Safe to say some fans have twisted the rivalry between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark beyond what’s remotely acceptable. Being criticized by the public is part of the deal as a professional athlete. The current generation has it harder than ever with the prevalence of social media. Blocking out all of the outside noise is all but impossible, so some athletes like Reese fully lean into it and welcome the smoke.
That may lead to multiple millions of followers across various platforms, but that also opens Reese up to the ugliest sides of sports fandom. In her debut podcast, Reese didn’t hold anything back, noting in particular how certain Clark fans who’ve followed her to her residence, created mock-up nude AI photos of her that were then sent to her family members, and have sent her death threats.
Angel Reese on her relationship with Caitlin Clark 👀
Watch full episode here: https://t.co/PRkTaOQ3PO pic.twitter.com/VXGafURpvk
— Unapologetically Angel (@angelreeseshow) September 5, 2024
Reese refers to how racism has been a factor in some of the negativity from Clark fans. A peculiarly-worded chunk of that train of thought comes when Reese says, “I don’t believe she stands on any of that.” Maybe she misspoke, but it’s almost as if there’s, like, some underlying fraction of a fraction of a doubt that gee, maybe Clark is pro-racism.
Anyway, just gonna write that off as semantics, but the most toxic among Clark’s supporters could easily warp that and say Reese is taking a subtle shot at her.
Here’s the point: You can dislike Angel Reese for how she’s acted toward Clark. You can dislike how much attention she gets, or how much play she gets as a WNBA Rookie of the Year contender despite her inferiority as a player. The line is crossed when you start, you know, drafting up nude AI photos of her to send to her family. Sicko incel stuff right there. Any sort of racist rhetoric to drive home a point about one’s dislike for her is unacceptable in any context, too, as if that needs to really be said. Based on this story, I guess it does!
Death threats have unfortunately been a big part of sports for as long as I can remember. How it’s still happening makes me lose a little faith in humanity. Really? Threatening to kill someone over a sporting event? Sounds like super normal behavior.
Then yeah, WTF mate, stalking someone back to their home? How much of a nut job do you have to be?
What’s made me and most sensible sports people upset is the fact that Clark and Reese are mentioned in the same breath in terms of bottom-line impact on the sport of basketball, and the caliber of player that each of them is. Clark is far and away superior to Reese in those areas. Clark is a historically great WNBA rookie who leads the league in assists, has found her stride as a scorer and impacts the game in ways Reese couldn’t dream of.
That’s not to say Reese isn’t great in her own right. She was the seventh overall pick, and is already one of the most dominant rebounders in ladies hoops history. That’s cool too. She’s also historically inefficient as a scorer and that’s almost as detrimental to the Chicago Sky’s success as her rebounding prowess helps the cause.
Angel Reese takes the MOST shots at the rim in the WNBA.
She is LAST in efficiency. It’s not even close. pic.twitter.com/pEwYzHsSWa
— BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) September 5, 2024
All my beef with Reese has been purely basketball-related, along with the rampant pettiness that’s accompanied Clark single-handedly elevating women’s basketball in a way nobody before her has, or probably will after her. Reese was a big part of that rampant pettiness. She was celebrating cheap shots during their early matchups in the pros. Proclaiming that she was just as big a driving force in the explosion in popularity for the women’s game, which is just not true by any standard.
But again, whether it’s online or even in person, nowadays nobodies can get away with saying almost anything they want to athletes. Hopefully there’s a special place in Hell reserved for those who’ve come after Reese in the extreme fashions she’s described.
