With the clock ticking down to Sunday’s tipoff in the women’s NCAA championship basketball game, David Portnoy decided it was time to have his say about the biggest name in women’s college basketball.
The founder of Barstool Sports, who has never been shy about making his opinions known, posted a video to the social media platform X taking on critics of college hoops superstar Caitlin Clark.
And in typical Portnoy fashion, he didn’t pull any punches.
Warning: The following video contains the kind of graphic, gratuitous language you’d expect from a guy who founded something called Barstool Sports. Readers who think barstool cursing is for lowlifes are likely to be offended — and have a point.
Over a three-minute monologue, Portnoy scorched the “racebaiters” and “talking heads” who’ve tried to diminish Clark’s accomplish, former players and current Women’s NBA players who he said have downplayed the University of Iowa star.
Check it out here:
Jealously is a stinky cologne. Pass it along to all the Caitlin Clark haters. pic.twitter.com/4EPpjutJ19
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 7, 2024
Among the “racebaiters,” Portnoy put former ESPN commentator and current writer for The Atlantic Jemele Hill, a woman who has rarely shied away from using her public platform to highlight her obsession with race.
Do you agree with Dave Portnoy?
In an interview published March 29 by the entertainment and culture website Uproxx, Hill acknowledged Clark’s undeniable talent, but in effect said she’s a product of the environment, not a creator of it.
“I think the media is very centered on centering Caitlin Clark in everything and pouring a huge share of the coverage behind her, which is definitely understandable. Because if she is the lightning bolt that is striking everything, then of course it makes sense to really cover the lightning bolt,” Hill said.
“But I think the media is treating it as if there’s just this anomaly that’s come along, and all we have to do is pay attention to an anomaly — and not overall the fact that the sport, before she really began catching the eye of the national public, was gaining a tremendous amount of traction. Everything about this sport has been trending up for years now.
“It did not just start with Caitlin Clark, but they’re treating it like it did. And so it’s already creating a false narrative that is doing the public a disservice.
That’s probably true — to some extent. The problem with it is that it ignores the reality that millions of Americans were aware that there was a women’s NCAA tournament the same way there were millions of Americans aware there was a PGA before Tiger Woods came along. The comparison between before and after is just incalculable.
Clark has made college women’s basketball a sport people outside the sport’s natural aficionados actually care about. The fact that Hill is unhappy that it’s a white woman accomplishing that doesn’t change the truth of it.
Among the “talking heads,” Portnoy cited former Duke men’s basketball star and NBA player Jayson Williams, who has said Clark is an unquestioned talent, but could not be considered one of the greatest of all time without winning a national championship.
(The results of Sunday’s game — an 87-75 victory by the South Carolina Gamecocks over Clark’s Hawkeyes make that an open question.)
Portnoy was having none of it.
“Nobody wants to give this girl her flowers, Caitlin Clark,” he said.
“Listen, are you people stupid? Jayson Williams saying you can’t be an all-time great unless you win a title, even though she’s on a team that isn’t as talented as 90 percent of her competition.”
And he hit on women too, from Lynette Woodard — the college and pro basketball star who led the U.S. to gold in the 1984 Olympics and was the first woman on the Harlem Globetrotters — to unnamed WNBA players he said are jealous of the attention Clark is getting and the money that’s likely to mean.
“How stupid are these other women, though?” he asked. “How hating are they?”
Portnoy himself offered Clark $10 million to play on his own intramural recreational team. (don’t expect it to happen) and had harsh words.
“How don’t you get it’s elevating all of you?” he asked. “It’s elevating you to a stratosphere. Take advantage of it.”
With Clark’s team coming up short in Sunday’s final, it’s entirely possible Caitlin Clark-mania is going to subside for a while.
In the meantime, talking heads, other athletes, and every woman and man whose paycheck depends in some manner on the WNBA drawing an audience should be either figuring out to take Portnoy’s advice or regretting they didn’t.
The time to take advantage of any opportunity is when it’s happening.
