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Do any of us really know what it’s like to wake up each morning and know that people are talking about you around the world, about your looks, about your sexuality, about your race, about how many turnovers you had last night?
Does anyone really know what it’s like to enter a profession, to realize a dream you thought about since a little girl, and when you get there people start taking cheap shots at you and it seems there’s an avalanche of resentment crashing all over you – every day?
Does anyone really know what it’s like to be swarmed everywhere you go by autographic seekers, little kids, boys, and girls, day after day, and then have to play a game knowing the stadium is packed mainly to watch you play? What if I play badly? Will that person who paid $400 to buy a ticket feel disappointed? Will that be my fault?
Does anyone really know what it’s like to be surrounded by reporters 10, 20, and 30 years older than you asking what you think about race relations and sexual orientations in America, these people looking to use you to get a story that advances their careers whether it’s negative about you or not?
Does anyone really know what it’s like to walk onto a basketball court and get the uncomfortable feeling that several people on that same court don’t seem to like you very much even though you’ve never done anything to them?
Does anyone really know what’s it like to be 22 years old and have to shut down social media because you know if you look at it there will be an astounding number of people criticizing how you played, what you think, saying you don’t deserve to be making endorsement money that you are, being fearful that if you read or watch any of it you’ll get hurt to the point of tears and worse because the personal attacks will be so vicious?
The answer to all these questions is no, none of us know what it’s like being Caitlin Clark right now except Caitlin Clark. There isn’t an athlete nor a person in this world being more talked about than her and she didn’t bring this on herself. Her mere existence, and being good at basketball, has set off this nationwide explosion heard Coast to Coast and well beyond our borders.
Podcasters talk about her every day, those who know her, those who don’t, those who care about her, and those who don’t, all because they know if they talk about her they’ll increase their chances of generating more followers which could lead to making themselves more money, influence and power. They’re using her to better their own situations. They don’t necessarily care whether she’s happy about it or happy at all.
She’s an economy in herself. And people are taking advantage of her popularity to enrich themselves. Small media outlets, mid-size, national. Ratings – she lights the world aflame.
24/7.
But how is all this affecting her? She’s not telling us much so far, steering clear of controversial statements, but you know beneath that graciousness her mind and thoughts have to be racing and there’s so much happening around her that is about her that it must feel so weird, like tall buildings closing in all around her, the shade darkening.
It’s all too much for any one person to be dealing with at any age especially so young and right out of college. I am concerned she goes home at night and can’t go anywhere because she’ll get mobbed for autographs.
She has to hide. Her life is so much more complicated now in the WNBA than it was in Iowa and it was bonkers there. She has her family and circle of friends and that’s good. I hope she gets private time with them.
The conversations must be getting heavier and more desperate like “Hey Caitlin, are you OK? Is all that is happening in your life got you confused, distraught, feeling hopeless?”
It feels hopeless for her right now but I hope she doesn’t feel hopeless. I hope she feels strong and ambitious and healthy in her mind, thinking upbeat thoughts, clear-headed about it all, focused on that which she can control which is practicing her shot and other basketball skills. On the court, her only safe haven on Earth. It’s just a simple game, really, putting a ball into a ring. How did everything become about so much more than that?
Long ago, it now seems, back there in Iowa as a little girl how could she have imagined her life becoming what it is now ascending to be nearly as famous as Michael Jordan and Taylor Swift?
Known all over America by hundreds of millions of people. Talked about daily.
For the rest of her life, a full-on American celebrity on the A list.
It sounds absurd yet is true.
I heard this week someone compared her level of fame to Elvis Presley-like. We all know how that ended. There have been tragic stories about people becoming so famous that their lives become so disorderly and unusual that it all comes crashing down.
I’m thinking of Marilyn Monroe.
My biggest concern for her is not how many points she scores this season or whether she makes the WNBA All-Rookie Team or any of that. I want her to be controlling her thoughts and not allow them to get control of her, the negative thought tapes pulling her mood down. I want her to just be at peace, as hard as that may be.
If she never scores another point or plays on any U.S. Olympic team, I will be fine with that. She’s already enthralled me with her play and so so so many others.
Let this human being be a 22-year-old. Don’t pull her into all the complex social issues people older than her have never been able to fix. It’s not her fault. She’s not old enough to have lived through enough of these messy things to unravel it in her mind. We struggle with it, as her elders, and we’re supposedly more wise.
She’s a young person. A basketball player. Just a young girl a short while ago.
Let Caitlin Clark live.
Don’t take her life away.
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Sammy Sportface, a sports blogger, galvanizes, inspires, and amuses The Baby Boomer Brotherhood. And you can learn about his vision and join this group's Facebook page here:
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