All of a sudden, it is liberal members of the sports media who want athletes like Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham to stick to sports.
"Caitlin Clark just wants to shut up and dribble, and it's time we respect that," far-left sportswriter Dan Wolken wrote in a Yahoo column this week.
The column is in reference to Clark declining to comment on Cunningham's recent remarks about wanting to keep biological males out of female athletics.
"I think for us, it's not really a discussion we have in our locker room," Clark said when asked about Cunningham's comments. "I think that's for leagues and governing bodies to work with their athletes to find solutions, but our focus is on basketball. That's what we talk about and how we can get wins, and obviously we didn't do that tonight."
On the surface, we agree with the left's newfound stance on Caitlin Clark.
Clark does not owe anyone a comment on transgender participation in sports or any other issue unrelated to basketball. She has spent her entire life preparing to become a professional basketball player. She has no obligation to become the public face of any cultural issue.
The problem is that many of the very people suddenly insisting Clark should be left alone spent the past three seasons refusing to leave her alone.
ELLE DUNCAN BLAMES CAITLIN CLARK, HER FANS FOR MEDIA SMEAR CAMPAIGN WHILE IGNORING FACTS
The same commentators now criticizing conservatives for asking Clark about transgender athletes repeatedly demanded that she address what they described as the racism and homophobia directed at the WNBA's Black and lesbian players following her arrival in the league.
Just last week, former ESPN host Elle Duncan called for Clark to do exactly that.
"I would love for it to be very clear to the people who think they are her fans but are using her, if she would say, 'Stop that s---. I don't want it. I'm tired of it,'" Duncan said on The Sports Gossip Show podcast. "As opposed to what we've seen, which is, 'The media makes up these narratives. The media makes up this discourse.'"
Hill, David Dennis Jr., Cari Champion, Ros Gold-Onwude, Dan Le Batard and countless others made similar demands. They wanted Clark to legitimize their manufactured crisis.
Notice that Wolken never argued the media should respect Clark's then.
Now, they all want her to shut up and dribble.
Next, let's try to have the type of conversation that few have managed to have about Caitlin Clark. A nuanced one.
The conservatives involved in this debate do not come away looking particularly strong either. It's fair to ask Clark about transgender athletes, given the attention the issue has received over the past week. However, calling her a "coward" for declining to answer reeks of the same entitlement conservatives often accuse the left of displaying.
"Caitlin Clark might be the biggest coward in the history of sports," Daily Wire commentator Matt Walsh said. "She refuses to say anything about the anti-white racism she has been subjected to since coming into the league. She punts on the trans question, which is the easiest question you could ever be asked. No spine."
Meanwhile, Awful Announcing is enjoying the spectacle, gloating that "Conservative media ate Caitlin Clark up. Now they're spitting her out."
We understand why some people believe Clark should simply say that biological males should not compete in women's sports. For one, that position is hardly fringe. According to Pew Research, roughly 78% of Americans agree. That includes Democrats, Republicans, and independents.
The WNBA exists because sports are separated by sex. There would be no WNBA if men's and women's athletics were not separate. Howard Bryant's comparison this week between Cunningham's comments and Colin Kaepernick's protests was both ignorant and desperate.
Still, the topic of transgender athletes has become deeply divisive in American politics. Therefore, it is entirely understandable that Clark would rather stay out of it entirely.
Cunningham is not a villain for sharing that view. Clark is also not a coward for declining to discuss it. Both statements can be true at once.
As has so often been the case throughout her WNBA career, Caitlin Clark once again looks like the only adult in the room.
While everyone around her manufactures outrage, she continues to handle herself like a professional.
Amid the toxic discourse, Clark has put together one of the greatest seven-game stretches in WNBA history, averaging 26.1 points and 8.6 assists per game.
Caitlin Clark is one of the few star athletes in America today who just wants to play ball. No amount of political pressure will change that.
As hard as it is for some to fathom, Caitlin Clark isn't interested in the culture war. She just wants to play basketball.
Let her.
