Caitlin Clark with 3rd Triple Double in Dominant Win over Sky and Angel Reese

[Bevo92]

OK…..I’m a die hard Longhorn fan first and foremost.   Football first then basketball, baseball then lady’s basketball, softball and everything else.   My wife (who’s also a TexasEx) has fully accepted every Saturday each fall will revolve around watching Longhorn Football.   After that, it’s the Texas Rangers, Dallas Mavs (welcome Cooper Flagg), Dallas Stars (great win last night) and Dallas Cowboys (no chance we get to another SB till JJ sells our Cowboys).   Love watching the four golf majors and pull for our Longhorn alums like SS today (clutch back 9 for the win for Scottie after rough start today).   That pretty much sums up my sports interests until 2024. 

I fully acknowledge never caring one bit about watching the WNBA till last season when CC made it interesting every game after debuting with her dynamic passing, logo 3s and the whole “WNBA against CC jealousy tour” the way she handled all the hate with such class, rising above it all.

My 10yr old son loves to play basketball and last season he got into watching the women’s game after we watched the women’s ncaa tournament run by CC and Iowa before they hit the Dawn Staley buzz saw in the finals.   We never thought one minute about the Indiana Fever, why would we?   Then the Fever get CC #1 in the draft.   What?   Now we root for the Fever in our home.   That’s crazy and makes no sense.   So many moments last season of the ‘old guard’ showing hate to the new face of the league (left off the 2024 Olympic team looks completely ridiculous in hindsight, all the intentional and obvious efforts by other players to injure CC on the court in non-basketball moves, the one by Carrington with DC shoving her nails in CC’s eye being the most blatant).   CC just kept grinding, never got sucked into the BS drama.   It’s inspiring and impressive.  

So yesterday afternoon marked the Fever’s 2025 season kickoff against Angel and the Chicago Sky.   It was awesome.   The Fever are flat out fun to watch, the pace, fluid ball movement, logo 3s, passionate fans.   They blew out the Sky by 35 points (93-58) in by far the most lopsided game of the wnba opening weekend.   Like the Lakers of the 80s or the Warrior after Steph Curry took over, it’s fun and impressive to watch whether you’re a fan or not.

On her individual performance, Caitlin Clark casually went out and scored a 3rd triple double (20-10-10) in her very short professional career (note: after her next triple double, CC will be tied for 2nd most triple doubles in wnba history 😳).   The moment she blocked Angel’s layup with a subtle shove to the floor in the 3rd quarter was awesome as a less-than-subtle notice to the league that it’s a new season and she’s not gonna be pushed around or intimidated this year.  The next 3 months are typically quiet for sports in our home after the NCAA World Series, NBA and NHL playoffs….    but not anymore.   We’ve got WNBA and Year 2 of Caitlin Clark / Indiana Fever to get us through the summer.   Gitty up!!  

 

 

[Gerry Hamilton]

Closest thing to a female Steph Curry we will see ... she's a dynamic talent because of her otherworldly shooting ability with range and then court vision combination. She is a walking floor spacer. 

 

[Bevo92]

18 minutes ago, Gerry Hamilton said:

Closest thing to a female Steph Curry we will see ... she's a dynamic talent because of her otherworldly shooting ability with range and then court vision combination. She is a walking floor spacer. 

 

Agree.   She makes the rest of her teammates so much better with the way she spreads the floor.   

[GetHooked]

1 hour ago, Gerry Hamilton said:

Closest thing to a female Steph Curry we will see ... she's a dynamic talent because of her otherworldly shooting ability with range and then court vision combination. She is a walking floor spacer. 

 

To me, she shoots like Curry.  She passes the ball like Bird.  Terrific court awareness.  

[David Latiolais]

Why is it so hard to watch the WNBA, how about the Sky coach saying the Fever fans booed to much and his team lost focus. Then there all the racial undertones and or lack of racial undertones. Sad

[Bevo92]

2 hours ago, David Latiolais said:

Why is it so hard to watch the WNBA, how about the Sky coach saying the Fever fans booed to much and his team lost focus. Then there all the racial undertones and or lack of racial undertones. Sad

Agree.   Sky’s accusations and excuses (Head coach and Angel Reese most notably) after blowout loss were embarrassing.   Just acknowledge you suck and got beat by better coaching and better players. 

[ArizonaLonghorn]

For Caitlin Clark fans there's a David Letterman interview with her on Netflix that was released recently.  Season 5 episode 3.  Pretty good, I thought.

[TexasFanatic]

HVL also hates Angel Reese. Reese wasn’t even the second overall pick. She was like 7th. She sucks. 
 

She is jealous and the WNBA is jealous that a Midwest white girl made them more popular. 
 

Reese actually sucks as a player. CC rocks. 
 

Cant wait to see Madison Booker and others out there in a few years

That Asia Wilson girl is awesome too! Glad WNBA has some players 

Edited Tuesday at 02:30 AM by TexasFanatic

[Texas fan in Georgia]

I find it hilarious how you see how they played against Clarke last year with the physicality and she bites back one time in what more so looked like a flop on Reese’s part and everybody on espn couldn’t stand it

[Bevo92]

9 hours ago, Texas fan in Georgia said:

I find it hilarious how you see how they played against Clarke last year with the physicality and she bites back one time in what more so looked like a flop on Reese’s part and everybody on espn couldn’t stand it

Agree.  If CC has a few more 'hard fouls' on other players over the next few weeks, Monica Nutt and the other nuts on ESPN will be out of their mind.  Will be interesting to watch unfold as the Fever should be one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the WNBA this season.  

[Bevo92]

TV ratings came out today for last weekend's games.  Fever -v- Sky on Saturday peaked at 3.1m viewers and reflects the most watched regular season game in WNBA regular season in 25 years.  That's crazy.  

https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/45240655/fever-sky-most-watched-wnba-regular-season-game-00

Edited Tuesday at 10:50 PM by Bevo92

[Tuco Ramirez]

What the hell was going on 25 years ago that they had a bigger audience? 

[Bevo92]

1 hour ago, Tuco Ramirez said:

What the hell was going on 25 years ago that they had a bigger audience? 

Thought this was interesting from ChatGPT…

The most-watched WNBA regular-season game in past 25 years occurred on Saturday, May 17, 2025, when the Indiana Fever faced the Chicago Sky. This game, featuring Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, averaged 2.7 million viewers on ABC, peaking at 3.1 million. It surpassed all MLB games that day and became the most-watched regular-season WNBA game in 25 years .

 

The WNBA’s inaugural game between the New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks in 1997 remains the most-watched WNBA game overall, drawing 5.04 million viewers . 

[DanielOnorato]

Since she was in highschool I've called her lady Bird. Too good of a passer and rebounder to be solely compared to Curry and has a mean streak/competitive make up like Larry legend. 

 

Magnificent player. At this point I far prefer the women's game. Id rather watch a regular season Indiana Fever game over an NBA playoff game. Looking forward to watching Clark scorch the nets tonight.

[TexasFanatic]

 

[CJ Vogel]

On 5/22/2025 at 1:00 PM, DanielOnorato said:

Since she was in highschool I've called her lady Bird. Too good of a passer and rebounder to be solely compared to Curry and has a mean streak/competitive make up like Larry legend. 

 

Magnificent player. At this point I far prefer the women's game. Id rather watch a regular season Indiana Fever game over an NBA playoff game. Looking forward to watching Clark scorch the nets tonight.

She’s a blast to watch for sure. 

[TexShoe]

There's definitely a racial, at least a sexualized undertone to this.  Clark is a tremendous player, there's no doubt about that.  But there's been plenty of talented players before Clark, and no one has been to win over the nation's attention like the Fevers have. 

My personal theory is that like it or not, the larger fan base (read: middle class dudes)  just don't identify with most of the WNBA players.  We don't respect their athletic prowess, and if they aren't at least averagely attractive, we're not paying attention.  We don't care if we identify with male players, because we don't sexualize them, so it's not just a racial thing.  

It's also not an accident that Clark has a couple of very attractive teammates who happen to be white, that are active on social media, which is spurring the team and league's popularity.  

There's a popular narrative that we're just a racist nation.  While that may be true, let's not overlook that we're also a bunch of sexist pigs.  

[TexasMDcoach]

 I really enjoy NCAA basketball, volleyball and soft ball but that interest centers pretty much exclusively on the Texas teams.  Zero interest here in the WNBA.  An observation though is the more "soap opera" drama they can add to the WNBA the more interest it garners.

Edited 4 hours ago by TexasMDcoach

[Blake Munroe]

On 5/19/2025 at 9:09 PM, ArizonaLonghorn said:

For Caitlin Clark fans there's a David Letterman interview with her on Netflix that was released recently.  Season 5 episode 3.  Pretty good, I thought.

Not a big DL fan, but gonna have to check this out. Thanks for heads up. 

As for Caitlin Clark, she’s obviously taken the WNBA to new heights. My middle son is a prime example of this. He’s eaten up with basketball. He plays year round, watches both college and the NBA, but has never had interest in the WNBA at all. He doesn’t even watch NCAA WBB. 

However, he now watches CC and also has multiple shirts of hers as well.

That has led to interest in other players and teams  something that would have NEVER happened before CC.

He’s also now a big Aaliyah Chavez fan after going with me everywhere to cover her. 

[Bevo92]

30 minutes ago, Blake Munroe said:

Not a big DL fan, but gonna have to check this out. Thanks for heads up. 

As for Caitlin Clark, she’s obviously taken the WNBA to new heights. My middle son is a prime example of this. He’s eaten up with basketball. He plays year round, watches both college and the NBA, but has never had interest in the WNBA at all. He doesn’t even watch NCAA WBB. 

However, he now watches CC and also has multiple shirts of hers as well.

That has led to interest in other players and teams  something that would have NEVER happened before CC.

He’s also now a big Aaliyah Chavez fan after going with me everywhere to cover her. 

Similar in our home.   My youngest son is a basketball junkie.   NBA and College, especially the Horns.   We’re still in shock from the Luka trade but maybe this #1 pick for the Mavs to get Cooper Flagg will get the team back on track,

Back to CC, he wanted her jersey last season and now we look forward to watching Fever games in the summer.   Crazy.   Impressive what she’s done for the sport and league. 

[Bevo92]

Fever -v- Liberty game on right now.   Man, the Liberty are loaded.   Both teams running and gunning.   On pace to exceed 200 combined points if they keep it up.  Natasha Cloud impressive.