Sports commentator and former NFL star Boomer Esiason blasted the WNBA for its constant abuse of its only true star, Caitlin Clark, because, he says, she is a straight, white basketball player.
Esiason pounded the WNBA after Clark was brutally fouled twice on Wednesday while the refs turned a blind eye to the abuse she took.
The former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback even advised Clark to quit the WNBA and go play in Europe, where she would be both protected and respected.
“If I were Caitlin Clark, I would seriously consider going to play overseas somewhere and get the royal treatment…she’s a straight white basketball player. And she is not being treated with any sort of respect,” he said during his WFAN broadcast on Thursday morning.
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Clark was delivered two serious fouls on Wednesday during the Indiana Fever’s 111-109 loss to the Phoenix Mercury at the Fever’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The worst of the two was perpetrated by the Mercury’s Thomas, who kneed Clark in the groin several times while Clark was on the ground, even when Clark had already passed the ball off to her teammates, and there was no play near Clark and Thomas. Even worse, Thomas then jammed her fist into Clark’s neck as she got up from the floor. Then she kicked at Clark’s legs as she got up and stepped over the Fever star.
No foul was called on Thomas for her attack on Clark.
Fever coach Stephanie White — who has until now mostly refused to say much about how badly Clark is treated by other players and the refs — finally spoke out after the game.
“I’m not sure if it had any impact on her health or not, but it was egregious, the fact that it was a no-call,” White said after the game. “I heard about it at halftime; I brought it to the attention of the officials at halftime … absolutely unacceptable. And the reckless closeout that they actually review, and the foot still comes down on top of the defender’s foot, that was an upgrade. Absolutely disrespectful. We have a generational talent and a WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren’t called, and again, absolutely unacceptable.”
White was particularly upset when Thomas delivered a fist to Clark’s throat.
“The fist in the throat is crazy. It’s crazy. It’s dangerous,” White said. “… When you have these things continue to happen time and time and time again, eventually it gets frustrating, but I thought those were just more egregious.”
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