Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it

A lot was made recently of the ending of the LSU and Iowa women’s college basketball game, as LSU’s Angel Reese stared down Iowa star Caitlin Clark to taunt Clark as the game wound down. Reese did a “you can’t see me” gesture (made famous by WWE’s John Cena...deep dive into pop culture here) and pointed at her ring finger for the championship LSU was about to win.
Predictably, there was an uproar over the taunting, and even more predictably, it was divided down racial lines. We saw many white people calling Reese “hood” “ghetto,” “classless,” etc., for taunting Clark.
Our question is, why?
Earlier in the tournament, Clark did the exact same thing to the opposition. Granted, hers wasn’t nearly as long, and she didn’t direct it at a specific player, but she did it nevertheless. Clark is a fiery player who also celebrates three-pointers and frequently calls on the crowd to make more noise. And, to be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of that. The point is, if Clark can do it, so can Reese.
Sports are competitive, especially in the moment. Ask anybody who has ever played a sport from high school up how much trash talk takes place during the course of the game. Trash talk can be fun as long as it doesn’t go too far, and is generally an accepted part of competition. Heck, even friends trash talk each other in the heat of battle. Once the game is over, you’re friends again. That’s just the way it is.
Even Clark herself doesn’t believe Reese should have received the criticism she did, saying, “We’re all competitive. We all show our emotions in a different way.”
“Angel’s a tremendous, tremendous player. I have nothing but respect for her. I love her game, the way she rebounds the ball, scores the ball is absolutely incredible. I’m a big fan of her. Even the whole LSU team, the way they played. I don’t think there should be any criticism for what she did. I honestly didn’t see it when the game was going on and like I said I haven’t been on social media at all.”
If Clark isn’t offended by it, we don’t think we should be either. And as far as Jill Biden suggesting that both teams come to the White House, we can’t get behind that, either. The winning team has traditionally gone to the White House, and the winning team alone. As the saying goes, to the victor go the spoils.
This whole event was made to be much bigger than it needed to be. You can love or hate either of the players, but the facts are Clark did the gesture first. There was a racial component to this for a large swath of people, and to pretend there wasn’t is foolish.
Both players are great players, and big-time competitors. Let’s just leave it at that.