Tiffany Hansen: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Tiffany Hansen filling in for Brian today. Next, some WNBA to talk about here at the end of the show. 2024 season has been action-packed so far. Arenas packed, TV ratings soaring, the league is riding an unprecedented wave of popularity. One of the people at the center of the all of this attention is, of course, rookie Caitlin Clark.

Her scoring ability, court vision, flair for the dramatic have made her a lot of fun to watch. It's all helping to propel the league into mainstream like never before, spotlighting the immense talent and competitiveness of the WNBA. There've also been, of course, some growing pains, incidents on the court, a few incidents of bizarre and inappropriate commentary. We're going to talk about all of it with Cassandra Negley, WNBA and women's college basketball reporter at Yahoo Sports.

Cassandra, hi. Maybe we have Cassandra, maybe we don't. We are hopefully going to talk at first with Cassandra about a recent incident that happened with Chennedy Carter of the Chicago Sky, and Caitlin Clark, who we mentioned of the Indiana Fever. Carter shoulder-checked Clark, out of nowhere, off the ball. Carter probably should have been ejected from the game. She wasn't. Our guest, Cassandra Negley, wrote about that, "At a certain point, with all the tinder lying about, a spark was bound to set fire." Cassandra, are you there?

Cassandra Negley: Yes, I'm here.

Tiffany Hansen: [chuckles] Okay. You wrote that, so let's talk about it.

Cassandra Negley: Yes, absolutely.

Tiffany Hansen: Why do you think this incident really struck such a chord with the public at this point? We're at a unique point right now.

Cassandra Negley: Yes. I think there's a lot of reasons. There are so many new fans who are tuning into games for the first time who don't know the history of the league, the background of the league, that this is a very physical league and things like this happen. It's sports. The other part is you have a personal rivalry carrying over from college with Angel Reese fans, Caitlin Clark fans. You thought something was bound to happen. Then also, as you mentioned, the call wasn't made in the moment.

Indiana has talked a lot about the physicality they're seeing on Caitlin Clark but also other players. I think if the call had been made on the floor, maybe a flagrant one, then we wouldn't have seen so much conversation.

Tiffany Hansen: Listeners, did you see that altercation? Are you a WNBA fan who's been following for years? Are you a new WNBA fan? We're here to talk about it or anything and everything related to the WNBA at this point. Our guest is Cassandra Negley, WNBA and women's college basketball reporter at Yahoo Sports. We want you in the conversation. 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9696, you can call us, you can text us at that number. I'm really curious, Cassandra, about the media coverage of this.

Stuff like this happens in the NBA all the time. People are checked, they're checked to the floor. As you mentioned, there's a real physicality to the sport that longtime viewers of the WNBA will know. Why is it getting all of this attention right now?

Cassandra Negley: Uff. A few things. We're in a quiet spot in the calendar, the NBA finals; there's a little bit of a break until that starts. The NHL playoffs, we're on a break. People needed something to talk about, but this is just so new to a lot of people to really talk about women's sports and the actual sport of it. I think that's part of it.

Tiffany Hansen: I wonder about the dynamics specifically between newcomers and established players. Is that relationship unique to the WNBA? I'm guessing probably not, but what do you think?

Cassandra Negley: No, I don't think it's unique. I think it's a fact that veteran players are coming for Caitlin Clark. They don't want Caitlin Clark to score 30 on them, just like they don't want to see Angel Reese go off against them or any of the rookies. You're always trying to win and not be embarrassed. That's the whole bit. We see it in the NBA, in the NFL, in any sport league ever, probably in your local pickup game. You don't want some guy to come in and immediately have a good game against you.

Tiffany Hansen: We mentioned this one specific incident between Chennedy Carter of the Chicago Sky and Caitlin Clark, who is playing for the Indiana Fever. There have been some other challenges that she's had. I'm thinking specifically about that inappropriate remark made by a reporter. Tell us about that. If folks haven't heard about it, remind us what that was.

Cassandra Negley: I assume you mean in her introductory press conference.

Tiffany Hansen: Yes, exactly.

Cassandra Negley: Yes. [laughs] A reporter had made a heart gesture towards her. That's what she shows to her family in the stands after the game. He had said something along the lines of, "If you do that to me, we'll be just fine." It was very awkward for anyone in the room, anyone watching. There seems to be just an odd aura of people who become in Caitlin's circle in this way, in a journalistic way, where they treat her differently when she should just be treated as an incredible athlete, a la LeBron James, any great quarterback.

We've seen that from the media in a few different ways over the past couple of weeks. Obviously, with this issue with Chennedy Carter, we saw that a lot on Monday on national TV shows.

Tiffany Hansen: That comment made by the reporter is not just because she's a rookie. Let's face it, it had major misogynistic overtones.

Cassandra Negley: Oh yes.

Tiffany Hansen: That's a thing that she's having to deal with, right?

Cassandra Negley: Yes. To be clear, she has, I don't want to say asked for none of this, but it's a lot to carry for a 22-year-old to have the weight of these misogynistic conversations, conversations about race, conversations about the growth of women's sport and what that means and how we talk about it. She's spoken to some of these things, but certainly isn't putting herself in the fray.

Tiffany Hansen: Long-time fans of the WNBA have been maybe caught a little bit off guard by the, I don't know, rocky start to the media. When the media spotlight swiveled over to the WNBA, it has been rocky. I think long-time fans may be surprised by that. Were you?

Cassandra Negley: Not entirely, but certainly, I think it's been worse than maybe we expected. I just hope that for a lot of this commentary that's going on, that there's some research into the league and these players and their backgrounds.

Tiffany Hansen: How prepared do you think the WNBA itself was for all of this influx of attention?

Cassandra Negley: I don't think they were very prepared. A lot of this has happened very, very, very quickly. It's wild to think that at this point last year, sure, a ton of people were following Caitlin Clark around a golf course, but the past year, the interest has just exploded to incredible levels. The WNBA had a short turnaround time to deal with that. They're already, probably, short-staffed compared to what they should be. They're already dealing with the incremental growth that they've already seen and how to keep growing it, and now you have just thousand percent more fans than you did before.

Tiffany Hansen: Do you think the WNBA relies too heavily on promoting individual stars like Caitlin Clark?

Cassandra Negley: I actually think that they need to lean into that more. In the past, three or four years ago, their marketing scheme was very much, "We are the 144. You should watch us because of all of these players." You definitely should, but sports is based on these rivalries. A lot of people are going to tune into the Sky-Fever rematch because of what happened. I think there should be more marketing other than just Caitlin Clark, but I think marketing these rivalries and these really top players is a smart way to go into the future.

Tiffany Hansen: Let's talk about the future and the season going forward. For Liberty fans here, [chuckles] we have superstar A'ja Wilson started strong. The Connecticut Sun haven't lost a game. What's your impression about the Sun and the Liberty going forward this year?

Cassandra Negley: Breanna Stewart, the two-time MVP there in New York, she's had an incredible start to the season. We've seen her string together some good games. The Sun, I think, are really interesting because they are 9-0. They've played some good late games to edge out those wins, but for as much as we've talked about the Fever and playing 11 games in 20 days against the best competition, the Sun's schedule is against some of the lottery teams be really excited. Those two teams will face off on Sunday. I believe it is Saturday or Sunday. I'll be excited to see what that looks like.

Tiffany Hansen: Excited for Liberty games. We love to hear that. We've been talking with Cassandra Negley, WNBA and women's college basketball reporter at Yahoo Sports, about Caitlin Clark and the WNBA. Cassandra, thanks so much for your time today. We appreciate it.

Cassandra Negley: Thank you for having me.

Tiffany Hansen: I am Tiffany Hansen. You've been listening to the Brian Lehrer Show here on WNYC. You can join us back here again tomorrow. Thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.

[00:11:15] [END OF AUDIO]

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