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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana Third District Congressman Jim Banks wants answers from the Women’s National Basketball Association on how it will protect Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark from “excessive physical targeting.”
In a Tuesday letter to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, Banks said Clark has experienced “resentment and repeated attacks from fellow players” during her first season with the Fever.
Banks specifically mentioned how Chicago Sky player Chennedy Carter knocked Clark to the ground during a game against the Fever on June 1, a foul which the WNBA eventually upgraded to a Flagrant 1. He said another Sky player, Angel Reese, celebrated the foul. Video footage of the game shows Reese cheering moments after the foul, but some say it’s unclear what she was celebrating. Carter and Reese refused to comment on the foul, and Reese received a $1,000 fine for not being available to reporters after the game.
“Indiana is a basketball state,” Banks wrote. “We don’t wince at aggressive defense, but this was not an example of playing ‘tough’; it was a cheap shot that could have resulted in an injury and should not be tolerated.”
Banks asked Engelbert to answer four questions by June 14. First, he asked what steps the league is taking to “curb excessive physical targeting” of specific players. He also asked if individual teams and organizations will be held accountable for allowing players to target competitors, and if Engelbert believed players “diminishing the talents of their fellow players is beneficial to the leagues’ overall success.” Additionally, he asked if seeing Clark targeted is “inspiring” to young female athletes.
“Every data point shows, when Caitlin Clark plays, more people watch and what they are seeing right now is a league that refuses to hold hostile players accountable and enforce their own rules of sportsmanship,” Banks wrote.
The Fever have consistently played before sold-out or nearly sold-out arenas in their 11 games this season.
Sports commentators have spent the week analyzing the issue and whether issues of race play a role. The two Sky players are Black women and Clark is white. Former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee also received backlash this week during his ESPN show, which is based in Indianapolis, by calling Clark a “white bitch” in an intended compliment. He later apologized for using the term.
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Seriously???
+1
And this man is running to be a US Senator from the State of Indiana.
Unbelievable
He just made it worse for her. Why talk about real issues when you can stir the pot and bit in to the WNBA issues, right?
You beat me to it. Not helpful at all – he’s probably never even watched a game. He should take a lesson from her about how to handle things with grace and calm and not escalate.
Oh, he’s an idiot. Noted.
On the other hand, I’d rather see him refereeing girls basketball than serving in the Senate
WNBA should call his bluff: loudly and publicly offer him a job as a ref!
YES!
A pretty pathetic attempt to pander to both women and basketball fans. Maybe he should work on substantive issues that will actually improve our lives.
He’s pandering to his base as well as MAGA is trying to “adopt” CC. But she’s just trying to play basketball while some WNBA players and commentators are playing other games and trying to make this political (like Banks).
The substantive women’s issues on which he’s done damage: women’s reproductive health, SCOTUS appointments….this is his legislative record.
Maybe he could publicly cry foul over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the concerns generated from that invasion for our European allies, and China’s harrassment of Taiwan. Maybe instead of just complaining about immigrants at the Southern border, he could look into how the US might have contributed to, and how it might help resolve, the issues in the Central American countries from which these folks are fleeing. Say, a real embargo on US guns and ammunition to the impacted countries (Haiti, in particular, pops to mind) and depriving the gangsters and politicians in these countries fueling these issues of access to American banks. You know, things that can be done at the federal level.
Good idea. Unfortunately, those real issues don’t resonate with TFG or his base. It’s easier to try to capitalize on the CC controversy and scream about the border.
Can I please reprint that everywhere?….
Mr Banks, please get back to work.
Jeez
Mr Banks, please crawl back under your rock.
Barstool senator. Try to imagine the cringe life of being family members of numnuts like that
While I’ve oft been told opposited attract, I suspect in these cases its the other way around, and they swarm together. So, for the family, it’s probably not a cringe issue…they’re bloody well likely very proud of him for stepping up to this plate on this critical issue…
Next will be Congressional investigations chaired by Jim Jordan of Ohio of the Penske team scandal a few months ago; perhaps an inquiry as to how Japanese women seemed to dominate the US Open last week (but most certainly not an investigation into sexual predators at Ohio State wrestling).
+1
Caitlin–you do NOT want this guy in your fan club.
Seriously? What makes Banks think he has any business (i.e., jurisdiction) over the WNBA? What a fool he is.