If Taylor Swift and LeBron James had a baby, she would be Cryin’ Caitlin Clark

The Indiana Fever assigned Caitlin Clark a group of babysitters: her teammates. They’re tasked with preventing the petulant and entitled WNBA star from bickering with referees.

It isn’t working.

Ponytail Pete Maravich, the biggest star in American sports, is transforming into Cryin’ Caitlin Clark, an unlikable, flopping whiner who plays with a victim mentality.

Sunday afternoon, in front of another sold-out crowd in Indianapolis, Clark scored a season-high 35 points and moved past Seimone Augustus for the most points scored in a season for WNBA rookies. The Fever won the game 110-109, securing their 20th victory of the season and locking up the sixth seed in the playoffs.

Perhaps more importantly, Clark finished the game without picking up her seventh technical foul, which would have resulted in a suspension for the regular-season finale against the Washington Mystics on Thursday.

But Clark’s babysitters failed. Her star power stopped the refs from teeing her up Sunday. Clark spent the entire game flailing her arms, flopping to the ground at the slightest contact, and fussing at game officials. She put the referees in an impossible position.

Caitlin Clark is Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and George Floyd: Only the behavior of their 'oppressors' is relevant.

“I didn’t think they were gonna give me a technical at any point tonight,” Clark told reporters following the game. “I would’ve been really sad for people in Washington, D.C. I didn’t want to do that. I tried my best.

“My teammates do a really good job. They think it’s funny. And then Aliyah [Boston] is the one that ends up with a technical. That’s the best part about it all. She’s the one babysitting me, and then somehow she ends up with the technical. And she didn’t really do anything. She was just standing there. So that’s what’s really funny.”

I get the humor among teammates. I do.

But I find it impossible to laugh.

I’ve watched every Caitlin Clark game this WNBA season. I bought the WNBA League Pass. I recently purchased two Caitlin Clark jerseys. For the last 18 months or so, Clark has been my favorite athlete.

But she’s worn me out. The whining, the complaining, the flopping, the victimhood, the tongue-wagging, the hyper-focus on engaging with fans and arguing with the referees. I can’t take it.

She plays an exciting, stat-stuffing, low-IQ brand of basketball.

If Taylor Swift and LeBron James had a baby, he or she would play basketball like Caitlin Clark.

Clark is who basketball fans pretended Mike Krzyzewski‘s white Duke basketball players were.

You could see signs of it when Clark was in college. Her worst moment was when the Iowa Hawkeyes lost to Ohio State, and Buckeyes fans stormed the court, and Clark ran into a student and flopped to the ground as if she’d been shot. Clark initiated the contact and feigned injury.

Six months ago, during March Madness, cameras caught Clark’s dad yelling at her from the stands to shut up and quit arguing with the refs.

I assumed over time that Clark’s on-court behavior would improve. I thought she’d become less bratty. Instead, things have gotten much worse. She whines and complains every game about everything.

It’s one of the main reasons she shattered the WNBA record for turnovers. She has 220. No player before this season had ever recorded more than 137. In a 40-minute WNBA game, Clark has a chance to equal James Harden’s NBA record of averaging 5.7 turnovers per game. NBA games last 48 minutes. Clark is averaging 5.6 turnovers.

She’s sloppy with the basketball because she wastes too much energy and focus on monitoring the referees. She’s trying to control things she cannot control.

Clark’s worshippers blame her teammates for her high turnover rate. It isn’t true. There are occasional examples of Clark’s teammates mishandling good passes. But the truth is Clark frequently gets her dribble picked and throws into double coverage like Jameis Winston. She also picks up offensive fouls for pushing off with her left hand.

Her lack of emotional control, high turnovers, victim attitude, poor shot selection, and lazy defense are why I expect the Fever to exit the playoffs in the first round.

Clark seems to have no idea that her self-inflicted shortcomings are problematic. Her misguided worshippers shield her from criticism. Every shortcoming is someone else’s fault. Her worshippers mirror their leader. Clark blames the refs for everything. Her worshippers blame racism. In their minds, Clark has the right to be spoiled and entitled because the black girls in the WNBA have been mean and unfair to their hero.

It’s the same mindset of the Black Lives Matter crowd.

“Black people are victims, so you should overlook them acting spoiled and entitled. Don’t you know they’ve been mistreated?”

Caitlin Clark is Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and George Floyd: Only the behavior of their “oppressors” is relevant.

Clark’s worshippers, particularly some of the white ones, are blinded to her obvious faults because they’re so enthralled and entertained by watching her outperform a league dominated by angry black leftists. No different from black leftists, many of Clark’s supporters are trapped in racial idolatry. They’ve abandoned their alleged core values to participate in the race war.

Clark’s on-court behavior, especially the constant victimhood and hot-dogging, violate my values the same way LeBron James does. I don’t like James. I’ve grown to dislike Clark.

She is an amazing talent. With the right adjustments, she could lead the Fever to the WNBA Finals this year. I hope she corrects her course before the start of the playoffs. I’m not optimistic. Fame is the most debilitating drug known to man. It locks you in the loudest echo chamber and prevents you from hearing voices of dissent.

People think I hate Caitlin Clark. I don’t. I hate what she has become.