Dave Portnoy Declares Skin Color Is Not Cause of Caitlin Clark's Popularity
Comments that Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark made during a December 11 interview with Time magazine regarding how she wants to use her privilege to "elevate Black women" in women's basketball have been the talk of the sports media world over the past few days.
Every day, more personalities and athletes are dropping their own opinions; most of whom are showing support to Clark.
The most recent person to speak out on Clark's behalf is Dave Portnoy, founder and owner of the Barstool Sports media conglomerate.
Portnoy is an unabashed Clark fan. And he embarked on a long tirade on X Saturday to convey what the cause of her popularity is certainly not due to.
"Caitlin Clark's popularity has absolutely nothing to do with the color of her skin," Portnoy said. "Anybody who has actually watched women's basketball... or watched Caitlin knows that she plays totally different than any woman before her... The first time I saw her, I was like 'Who the f*** is this?'
"Nobody plays like her. That's why she's so captivating. That's why the attendance records are up. That's why the television records are up. It's all Caitlin Clark," he continued. "Caitlin Clark put the WNBA on her back. If Caitlin Clark was not in the WNBA, nobody would be talking about women's basketball. End of story."
He then continued said story by saying, "Race has become a huge story around her. Not because of her, she has never commented about it. It's basically [that] her greatness has been co-opted by both sides, left and right... There has been a ton of white players who have been great in the league before her. Nobody cared, nobody showed the same attention. Why?... White players, Black players, nobody was like Caitlin.
"What do you want Caitlin Clark to do?" He continued after discussing backlash from her Time interview comments. "This, for Caitlin, has never been about politics, never been about race. It has been about the f****** being the best basketball player, female player, on the planet, and getting everybody into women's sports and women's basketball. Everybody around her made it about a race war... and she didn't even say anything that inflammatory."
Portnoy concluded by saying, "Anybody who is mad at Caitlin Clark right now for saying she wants to elevate the league, she respects the players that came before them and knows that they put in all the work that allows her to be in a professional league. If you have a problem with that, you were never a Caitlin Clark fan and you're a part of the problem too."
Caitlin Clark Rant incoming pic.twitter.com/XT72U8dMD2
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) December 14, 2024
Take his comments for what you will.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.