Like many, I was introduced to Ms. Duncan by the 2024 Women’s Final Four — where she & her colleagues really captured the spirit of what was happening — both athletically, and as a cultural touchstone moment — and made it fun for the viewer. It became a celebration of excellence in sports. And I appreciated their never shying away, from the contribution to the frenzy, made by Iowa & Caitlin Clark. I hope like Ms. Duncan, community leaders will simply tell it like it is. There can’t not be an element of race in the Caitlin Clark phenomenon — but in truth, I tune in to watch her because of the YouTube videos that popped up a couple of years ago, and how she mind-bogglingly was shooting the basketball like Steph Curry — an African-American man. And I think it hurts the cause, when Twitter & Instagram go off on how Nike signed Clark because she’s White. You know who’s made the most money from Nike? Michael Jordan & Tiger Woods. Thought leaders need to point out that Nike is not an Internet troll, and it only signs athletes because it thinks it can profit from doing so — as it continues to do with the Jordan Brand, to the tune of $800+ million each year. And the main problem, I think, with calling out Nike & Caitlin Clark fans as “racist” — is that it risks having people “tune out,” and “roll their eyes” & not pay attention…when situations that actually involve racism & need to be addressed, come up in the future. I worry about that, and I think social media’s innate tendency to hitch its wagon to whatever is “trending,” may have been a setback in this case. And to circle back to Ms. Duncan: who’d have thought they’d see the day, that ESPN would send a woman of color, to try and promote its auto racing programming — and European racing, at that? It shows you’re exactly right about Ms. Duncan’s icon status, in that the management thought she might serve to diversify the F1 audience — both in terms of gender, and race. (Which in my case, she did.) Thanks for a great show.
