Caitlin Clark, Christine Brennan and how racial stereotypes persist in the media’s WNBA coverage
The “Caitlin Clark effect” has driven record growth in the WNBA, yet Clark’s rookie season ended prematurely, revealing racial tensions and media biases impacting Black athletes’ representation and coverage.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, right, scrambles for a loose ball against Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington during a game on Aug. 28, 2024. Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Clark, however, didn’t get a chance to compete for a league title.
The Connecticut Sun eliminated Clark’s team, the Indiana Fever, in the first round of the playoffs with a two-game sweep, ending her record rookie-of-the-year campaign.
And it may be just the latest chapter in a complicated saga steeped in race.
During the next day’s media availability, USA Today columnist Christine Brennan recorded and posted an exchange between herself and Carrington.
In the brief clip, the veteran sports writer asks Carrington, who is Black, if she purposely hit Clark in the eye during the previous night’s game. Though Carrington insisted she didn’t intentionally hit Clark, Brennan persisted, asking the guard if she and a teammate had laughed about the incident. The questions sparked social media outrage, statements from the players union and the league, media personalities weighing in and more.
But Brennan’s questions were not asked in a vacuum. The emergence of a young, white superstar from the heartland has caused many new WNBA fans to pick sides that fall along racial lines. Brennan’s critics claim she was pushing a line of questioning that has dogged Black athletes for decades: that they are aggressive and undisciplined.
Because of that, her defense of her questions – and her unwillingness to acknowledge the complexities – has left this professor disappointed in one of her journalistic heroes.
Brennan and much of the mainstream sports media, particularly those who cover professional women’s basketball, still seem to have a racial blind spot.
The emergence of a Black, queer league
When the WNBA launched in 1997 in the wake of the success of the 1996 Olympic gold-medal-winning U.S. women’s basketball team, it did so under the watch of the NBA.
While the league experienced fits and starts in attendance and TV ratings over its lifetime, the demographic makeup of its players is undeniable: The WNBA is, by and large, a Black, queer league.
In 2020, the Women’s National Basketball Players Association reported that 83% of its members were people of color, with 67% self-reporting as “Black/African-American.” While gender and sexual identity hasn’t been officially reported, a “substantial proportion,” the WNBPA reported, identify as LBGTQ+.
In 2020, the league’s diversity was celebrated as players competed in a “bubble” in Bradenton, Florida, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They protested racial injustice, helped unseat a U.S. senator who also owned Atlanta’s WNBA franchise, and urged voters to oust former President Donald Trump from the White House.
Racial tensions bubble to the surface
In the middle of it all, the WNBA has more eyeballs on it than ever before. And, without mincing words, the fan base has “gotten whiter” since Clark’s debut this past summer, as The Wall Street Journal pointed out in July. Those white viewers of college women’s basketball have emphatically turned their attention to the pro game, in large part due to Clark’s popularity at the University of Iowa.
While the rising tide following Clark’s transition to the WNBA is certainly lifting all boats, it is also bringing detritus to the surface in the form of racist jeers from the stands and on social media.
After the Sun dispatched the Fever, All-WNBA forward Alyssa Thomas, who seldom speaks beyond soundbites, said in a postgame news conference: “I think in my 11-year career I’ve never experienced the racial comments from the Indiana Fever fan base. … I’ve never been called the things that I’ve been called on social media, and there’s no place for it.”
Echoes of Bird and Magic
In “Manufacturing Consent,” a seminal work about the U.S. news business, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky argued that media in capitalist environments do not exist to impartially report the news, but to reinforce dominant narratives of the time, even if they are false. Most journalists, they theorized, work to support the status quo.
In sports, you sometimes see that come to light through what media scholars call “the stereotypical narrative” – a style of reporting and writing that relies on old tropes.
In Brennan’s coverage of the Carrington-Clark incident, there appear to be echoes of the way the media covered Los Angeles Lakers point guard Magic Johnson and Boston Celtics forward Larry Bird in the 1980s.
The battles between two of the sport’s greatest players – one Black, the other white – was a windfall for the NBA, lifting the league into financial sustainability.
But to many reporters who leaned on the dominant narrative of the time, the two stars also served as stand-ins for the racial tensions of the post-civil rights era. During the 1980s, Bird and Magic didn’t simply hoop; they were the “embodiments of their races and living symbols of how blacks and whites lived in America,” as scholars Patrick Ferrucci and Earnest Perry wrote.
Advertisement
The media gatekeepers of the Magic-Bird era often relied on racial stereotypes that ultimately distorted both athletes.
For example, early in their careers, Bird and Johnson received different journalistic treatment. In Ferrucci and Perry’s article, they explain how coverage of Bird “fit the dominant narrative of the time perfectly … exhibiting a hardworking and intelligent game that succeeded despite a lack of athletic prowess.” When the “flashy” Lakers and Johnson won, they wrote, it was because of “superior skill.”
When they lost to Bird’s Celtics, they were “outworked.”
Framing matters
Let’s go back to Brennan.
Few have done more for young women in the sports media industry than Brennan. In time, energy and money, she has mentored and supported young women trying to break into the field. She has used her platform to expand the coverage of women’s sports.
“I think [critics are] missing the fact of what I’m trying to do, what I am doing, what I understand clearly as a journalist, asking questions and putting things out there so that athletes can then have an opportunity to answer issues that are being discussed or out there.”
I don’t think Brennan asking Carrington about the foul was problematic. Persisting with the narrative was.
Advertisement
Leaning into racial stereotypes is not simply about the language used anymore. Brennan’s video of her persistent line of questioning pitted Carrington against Clark. It could be argued that it used the stereotype of the overly physical, aggressive Black athlete, as well.
At best, Brennan has a blind spot to the strain racism is putting on Black athletes today – particularly in the WNBA. At worst, she is digging in on that tired trope.
A blind spot can be addressed and seen. An unacknowledged racist narrative, however, will persist.
The Bridge is a section of the STM Daily News Blog meant for diversity, offering real news stories about bona fide community efforts to perpetuate a greater good. The purpose of The Bridge is to connect the divides that separate us, fostering understanding and empathy among different groups. By highlighting positive initiatives and inspirational actions, The Bridge aims to create a sense of unity and shared purpose. This section brings to light stories of individuals and organizations working tirelessly to promote inclusivity, equality, and mutual respect. Through these narratives, readers are encouraged to appreciate the richness of diverse perspectives and to participate actively in building stronger, more cohesive communities.
‘I’ll have a coke – no, not Coca-Cola, Sprite.’
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesValerie M. Fridland, University of Nevada, Reno
With burgers sizzling and classic rock thumping, many Americans revel in summer cookouts – at least until that wayward cousin asks for a “pop” in soda country, or even worse, a “coke” when they actually want a Sprite.
Few American linguistic debates have bubbled quite as long and effervescently as the one over whether a generic soft drink should be called a soda, pop or coke.
The word you use generally boils down to where you’re from: Midwesterners enjoy a good pop, while soda is tops in the North and far West. Southerners, long the cultural mavericks, don’t bat an eyelash asking for coke – lowercase – before homing in on exactly the type they want: Perhaps a root beer or a Coke, uppercase.
As a linguist who studies American dialects, I’m less interested in this regional divide and far more fascinated by the unexpected history behind how a fizzy “health” drink from the early 1800s spawned the modern soft drink’s many names and iterations.
Bubbles, anyone?
Foods and drinks with wellness benefits might seem like a modern phenomenon, but the urge to create drinks with medicinal properties inspired what might be called a soda revolution in the 1800s.
An 1878 engraving of a soda fountain.Smith Collection/Gado via Getty Images
The process of carbonating water was first discovered in the late 1700s. By the early 1800s, this carbonated water had become popular as a health drink and was often referred to as “soda water.” The word “soda” likely came from “sodium,” since these drinks often contained salts, which were then believed to have healing properties.
Given its alleged curative effects for health issues such as indigestion, pharmacists sold soda water at soda fountains, innovative devices that created carbonated water to be sold by the glass. A chemistry professor, Benjamin Stillman, set up the first such device in a drugstore in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1806. Its eventual success inspired a boom of soda fountains in drugstores and health spas.
By the mid-1800s, pharmacists were creating unique root-, fruit- and herb-infused concoctions, such as sassafras-based root beer, at their soda fountains, often marketing them as cures for everything from fatigue to foul moods.
These flavored, sweetened versions gave rise to the linking of the word “soda” with a sweetened carbonated beverage, as opposed to simple, carbonated water.
Seltzer – today’s popular term for such sparkling water – was around, too. But it was used only for the naturally carbonated mineral water from the German town Nieder-Selters. Unlike Perrier, sourced similarly from a specific spring in France, seltzer made the leap to becoming a generic term for fizzy water.
Many late-19th-century and early 20th-century drugstores contained soda fountains – a nod to the original belief that the sugary, bubbly drink possessed medicinal qualities.Hall of Electrical History Foundation/Corbis via Getty Images
Regional naming patterns
So how did “soda” come to be called so many different things in different places?
It all stems from a mix of economic enterprise and linguistic ingenuity.
The popularity of “soda” in the Northeast likely reflects the soda fountain’s longer history in the region. Since a lot of Americans living in the Northeast migrated to California in the mid-to-late 1800s, the name likely traveled west with them.
As for the Midwestern preference for “pop” – well, the earliest American use of the term to refer to a sparkling beverage appeared in the 1840s in the name of a flavored version called “ginger pop.” Such ginger-flavored pop, though, was around in Britain by 1816, since a Newcastle songbook is where you can first see it used in text. The “pop” seems to be onomatopoeic for the noise made when the cork was released from the bottle before drinking.
A jingle for Faygo touts the company’s ‘red pop.’
Linguists don’t fully know why “pop” became so popular in the Midwest. But one theory links it to a Michigan bottling company, Feigenson Brothers Bottling Works – today known as Faygo Beverages – that used “pop” in the name of the sodas they marketed and sold. Another theory suggests that because bottles were more common in the region, soda drinkers were more likely to hear the “pop” sound than in the Northeast, where soda fountains reigned.
As for using coke generically, the first Coca-Cola was served in 1886 by Dr. John Pemberton, a pharmacist at Jacobs’ Pharmacy in Atlanta and the founder of the company. In the 1900s, the Coca-Cola company tried to stamp out the use of “Coke” for “Coca-Cola.” But that ship had already sailed. Since Coca-Cola originated and was overwhelmingly popular in the South, its generic use grew out of the fact that people almost always asked for “Coke.”
No alcohol means not ‘hard’ but ‘soft.’Nostalgic Collections/eBay
As with Jell-O, Kleenex, Band-Aids and seltzer, it became a generic term.
What’s soft about it?
Speaking of soft drinks, what’s up with that term?
It was originally used to distinguish all nonalcoholic drinks from “hard drinks,” or beverages containing spirits.
Interestingly, the original Coca-Cola formula included wine – resembling a type of alcoholic “health” drink popular overseas, Vin Mariani. But Pemberton went on to develop a “soft” version a few years later to be sold as a medicinal drink.
Due to the growing popularity of soda water concoctions, eventually “soft drink” came to mean only such sweetened carbonated beverages, a linguistic testament to America’s enduring love affair with sugar and bubbles.
With the average American guzzling almost 40 gallons per year, you can call it whatever you what. Just don’t call it healthy.Valerie M. Fridland, Professor of Linguistics, University of Nevada, Reno
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Dive into “The Knowledge,” where curiosity meets clarity. This playlist, in collaboration with STMDailyNews.com, is designed for viewers who value historical accuracy and insightful learning. Our short videos, ranging from 30 seconds to a minute and a half, make complex subjects easy to grasp in no time. Covering everything from historical events to contemporary processes and entertainment, “The Knowledge” bridges the past with the present. In a world where information is abundant yet often misused, our series aims to guide you through the noise, preserving vital knowledge and truths that shape our lives today. Perfect for curious minds eager to discover the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of everything around us. Subscribe and join in as we explore the facts that matter. https://stmdailynews.com/the-knowledge/
(Family Features) For those who have served in the U.S. armed forces, transitioning back to civilian life can be a challenge. However, community support can help make the transition easier for many veterans and provide those who offer that support – particularly young people – with rewarding opportunities and insight.
Take, for example, Daniel Finney, who started volunteering at a local Department of Veterans Affairs hospital where his mother worked when he was 13 years old. At first, his mother simply wanted him to learn from the veterans and their experiences, but volunteering changed the trajectory of Finney’s life.
He volunteered almost daily for the next 10 years, even inviting his friends to join him at the hospital. From that experience, Finney built valuable skills and chose to pursue a career as a physician’s assistant.
“I chose to volunteer at the hospital not only because it was a great opportunity, but because I wanted to give back to our nation’s heroes who I felt were too often overlooked,” Finney said. “In addition, volunteering with dedicated health care professionals allowed me to discover the actual purpose for my current career path.”
Not only did Finney reap personal rewards from volunteering and make a real difference in the lives of veterans, he also received tens of thousands of dollars in college scholarship money from DAV (Disabled American Veterans). The organization annually offers $110,000 in scholarships to student volunteers to be used toward accredited higher learning, including universities, colleges, community colleges and vocational schools.
“I look at this scholarship as another door opening up,” Finney said. “This has allowed me to do so many things. One of them is to pay for college. I want to continue to be a civil servant wherever I go. I want to continue to help veterans, whether that’s a part of my job or whether I’m still volunteering. It can be working at a hospital or helping with a food drive for the homeless veteran community. It can be anything. I now have that desire ingrained in me to continue to serve our veterans.”
These scholarships are open to students age 21 or younger who have contributed a minimum of 100 cumulative volunteer hours credited through DAV or DAV Auxiliary. Students can be nominated or may apply with the inclusion of an essay on what volunteering for veterans means to them. Learn more at DAVScholarships.org.
For students, or anyone interested in giving back, consider a few other ideas for supporting the nation’s veterans.
Express Your Gratitude
Simply saying “thank you” can go a long way in expressing gratitude to veterans. Whether it’s through a handwritten note, a heartfelt conversation or a public acknowledgment at a community event, showing appreciation can help veterans feel valued and recognized for their service.
Raise Awareness for Veterans’ Needs
Learning about the challenges veterans face, such as service-related health issues, homelessness and underemployment, then advocating for supportive legislation and programming can go a long way toward improving their situations.
For example, Amelia Marcum, another DAV scholarship recipient, developed a Native American veterans resource guide designed to provide veterans with key information about federal, state, community and tribal-based programs. She worked closely with Vietnam veteran and North Dakota state Sen. Richard Marcellais to bring the guide, which is now used by five tribal veterans resource service centers, to fruition.
“Volunteering to serve the veteran community has been immensely transformative for me,” said Marcum, a direct descendent of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. “I discovered a profound sense of purpose in elevating support systems for Native veterans, a community that serves at the highest rates among ethnic groups yet often faces significant challenges in accessing the benefits they rightfully deserve.”
Support Veteran-Owned Businesses
Many veterans transition into entrepreneurship after their military careers, and your patronage not only helps their businesses thrive, but also puts money back into the local community. Look for veteran-owned businesses or use online directories to find veteran entrepreneurs when searching for specific goods and services.
SOURCE:DAV
(Family Features) Play is a universal language spoken by people of all ages. Through play, children learn to forge connections with others, build a wide range of leadership skills, develop resilience, conquer fears and navigate relationships and social challenges.
For babies and toddlers, play is about far more than just having fun; it’s about learning and building important skills, from cognitive and physical to emotional and social abilities. As children get older, play helps reduce stress levels, process difficult emotions, promote problem-solving and build confidence – skills they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Despite its importance, play is often undervalued and overlooked due to busy schedules, lack of resources or misconceptions about its benefits. Approximately 4 in 10 children ages 2-4 do not get enough responsive interaction or stimulation at home, based on estimates from UNICEF, and roughly 1 in 8 children under age 5 don’t have toys or playthings at home.
To overcome these barriers, it’s essential for parents and caregivers to recognize the value of both structured and unstructured play. Simple, everyday items – like kitchen utensils, cardboard boxes, leaves and stones – can be tools for imaginative play. Setting aside dedicated time for play, even in short intervals, can make a difference.
In honor of International Day of Play, consider these ideas to turn everyday activities into playful learning opportunities from UNICEF, which recognizes play as an important means to help children by providing access to evidence-based parenting programs and working with governments to prioritize play-based teaching and learning practices in schools and other learning environments.
Turn a grocery shopping trip into a scavenger hunt to teach kids about different foods, counting and categorization.
Role play or act out different scenarios you read in books or see in movies to help develop social skills and emotional understanding.
Make important language connections when getting dressed, such as identifying different articles of clothing and teaching colors.
Use bathtime to explore buoyancy and water with floating toys.
Play “I spy” while driving in the car or going for a walk around your neighborhood to help kids identify different animals, shapes, colors and elements of nature like trees, clouds and more.
Explore the kitchen through tasks such as choosing ingredients, measuring them and keeping time while cooking.
Use puzzles and building blocks to help develop problem-solving skills and hand-eye coordination.
Stimulate senses and promote fine motor skills through play with materials like sand, water or crafting dough.
Make sorting laundry educational by asking children to match socks by color or size, reinforcing their understanding of sorting and categorization.
Take turns doing the feeding at snack or mealtimes to build hand-eye coordination.
Find more ways to engage your children in fun, engaging play at unicefusa.org/play.
SOURCE:UNICEF
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here:
Cookie Policy
Valerie M. Fridland, Professor of Linguistics, University of Nevada, Reno
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
“I look at this scholarship as another door opening up,” Finney said. “This has allowed me to do so many things. One of them is to pay for college. I want to continue to be a civil servant wherever I go. I want to continue to help veterans, whether that’s a part of my job or whether I’m still volunteering. It can be working at a hospital or helping with a food drive for the homeless veteran community. It can be anything. I now have that desire ingrained in me to continue to serve our veterans.”
These scholarships are open to students age 21 or younger who have contributed a minimum of 100 cumulative volunteer hours credited through DAV or DAV Auxiliary. Students can be nominated or may apply with the inclusion of an essay on what volunteering for veterans means to them. Learn more at 
(Family Features) Play is a universal language spoken by people of all ages. Through play, children learn to forge connections with others, build a wide range of leadership skills, develop resilience, conquer fears and navigate relationships and social challenges.
For babies and toddlers, play is about far more than just having fun; it’s about learning and building important skills, from cognitive and physical to emotional and social abilities. As children get older, play helps reduce stress levels, process difficult emotions, promote problem-solving and build confidence – skills they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Despite its importance, play is often undervalued and overlooked due to busy schedules, lack of resources or misconceptions about its benefits. Approximately 4 in 10 children ages 2-4 do not get enough responsive interaction or stimulation at home, based on estimates from UNICEF, and roughly 1 in 8 children under age 5 don’t have toys or playthings at home.
To overcome these barriers, it’s essential for parents and caregivers to recognize the value of both structured and unstructured play. Simple, everyday items – like kitchen utensils, cardboard boxes, leaves and stones – can be tools for imaginative play. Setting aside dedicated time for play, even in short intervals, can make a difference.
In honor of 
