Sports
Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark deserve better sophomore seasons
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The WNBA must have seen this coming.
Eighteen months ago, forward Angel Reese and the LSU Tigers defeated Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes within the NCAA Championship. Reese celebrated by walking across the court, pointing to her ring finger and imitating Clark The “can’t you see me” celebration. From that moment on, a rivalry between each phenomena arose. And while Clark and Reese have had a fierce rivalry on the court within the WNBA, mainly within the race for the once-hot Rookie of the Year race, the true battle takes place off the court and rarely involves anything that the 2 stars actually are. act.
They became the brand new socio-political and racial battleground, transforming into an eyesore that harmed them and the WNBA. The noise overshadowed their great statistical seasons.
Clark entered the WNBA as one of the vital popular athletes within the country, and for good reason. She was among the best college basketball players we have ever seen. She entered the league equipped with a dynamic game and deep three-point shooting that reminded fans of Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry. That’s enough to make her considered one of the largest latest stars the league has seen in a protracted time. But add to that the undeniable fact that she’s a straight white woman, and she becomes something more: a central figure to parts of the country that despise the queer black women they stand for. So every thing Clark did – the triple-double, the 30-point game, the record-setting – wasn’t just an incredible basketball performance. Her achievements have been used to forged aspersions on women, who make up nearly all of WNBA players.
Many Clark fans also had Reese, a black villainess anyone could tackle. For a certain segment of fans, whatever praise she received – and there was loads of it – wasn’t nearly Clark. The idea was to embarrass Reese, who also had a record-setting season WNBA record for many consecutive double-doubles AND nearly setting a league rebounding record – and women like her.
The Reese-Clark rivalry was not about basketball. It was about every thing else. Black. Strangeness. Approaching selection. A divided country. Racism. White supremacy. Alliance. Grades. And too few people actually showed compassion for the ladies themselves.
Photo by Erin Hooley/AP
Reese would turn out to be the victim of truly brutal attacks on the Internet, including AI rendering a photograph of her body spread on social media. Even though Reese took on the villainous role that was already thrust upon her, she didn’t ask for the racist attacks that got here with it – all for allegedly supporting Clark.
However, the attacks on Reese weren’t really about Clark. They talked about hating Reese as a confident, outspoken black woman. The Clark phenomenon involved two distinct groups of individuals. One group is stuffed with true Clark fans. People who’re delighted together with her vision of the manor, photos and contact with the general public. A WNBA fan who knows a reworking athlete when he sees one. Little girls who look as much as the league’s stars and who, after they grow up, wish to throw 30-footers like Clark.
Then there may be the second group. This group is stuffed with individuals who see Clark as a solution to express their deepest, hateful thoughts about black and queer women within the WNBA. As soon as Clark joined the league, any resistance she encountered – a tough foul, a comment in regards to the way she was covered, ridicule for her slip-up – became a referendum on what black queer women considered straight white women and a solution to they repeat harmful stereotypes about women within the WNBA.
Clark’s campaign through the WNBA left a trail of harmed black women in her wake, although she maintained her neutrality and never harmed women herself. There was Reese who continued encounter harmful messages throughout the season, at the same time as she and Clark demonstrated teamwork and camaraderie in the course of the All-Star Game. Chennedy Carter, Reese’s Chicago Sky teammate who fouled Clark, was showered with online vitriol and harassed by a ‘fan’ in front of the team hotel. Sun guard DiJonai Carrington was killed threats and was called racist slurs after she unintentionally hit Clark in the attention during a playoff game, which left her with a swollen eye. There was Sheryl Swoopes, an all-time great who is usually flawed misinformed Sports coverage of Clark was met with online harassment. Even Clark’s teammate Aliyah Boston needed to shut down her social media after fans blamed her for the team’s early troubles.
But this is not just a couple of group of black queer WNBA players who’ve been brutalized by misogynoir. Clark can be a victim here. Her debut season was tainted by the identical racism and misogyny that targeted women in her WNBA community. Instead of supporting her for her brilliance on the court, Clark is dehumanized and a caricature of hateful idolatry is erected in her name when all she desires to do is play basketball.
Melissa Tamez/Sportswire icon
Many heterosexual white women have spoken out about their privilege and tried to quell the anger faced by their black peers. And how could they not? How can anyone wish to remain silent when their teammates, peers and friends are continually bombarded with hate speech? It’s just human decency to wish to get up for the people we share a locker room with. Guardian of the Las Vegas Aces Kelsey PlumUConn guard Paige Bueckers and others did it. It is affordable to expect everyone to share the responsibility for coming together.
Clark, to her credit, has lent her support to the Black women who’ve come before her in this manner ON before she even got into the league. And before she finally answered questions on fans at press conferences issuing full condemnation racism that WNBA players face. But here’s the issue: racism won’t stop. Anti-gay prejudice will proceed unabated. And the misogyny will only proceed. And so long as this continues in Clark’s name, she’s going to at all times be expected to be chargeable for them and watch them suppress a movement she didn’t create.
Imagine the pressure that’s placed on someone. Imagine the distraction out of your on-court achievements that comes when the individuals who claim to support you do not care in regards to the accolades, and the individuals who wish to support you, the player and the person, are the identical people who find themselves showered with harassment for each turn. Clark doesn’t experience the sort of brutal, radical hatred that comes from centuries of oppression, but she does experience what it’s prefer to be at the middle of a fight that’s a lot larger than herself, and her actions are lightning rods for reactions, including one from a fan who needed to be removed while playing against the Connecticut Sun within the playoffs.
Clark’s presence gave the WNBA a lift in rankings and revenue. Her natural popularity amongst fans has at all times confirmed this. For this reason, he’s a singular figure within the history of the league. However, the advantages of rankings and revenue mustn’t come on the expense of player well-being. That’s something WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert didn’t realize when she commented on player harassment just a few weeks ago: “But I know one thing about sports: You need competition,” she said. “That’s what keeps people watching. They want to watch important matches between rivals. They don’t want everyone to be nice to each other.”
It’s not nearly competition and revenue. This is a couple of league that has worked hard to create a secure space for a community that is commonly unsafe in too many places on this country. And that secure space has turn out to be unstable because far too many individuals have seen Clark and used him as an entrance to invade that space with bigotry.
Approximately eight months later, Clark and Reese will appear in WNBA court again. It is time for the league, fans, media and everyone in between to contemplate tips on how to support these women and not use them as targets of racism or symbolic reasons to interact in a hateful crusade.
Their greatness on the court demands more respect. Like their humanity.
Sports
Jalen Milroe can follow the Jalen path in NFL
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Star Black playmakers aren’t any longer an exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the entire football season, this series will discover the importance and influence of black QB from bottom -up to NFL.
Indianapolis-keep me, should you heard it earlier: playmaker Alabama born in Texas, who’s a stronger runner than a passerby, will probably be called outside the first round of the NFL Draft.
The playmaker was undefeated in Sec as a primary -year starter.
The playmaker never played for the same offensive coordinator.
The name of the playmaker is even Jalen.
But it isn’t clear that Jalen hurts. This winter he was busy winning the Super Bowl MVP, and he didn’t play Iron Bowl or against Michigan.
Instead, it’s a former playmaker of Crimson Tide Jalen Milroewho last week Combine Combine tried to convey the case to the trainers and evaluators that he – like his namesake – is price being their playmaker franchise in the future despite questions on his ability.
“I went through adversity. I saw everything as a quarterback, “Milroe said on Friday. “I played at the most difficult conference in the country. It would be easier to play at other conferences, but what I could see in Sec catapulted me that I was ready to play NFL. “
Justin Casterline/Getty Images
Departing from Katy in Texas, she originally got involved in Texas in 2019, but a 12 months later she fell to Alabama. After he was sitting behind the Crimson Tide Starter Bryung for 2 seasons, Milroe took his reins in the 2023 season. He helped Alabama survive Sec (8-0) this 12 months, won by the conference rival and two-time defender Georgia in the SEC championship, which caused Crimson Tide to the play-off collection.
But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards for the test took third place in Sec in 2023), the pass was not his strong suit. For two seasons as a starter Milroe never achieved 3000 yards in one season, the first starter of Alabama, who did it because it … hurts.
Hurts, from Houston, led Crimson Tide to the National National Championships in 2016–17, but during these two seasons were lower than 5,000 yards. While Hurts was a singular Rusher (1,809 yards and 21 sticks) at the moment, his weakness as a passerby is known for led to the spare Tua Tavailoa during the break of the national championships in 2017.
In the mix, Milroe decided that despite his pedestrian passes, he was still worthy of being a start at NFL.
He is aware of his weaknesses and swore that he worked in the ass to enhance outside being “one dimension.” He could move when his legendary trainer, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but decided to not fall off. He traveled six miles a day to ensure that that something was left in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter. He studied progression and reads after I-SNAP to lift his IQ in football.
Unlike the forecast sorts of the first round, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw a mix on Saturday, hoping that he would show the bands that he has mechanics to do that to the playmaker NFL. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and a very good location of sail routes, curls and it while throwing exercises, but fought accuracy on intermediate and on the routes.
“That’s so many things that I can learn more where I am today and where I will be when it comes to day 1, starting with NFL,” said Milroe before Saturday exercises. “Always be a game student, at all times attempt to develop, because it would be so many opportunities in which I can look back and say that it was the moment after I grew up as a playmaker.
“That’s right now, I’m just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look for development.”
Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images
Milroe was asked that he was one other playmaker in Alabama to succeed in the mix, following in the footsteps of the role (who moved to Oklahoma in 2019), Tavailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the company of others, but he added that it’s difficult to check him with others.
“We had different bands, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.
But when he specifically asked what he could study the journey of Hurts-from the first manager of the game after the super Bowl-Milroe master said he inspired him his companion Alabam.
“The most important thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head (I) always continued to work,” said Milroe. “He at all times raised his game, he has never been self -deserved, and all the pieces you see is great progress from him.
“And I have to applaud him as a person, he as a man, because he is definitely inspiring for many playmakers of my image, as well as many playmakers throughout the country. He leads to all of us. “
The couple isn’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 kilos on Milroe when he was in college. Milroe has a stronger arm, while Hurts played more and not using a mistake of football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 bags for 2 seasons as a starter in comparison with 10 captures Hurts and 43 bags.
But they can each be changing the game when their teams need them. In a highly publicized match against Georgia at the starting of the last season, Milroe finished almost 82% of his passes on 374 yards and two appointments, adding 117 yards to the ground for the next two results.
Milroe can also match the wounds in the so -called “Jalen-ISMS. “
“Climbing upstairs is not easy, but when you reach the top of this mountain, you will learn so many things when it comes to adversity when it comes to difficulties, things along the way,” said Milroe in a mix.
Sports
Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos from 1968. Black Power Salute inspired me to find my goal
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I’d say that I grew up within the household to be sure that that me and my siblings were aware of the black history. My parents invested in the gathering of black encyclopedias. On the duvet we had a version of the Bible with Black Jesus. Our house was stuffed with books of black novelists and thinkers, and if a black document appeared, we watched it. I watched all movies made on television about Dr. King, each “Roots” and “Alex Haley’s Queen” and I sat for all 14 hours “Eyes on the reward”-as a toddler. Bless my heart.
Having said this, there have been pockets of black history, and more likely that I had no opportunity to delve into once I was a toddler. The college was where all the will for information and understanding of the combined. I attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., One of a very powerful historically black universities within the country. It was there that I met people from around the globe whose knowledge about black history differed (often depending on the colleges and the communities by which we lived), but everyone had hunger to learn more.
One day, through the first yr, I remember one among my friends in a T -shirt by which I had definitely seen before, but I never paid attention to. There was a black and white screen printing on the shirt (what I do know now) the enduring moment on the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, where on the rostrum for 200-meter medals, Tommie Smith, John Carlos (races 1. And 3. Place Finaners) Everyone gathered a black fist in gloves while he played “Star Spangled Banner”. Peter Norman, the second place from Australia, wore a human rights badge, like Smith and Carlos.
Not only did they raise the fist of black power (although they each said it was for human rights), they received medals in black socks to represent poverty within the black community, and Smith wore a black scarf for black pride. Carlos showed solidarity with blue-wheeled employees, unpacking the jacket and wore a necklace from the beads for individuals who were lynched. Due to the state of Black America in 1968 and a continuing struggle for equality and civil rights, there have been calls to a boycott of the Games. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also killed in April this yr – and all three athletes were inspired enough to find a way to do it on the rostrum, which led to one of the crucial durable images of public protest.
I remember how I learned history and realized that on the most important scene these brave men used their moment of triumph and victory to quietly protest against the conditions of underrated communities in America. I felt strengthened; We often discuss standing on the arms of giants, however the more I got into the history of black in America, the more I spotted what number of giants there have been. In college I used to be very bad and for a while ready to burn every part that represented the establishment or any obstacle to black liberation. I felt like all those individuals who even saw their space on the planet in reference to individuals who could never give you the option to speak as heroes whose lives were to be modeled later. Especially since it was also fastidiously that putting people in front of him can often bring an enormous personal loss.
When Smith and Carlos took their position, they were booed on the stadium and ordered to be sent home by the International Olympic Committee. The athletes returned home, but they weren’t welcomed by the hero, but as a substitute of rough sleds, and even in some cases the specter of death. They were also not beloved by athletes. Two men, associated eternally in history, even have a good relationship –Carlos even claims that he let Smith go within the race Because “Tommie Smith would never put his fist in the sky if I won this race,” the claim that Smith denies.
History ultimately has a way of rights, but it surely took a few years and realizations on the front of social policy, in order that the actions of those persons are perceived as brave and needed, not only selfish and smug.
The lessons that I learned from College and continuous reading and education I gained (my head remained within the book about black history) were one among the best advantages in HBCU. The very variety of books I learned about about which I actually have never heard of – I actually have upheld me all my life.
That is why I remember sooner or later I used to be walking around Washington, the eastern Washington market and a street seller was selling different photos of moments in black history, and he had a 40 -inch photo within the Tommie Smith and John Carlos frame. I paid for it in money and spent it across the capital of the country until I returned home. I do know that it happened in 2005 (I finished Morehouse College in 2001) because I just moved to my first apartment with no roommate and it was the very first thing that I actually have ever suspended on the wall. This picture within the frame still hangs on the wall in my home in 2025 and I used it to teach my children about sacrifice and privilege and how you may have to discuss individuals who cannot.
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The query that my youngest children often ask: “How do I know who can’t speak for herself?” Which is an incredible query. For this I answered an easy fact, pointing to the photo:
“These men have made a gesture that gave people whose most of us, including them, would never see or never know them, but on which life negatively affects the alternatives of the wealthy and the federal government. Sometimes you may have to take this chance to say something because you do not know in the event you’ll ever have such a big platform.
Son, there may be at all times someone who cannot speak for himself, and you may have to use it in a voice, because perhaps the thing you say or a stand that can help someone you understand, live a greater life. ”
I take advantage of words that may understand a little bit higher, but I can inform you that my children have a look at this photo on a regular basis, and once one among my sons said: “These guys are heroes, right?”
I say yes, they’re. They are the heroes of the Black History.
They will live eternally for speaking, and even quietly, in solidarity with those that couldn’t.
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Sports
Main Treasury Official Morgan State University, Sterling Steward, died
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Morgan State University announced that his older associate athletics director and tax director, Sterling Steward, died.
No reason for death was disclosed, but the college has confirmed his contribution since he was employed in December 2022.
Morgan State University Athletics mourns Sterling Steward’s departure https://t.co/avjzilxhja
– Grizzly Life (@grizzlylife22) February 26, 2025
Steward died on February 26. In Morgan State he was accountable for the event of university programs, supporting partnerships and strengthening the financial and operational success of the Faculty.
“Sterling was more than a colleague-he was a respected leader, mentor and friend,” said in a written statement by Den Freeman-Patton, vice chairman and director of inter-university athletes. “His passion for athletics and commitment to raising Morgan programs were visible in everything he did. He worked tirelessly to ensure that our sports students had resources and the possibilities of distinction, and its impact will be felt for many years. We expand our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his three sons and sister when we mourn this huge loss. “
While the steward worked in Morgan, strategic growth and cooperation occurred. His work with the institutional development department helped to offer more opportunities and created lasting relationships to support sports programs.
Steward earlier he worked At the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an assistant to the college athletics director for strategic income generation. He also made stays on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Oregon University and Xavier University in various roles, including for a senior consultant athletics director and sports director.
He was from New Orleans, who received the title of bachelor and master’s degree on the University of Southern Mississippi. He won a bachelor’s degree in the sphere of coaching and administration/history of sport and his master’s degree in the sphere of sport management.
(Tagstransate) Morgan State Universiry
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