You know those old WWE gimmicks before the Attitude Era? One dimensional. Lame. Isaac Yankem, anybody? Jemele Hill is the Isaac Yankem of sports commentary.
She views everything through a prism of race. As such, her commentary is neither interesting nor creative. Just like Glenn Jacobs had to always say something about nasty teeth, everything Jemele says has to have a racial angle to it.
As such, Hill was featured in an interview with Uproxx this past weekend. And wouldn’t you know it? She thinks coverage of the biggest star in women’s college basketball gets favorable coverage because she’s white.
Shocking, said nobody.
Now, Hill does give Clark a modicum of credit. Then immediately squashes it by saying interest in the women’s game was on the uptick before the Iowa star came along.
“It did not just start with Caitlin Clark, but they’re treating it like it did,” Hill says. “And so it’s already creating a false narrative that is doing the public a disservice.”
RELATED: USA Today Column: Future Of Women’s College Basketball ‘Needs To Be Black’
Jemele Hill: White Women Get Twice The Coverage Black Women Do
Naturally, Jemele Hill couldn’t just stop there. Imagine a sports journalist so determined to divide by race that even ESPN couldn’t wait to run away from her.
And here she goes:
“A study I cited recently for a piece I wrote in The Atlantic [found that] when you compare [the coverage] of, say, someone like Bueckers, Sabrina Ionescu, or Caitlin Clark to A’ja Wilson, who has dominated basketball at every single level. She’s probably the best player in the world right now. And I’m not trying to act like she gets no coverage, but the coverage that sometimes non-white women get, or specifically Black women get, is not even close. It’s two-to-one.”
– Jemele Hill
There is no doubt A’Ja Wilson is an incredibly well-rounded player. She’s gone on to become a two-time WNBA champion and a WNBA Finals MVP.
But in every sport, sometimes people who do more offensively tend to get the spotlight. Anybody remember those ‘Chicks dig the long ball’ ads for MLB?
Maybe, Jemele. Maybe Caitlin Clark gets more coverage because she’s averaged 28.4 points per game for her college career (31.7 this year). That, compared to Wilson who averaged 17.3 during her career at South Carolina.
Oh, and then there’s the whole matter of Clark setting an NCAA Division I scoring record. A minor thing, we know, but it tends to get the attention of fans. Tends to get ratings.
RELATED: WNBA Legend Sheryl Swoopes Says ‘Black People Can’t Be Racist’
Says Black Athletes Won’t Get The Same Coverage Without ‘Something Extra’
Jemele Hill then cited Aliyah Boston as evidence that Caitlin Clark gets more coverage while the black player does not. Boston, who also played for South California, averaged 16.8 points during her best season (2021-22) and 14.1 for her career.
“Caitlin Clark seems to be a great personality, but it is not like Caitlin Clark is walking around saying crazy stuff,” Hill states.
“They’re just covering her excellence, and that’s good enough,” she continued. “Whereas it feels like for Black athletes to get the same amount of coverage or even fair coverage, there has to be something extra [beyond basketball].”
Hill’s inane commentary follows a USA Today column last month that couldn’t wait to push Clark out the door because “women’s basketball needs faces of (the) future to be black.”
Hill and USA Today tend to gloss over the past. They pretend the insanely positive coverage of black players has never been there.
Cheryl Miller was one of the biggest stars on the planet even outside of basketball. Maya Moore, Sheryl Swoopes, and Candace Parker didn’t take a backseat to anybody.
Were they white, Jemele?
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