, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso, and Angel Reese have an opportunity to change the paradigm and prove that they belong in the same conversation.

I’ll be watching. Will you?