Many people including the likes of Billy Jean King have said that sports are just a microcosm of society. I believe that is true. Through sports we see all of the things that plague society and all the things that sports can overcome. We can see it all. We can see the flag waving nationalism, racism, discrimination and the fight for equality through sports. We as a nation have witnessed the cheering of Jessie Owens as he defeated Hitler’s superior race to seeing him discriminated because he was Black when he returned home after his great victories. We as a nation have seen Women’s tennis organize to get more equitable with Men’s tennis. We have seen tennis’s “Battle of the Sexes” between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. I have seen Tommy Smith and John Carlos sent home from the Mexico City Olympics in disgrace because they raised a black fist on the podium and then to be thought of as heroes 50 years later. At those same Olympic Games we saw a Black man, George Forman, wave a little American Flag in the boxing ring and become a National Hero. We watched the greatest Boxer of all time, Mohamed Ali go to jail as a conscientious objector for refusing military service during Vietnam while a rich, White golfer by the name of Jack Nicholas got a deferment because he was a great golfer. We have seen the hate mail Hank Aaron received because he dared to break a “White man’s” homerun record. Yes, Billie Jean King and others are right sport’s really is a microcosm of society, and it still is today.

We have made little progress over my lifetime. The Olympics is again just around the corner and it is still the flag waving National event that is has always been. The Olympics is not a battle that determines which country is superior to the other. Just because my country wins the basketball bracket does not mean the American people are superior to the Chinese. Just because the Japanese win in Judo does not mean that they are superior over the Koreans. Just because the Russians win at Weight Lifting does that mean they are superior to Germany? No of course not, all it means is that these athletes, where ever they have come from, excelled for the World to see. When the United States Women’s Soccer Team lost in the last World Cup it was turned into a political statement with Trump blaming the Biden Administration for their loss. On his social media platform he stated “the ‘shocking and totally unexpected loss the U. S. Women’s Soccer Team to Sweden is fully emblematic of what is happening to the our once great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden.” As Randy Moss would say, “Come on Man”.  What in the hell did the Biden Administration have to do with the Women’s World Cup? He had absolutely nothing to do with the Women’s Soccer Team. He was too busy getting our roads fixed and trying to upgrade things like the power grid. Biden was busy trying to get Insulin down to 35 dollars. Shame on him, he just didn’t have time to coach the Women’s Soccer Team too.

Women’s Sports has been in the spotlight a lot lately especially Women’s Basketball. I like to call it the “Caitlin Clark Effect”. For the last two years this young lady from the University of Iowa has made the entire country and much of the world take notice of women’s basketball. People tuned in to watch her. The ratings soared when she was playing. People were following her in the papers. People were following her on the Internet, I know I was. She was chasing history in College Basketball and deserved all the recognition that she got. Was she the best women player to play the game? I don’t know because that argument is subjective, but she did have a great college career and I really thought that it was fun to follow. What I have a problem with there was always a racial element that followed her around. Was that her fault? No, that is just the way our country is. She was White and that automatically got her more attention. In a way I think that was the same when Pistol Pete Maravich. Basketball has been a very Black dominated sport for quite some time and I think there is a certain percentage of the population that has always resented the Black culture that came along with basketball. Caitlin Clark has now entered the WNBA and the notoriety and the press has followed her but so has some of the racism and pettiness. She has taken some pretty cheap shots I really don’t think she should have had to endure. Larry Bird held the same great White hype but I don’t think he had to endure what Caitlin is enduring. One thing was there was not a “thing” called the Internet and there was nothing that resembled social media. I really think that Bird had if off much easier because today’s information highway didn’t exist. When Bird entered the NBA it was tanking in the ratings game. With Bird and Johnson the NBA game flourished and because of those two it is still flourishing today. I really think that the WNBA could flourish if they would realize what both Clark and Angel Reese could do the same thing if the jealousy and the yes racism got out of the way. I don’t care that Clark is White and Reese is Black. What will be fun is that they are both very talented and they are just beginning their professional careers. I want to just sit back and hope they do the same for the WNBA and what Bird and Johnson did for the NBA and neither one of those guys played the bad guy. They were just competitors.

I had once seen a quote that said the race and racism is with us every day here in America. I believe that is true. I have seen the racism in this country because we have a Black Little Mermaid. I have heard complaints because we have had a Black Cinderella. I have heard Disney being called too “Woke” because they have a Black “Dr. Who”. The WNBA has a chance to overcome that. We keep looking at color and nationality as something that defines us. If we are marching in a parade and in the same parade the people behind us are flying a swastika I think it is time to start looking at the message and the messengers.