u/Significant-Area-826

Let me preface this by saying that I am a CC fan. I’m an Iowa alum who’s been watching the women’s team since I was a kid, even before there was a WNBA (also been watching since its inception). I am not turned off by some trash talk, arguing with officials, or in game chippiness as long as the intent is to play better basketball. And the AT larynx press was decidedly NOT that. She’s been dirty for years and CC is not the first player she’s taken cheap shots against.

BUT

1. Can we stop calling it a throat punch/attempt to maim CC? There is irrefutable video evidence of AT pushing off CCs throat and landing on her groin with a knee- and it’s a sneaky, dirty, gross ass play that warrants a suspension IMO… but it isn’t a punch. It also isn’t why CC left the game with an injury. Fans and CC content creators keep calling it a punch, which nets the expected responses- that we’re lying, exaggerating, soft, biased, etc. Discourse is wasted arguing about whether its a punch instead of stating the facts, which are just as incriminating of AT.

2. More importantly, can we call out this dirty play without being assholes ourselves? Call her a dirty player, a bully, a jerk etc, because she is. Leave out the not so thinly veiled racially charged comments- thug and hood rat being the least offensive of what I saw.

This is something that deserves to be taken seriously by the league. Exaggerations and racially charged comments are going to become the story rather than the actual issue at hand.

TL:DR- share the video, state the facts, call AT a poor excuse for a player. Just don’t be worse than her.

We all remember the absolute shitstorm started when Caitlin and Steph got heated during a time out. Contrast that with the BROADCAST TEAM catching this on video and saying this is the behavior of a player with a “high basketball IQ” who is just trying to tell her coaches the changes needed.

Comments I’ve seen justifying this and maintaining that Caitlin was wrong:

Stewie is a champion/Caitlin has “never won anything”

Stewie is a veteran/Caitlin faked an injury last year and has one season of W play

Stewie didn’t cuss/Caitlin is foul mouthed

Stewie was not yelling at the coach but trying to correct other players because she has high basketball IQ/it is not Caitlin’s job to talk to other players or the coaches

Stewie didn’t move her arms/Caitlin did

Stewie rarely does this/Caitlin is always yelling at coaches

Where are the think pieces on Stewie? There have been plenty on Caitlin and were a couple on Angel last year when she got into it with a coach (though Angel’s fans were pretty quick to make a huge deal about Caitlin/Steph). NBA players frequently have pretty hot discussions with coaches, but we’re going to pick and choose which women can also do so? Based on what? (Trick question- the answer is “how much we personally like them and their fans.”)