00:00Some of these other people, when you write something and you're in favor of, you know, covering a sport like
00:06where Caitlin Clark is in this WNBA,
00:09it just seems to me that it's really gone down racial lines now that if you support a white basketball
00:16player, all of a sudden you're getting the backlash.
00:19Someone like yourself, you must be stunned that the coverage that you're seeing in the areas that this story is
00:26going in.
00:27And what's so sad about this is that, you know, I know I've met because of the book tour and
00:33traveling around the country, not just Iowa and Indiana,
00:35but the D.C. area and Portland, Oregon and Tucson, Arizona and Texas and New Orleans and, you know, all
00:43over Chicago.
00:44The number of people, black and white, I'm sure Democrats and Republicans, not that I'm asking them there, but, you
00:49know, there are thousands.
00:51Well, I mean, I've met hundreds, but there are certainly thousands, tens of thousands of people of every race and
00:58religion and persuasion politically who love Caitlin Clark.
01:03So the idea that it is that there aren't people out there who are not her fan, I mean, that
01:09are only of one set of people.
01:11Again, that's crazy. And who on earth, what league wants to limit its fans?
01:16Like which Roger Goodell say, you know, to all the Swifties, all the 11, 12, 13, 14 year old girls,
01:22you know, no, we don't want you.
01:24I mean, so that's crazy. The coverage bother doesn't bother me.
01:29It concerns me as a journalist. I have so many people, friends, you go to a Fourth of July party,
01:34whatever, say, oh, gosh, too bad Caitlin Clark's not playing well.
01:37Or what's wrong with Caitlin Clark? Or why is she having a bad year?
01:43And I, of course, it's an unauthorized book. I'm not in business with Caitlin Clark.
01:47She does not need me to defend her. But I will talk about facts and truth.
01:52I mean, that's what we do. And I smile when people say this.
01:57I said, you know, she was just named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month.
02:01Most of these people didn't even know there was such a thing.
02:03But that means she's the best player in the Eastern Conference for the month of June.
02:08Her best season ever, obviously, breaking all kinds of records that for rookie year and whatever.
02:14And they're shocked. So what is happening?
02:17Are our sports media people doing their job to relate exactly the facts?
02:25And Caitlin Clark, in her talk, when she met with the media a couple of days ago at practice, you
02:32know, she actually called out a story.
02:35The headline was something about, you know, there's no fun around around the fever of Caitlin Clark.
02:40That was the gist of it. It was in The Athletic. I won't name the columnist, but, you know, anyone
02:46can look it up because I'm not going to go after someone I like and respect.
02:50And anyway, Caitlin Clark called that column out, called The Athletic out, called that reporter columnist out, not by name,
02:58but and said, you're not talking to me.
03:01You're not like, why did you write such a thing with the gist of what Caitlin Clark said?
03:05And I think that's the first time she's ever done that quite like that. So the point is that I
03:11think and I saw this and I relate it in the book.
03:14Some of these reporters two years ago, I can see this coming, foreshadowing, frankly, what's happening now.
03:20No joy for that. For me, I wish obviously this league would would thrive and and and love, you know,
03:27just be going having its greatest days.
03:29But this infighting and even some of the media people who seem to on one hand, Dan, want to minimize
03:34Caitlin Clark, on the other hand, want to write and talk all about her for clicks,
03:40which, of course, means that she is so popular that their editors are saying you write about her because we're
03:44going to get so many hits and clicks and page views.
03:47But then they want to say she's not important or she's not behaving well.
03:50And yes, I've written that, too, going to the whole behavior thing in the book that she, you know, and
03:56she talks about how she needs to get better at that.
03:58So it's so bizarre. I've covered beats for years.
04:02As you know, I was their age when these younger reporters get cover the facts, you cover the story and
04:09you don't you're not sad or upset that somebody maybe didn't get recognition 20 years ago.
04:15So that's a shame. I wish that Maya Moore had been Caitlin Clark.
04:20I wish that Cheryl Swoops had been Caitlin Clark. I cover I was covering the W back at the, you
04:24know, the turn of the century.
04:25But that didn't happen then. Those are facts. And journalists should be dealing with facts and not trying to change
04:32the story or work a story so that there's some kind of misinterpretation about the meaning and the importance of
04:40Caitlin Clark.
04:42Do you believe that Kathy Engelbert should be replaced as the commissioner of the WNBA?
04:47I do. I do. I've known Kathy for a while. I like her. She's a woman in a man's world.
04:55You know, she ran Deloitte. We're a few years apart in age.
04:59I totally respect that as someone who had a lot of that being the only woman in the press box
05:05or whatever, University of Miami, as you know, and other places, maybe one or two of us.
05:09And that was the only woman in the locker room, et cetera. So I respect her background and her leadership
05:16and this great resume that she has.
05:18I don't get this. I don't get it at all. The paralysis, the inability to, well, I will not even
05:26editorialize. I will say the facts.
05:27The number of times that Kathy Engelbert has been asked by journalists, John Wertheim with 60 Minutes is an example,
05:35asked about Caitlin Clark.
05:37And then her answer is, well, Caitlin and Angel. And John Wertheim, to his great credit, wonderful friend and obviously
05:45great colleague, says, no, no, I didn't ask you about Angel.
05:49I only asked you about Caitlin. And then in her WNBA playoffs, I covered in the finals in 2024, went
05:57on and on about all the things that had happened that year.
06:01Record breaking attendance, the TV viewership, moving to bigger arenas, all because of one person, Caitlin Clark.
06:08And throughout that, I think it was close to 20 minutes, 18, 19 minutes, Kathy Engelbert never said the words
06:15Caitlin Clark.
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