On the Fever: Thoughts on Caitlin Clark, the transgender issue, and trying to figure out how they lost Thursday night to the Aces

The Aces' Chelsea Gray broke their heart. Twice. Great game, lousy result.

Here’s one of the great things about the freedom of speech we enjoy in this country.

You’re free to say nothing.

Like Caitlin Clark, who has smartly avoided the political and cultural minefield that is the question of transgender women competing besides biological females.

She’s been asked the question -- a question inspired by Sophie Cunningham’s months-old quotes from an ESPN profile addressing the transgender issue. Cunningham said, and doubled down later, that transgender women should not be allowed to compete with cisgender women.

And Clark has responded with a word salad that didn’t directly address the issue.

And that’s fine.

It’s more than fine.

It’s smart, exceedingly smart.

Back in Michael Jordan’s days, he was sometimes asked why he didn’t address political and cultural issues. Specifically, he refused to endorse Democratic candidate Harvey Gantt when he ran in the 1990 North Carolina Senate race against an old-school Republican fossil named Jesse Helms. Asked why he wouldn’t put his name behind the Democratic candidate, he famously said, “Republicans buy sneakers, too.”

And Clark, when she’s not trying to lead the Fever to a title, is in the business of selling her new line of Nike sneakers.

I don’t make a habit of feeling badly for professional athletes – all things considered, they’ve got it pretty good – but I feel for Clark. She’s a human Rorschach Test; people look at her and see what they want to see. As Adam Silver said a few months back, she has become a “political football.” In today’s world, you get criticized for speaking out – especially if it’s an unpopular opinion --- and you get criticized for saying nothing. If Clark chooses to play it safe at this point in her career or even for the rest of her career, that’s her prerogative.

Remind me: Did we ask Peyton Manning his views on various issues of political and cultural import?

Not that I can recall.

As for Cunningham…good for her. Freedom of speech (at least for now) is a beautiful thing.

I know the interview was several months ago for an ESPN profile on Cunningham, and I’m aware that she doubled down before recently asking the media to cover basketball and not the culture wars. Good luck putting the toothpaste back in the tube. But she said what she said, and no, it doesn’t make her transphobic because she finds the idea of transgender women playing alongside cisgender players unsettling. Do transgender women have a physical advantage against biological women? I’ve looked throughout the internet and AI and have read several different conclusions. And if you spend any time on the web, you know a good portion of what’s out there is complete B.S.

It seems to me that if they do have an innate physical advantage, they shouldn’t be on the same floor as biological females.

Conversely, if there’s no intrinsic advantage due to years of hormone therapy, I don’t see the problem.

I’ll leave it to the experts to make that determination.

Honestly, I’m inclined to say they don’t belong – seems like common sense to me -- but I’d be lying if I said I had all the information I need to reach a smart conclusion.

I do feel strongly about this: The whole issue is overblown. In all of the NCAA sports, just 10 athletes are transgender. I feel like when we take issue with the transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, we’re killing a cockroach with a nuclear device. It’s only a major issue because it’s been politicized and used as a chip in the culture wars. Do we really need state and federal legislation? Doesn’t seem necessary to me. Feels like people are punching down at a small group that is already marginalized.

Several WNBA types have entered the debate. Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve wore a “Trans Kids Belong” shirt the day the Lynx took on Indiana in Minnesota; at one point before the game, Reeve and Cunningham had a very civil conversation where they shared their thoughts on the matter. Stephanie White acknowledged she hasn’t done a deep dive on the subject but added that exclusion of any sort is never an answer to a complicated question.

So…the basketball game Thursday night at Gainbridge.

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They still play those, right?

I’m sitting in my office at home late on Thursday night, and I’m trying to figure out exactly how in the hell the Fever just lost to the Las Vegas Aces, 86-84, in overtime.

Actually, I do know. Twice inside 10.9 seconds, the Fever went to the line with a chance to make it a two-possession game. But Kelsey Mitchell hit just one of two free throws and Clark, another deadeye free-throw shooter, missed both. Then Clark, guarded tightly by A’ja Wilson in the final seconds, turned the ball over, which led to the second of Chelsea Gray’s two buzzer beaters, the first forcing overtime, the second a game winner. Despite 22 Fever turnovers, they were right there, ready to dispatch the defending WNBA champions for the third time this season. And then they didn’t.

Clark knew she blew it and took full ownership after the game.

“Yeah, obviously, that just can’t happen,” she said glumly. “And those are free throws I usually make. Certainly frustrating. One of them (free throws) gives us a two-possession lead. I kind of cost my team there for sure, so that’s on me…Honestly, it was me that made costly errors for us. So that’s on me to help us win. That’s my job. That’s what I get paid to do.”

Said Stephanie White: “I mean, look, it’s easy in a game like this to think it comes down to one thing. For me, I look at that (Vegas) 15-0 run in the last three minutes of the second quarter (which cut into a 20-point Fever lead) and the 7-0 run (early in the third quarter). You know, that’s the gist of it. I look at our 22 turnovers. Gave them 18 points…It really came down to us giving them extra possessions with the turnovers and those runs at the end of the second and into the third.”

The ironic thing is, the Fever played some defense, which, as we all know, is not a strong suit. The question must be asked: Can they win a title playing sub-standard defense? Currently, Indiana ranks 12^th in the league in defense, an ominous statistic when you understand that 80 percent of WNBA champions ranked in the top three on defense. The only defensively-challenged team to win it all was the 2007 Phoenix Mercury, who were coached by fast-break guru Paul Westhead and led the league in scoring while placing last on defense.

The Fever were better Thursday night, allowing 86 points with an overtime period to the second-leading scoring team in the league. But it wasn’t quite enough.

White was asked, up three points, why not foul and turn it into a free-throw game in the final seconds?

“We knew what was coming and we were right there,” she said. “We talked about fouling, but they’re so good and they’re such veterans that if you get your hand in there just a little bit late, they’re going to go up into the shot and they’re going to bait you.”

It was all the opening Gray needed. She was the superstar guard on the floor Thursday night. For Clark, who also turned the ball over eight times and shot just 7-of-20 (2-of-10 from three), there will be better days.