Huby's Halftime: Talk That Talk
Welcome to Huby’s Halftime. Y’all know what we are here for.
Few sports have been more fun to watch than women’s basketball in recent years. The combination of talent, stars, personalities, and storylines have created a sporting product that is second to none.
Even on one of the biggest stages in the sport, y’all ruined it. That is not fair. It is not everyone but when I am mad I use y’all. But some of y’all definitely do not know how to act and ruined it.
Just mere minutes away from being crowned national champions, LSU star Angel Reese taunted national player of the year Caitlyn Clark. Mind you, Reese was merely doing a gesture Clark had done not even 72 hours prior but y’all ruined it. Quickly came the barrage of “play with class” or “how unsportsmanlike” Reese and the other LSU players were being.
I want you to stop for a minute and ask yourself this question: Do you enjoy nice things? Nah, seriously. Pause and ask yourself this question. Instead of celebrating this complete badass moment by Angel Reese, y’all did that racist thing y’all like to do. You know someone truly has that dog in them when they embrace the challenge of the top dog. Caitlyn Clark is one of the most talked about basketball players in the last year. Her historic season has made her into a household name. What makes her even more exciting of a player, is that she is an A1 shit talker. Like it does not matter, Caitlyn is going to let you know she is that one.
And we love her for that.
But what we are not going to do is cry injustice when someone gives her that same energy back. When I saw Angel trap her ring finger and hit Clark with the “John Cena '', I damn near jumped out of my seat. That does not get y’all hype?????? Probably not cause y’all are weird like that sometimes.
Everyone cannot be a humble hero. Some of our favorite sports moments are when an athlete does an incredible thing and then lets the world know that they are that one. Whether it is Tyreek Hill throwing up the deuce, Jordan sticking out his tongue, Muhammad Ali cutting a mean promo, or Serena Williams crip walking after she is crowned champion. Talking that talk is part of what makes sports so entertaining.
This all should be enjoyable and we should be celebrating one of the most successful weekends in college basketball history. But we had to ruin it. There were even reports of Jill Biden inviting the losing team, Iowa, to the White House. Are we serious right now??
As Beyonce told us, America has a problem, and it is letting Black women be great and their authentic selves. One of the most beautiful things to come out of this, is how Angel Reese has responded. Without hesitation, letting us know that she did not celebrate in the way she did for us, but rather all the little Black girls that look just like her.
If that is not something to be proud of and celebrate I do not know what to tell you.
Women’s basketball has always been dope. It has never needed the cosigns or dudes wearing the WNBA logo to be validated. It is still sad to see the sports rise in popularity, yet still struggle with the same misogynoir that embolden Don Imus to make his racial remarks back in 2007. Instead of all this nonsense hate folks are throwing towards Angel Reese, why is no one asking if her head coach Kim Mulkey has the political worldview to defend her player in this moment? Why are we not directing our energy towards the NCAA for not cutting these women a check?
So much we could be putting this energy towards, but I forget that this is American sports and we love for things to be messy. If this is the sports world y’all want, so be it. But at least let these folks talk shit while they are doing it.
You know who didn't have a problem with Angel, Caitlin Clark. She defended her. Perhaps some of the issue is that some people (white, black, Asian, etc.) can talk trash and some people (white, black, Asian, etc.) can't take it. Sometimes those talking trash can dish it out but can't handle the return volley. (I know some politicians like this). There may be a very strong correlation between power and privilege and whether you can "take it" but I think there is a less straight forward correlation between ethnicity and taking it and giving it. I think trash talk reveals our hearts, in good ways and bad ways. I am not excited that there was trash talking, but that both Angel and Caitlin could dish and take and played a great game is what matters and should be celebrated.
My generation used to say, "if you can't take it, you better not dish it out." I think that still applies. And when we have mental health crisis over our performance, perhaps we should also evaluate how we have formed our estimation of ourselves because your emotions are blowing a horn that something ain't right. Trash talk fine, but we, and our competitors, are more than our performances. When we know that we are more than what we "do" we will be able to dish and take it.