GET UP | Caitlin Clark should be out of the ROTY conversation - Elle Duncan on Fever's loss to Lynx

the athlete at their Apex and they'll likely tell you that Fame is a pretty weird thing Maya Mo a women's basketball legend walked away from it all together for a higher calling a young girl she inspired as a child now a grown woman named Caitlyn Clark couldn't state it even if she tried a decade ago when she was 12 Clark's dad Brent took her to a Minnesota links game to watch more play she got a hug on the floor from Mo that night and is famously said of that simple interaction quote 10 seconds can go a long way in someone's life though their second meeting a decade later was a bit more memorable remember this before Clark played her senior day game in Iowa City this past March I'm more oh my God oh my God so hard oh my god wow moment number three Clark in the house Maya jersey retired I think my parents as me growing up as a young kid like those are the type of people you want your your young daughter to idolize and um yeah I mean it's it's crazy now that I get to play in this building I play in this building in college and then now playing here as a pro uh it kind of comes full circle but Mya was definitely that person for me and she was obviously tremendous so that was Caitlyn pregame what would happen during the game look at that just raised to the Raptors what a moment and she has proved in her life there are so many things bigger than basketball tremendous stuff this is a big time game for both the lyns and the fever the lyns with the win they're trying to get to the playoffs and obviously Caitlyn's trying to take the fever there themselves Clark fastest WNBA player reached 500 points 200 dimes she did it in 29 games remember wnba's got 40 game regular season for the first time so she can add on to that total big time in the third takes a lot a lot to overshadow Caitlyn Clark especially on A Day Made for Clark in a ridal but if somebody could do it it was going to be nefisa ker who was incredible she had 31 and even though all the fields here obviously were for Caitlyn Clark and you know seeing Maya Mo you know deep down Maya's like you know I did I did win the championship with the links it's my night I'd love to see my team win and her team's best player came to play ker at 31 the links win and they are going to the post season welcome to the L Duncan show what is a wicked worm Worster what you know how we feature minor league baseball teams rebranding so this was one of them from like last weekend and they sent me this shirt and I was like I haven't seen l in a while I better I better put on Sunday's best I better put on something that's really going to grab her attention yeah yeah angry worm it worked a wicked worm an angry Wicked worm wow that's what it is that's how Gary's ex-girlfriend describes him damn what I love too is that every minor league team for sure knows that like you and Randy you fall for that minor league like if they send you anything minor league related you guys are going to fall for it I'm a sucker for I a sucker for a freebie are you kidding I haven't paid for a t-shirt years yeah I will recycle this same shirt it's all good I love it give me that it's lovely to be back in studio with you um a lot to get to in the show today we're going overseas man college football starts tomorrow college football starts tomorrow we're going to go to Dublin and check in with Harry ly uh who of course is host of countdown to game day college football reporter we're gonna have a fun game with him that's what's up or hell no and we're joined by Ryan MC one of the greatest living Americans but also very very Southern we're going to run some Irish words you see if you know what there are there might be some crack involved you are going to have to definitely enunciate every letter okay because there's going to be people accusing you of saying some stuff that we are not allowed to say crew yeah we're going to show a little crack and do all some some other stuff as well that'll keep viers all of that still ahead here on the show so stick around for them it's it's going to be super fun but here we are come on in the W let's go yeah it's like Groundhog Day hey we pulled a pin on a grenade and we forgot to run out of the room yeah we are trapped in the room with the live grenade cuz we made mention of Rookie of the Year Caitlyn Clark Angel Reese and then I just said hey let's invite her into the MVB conversation and 700 people on our YouTube channel is like let's do that and I'm like let's freaking do that H come on yeah if you missed the last episode Gary tried to make an argument for effectively should Kaitlin Clark be in the MVP conversation and I said no just because only had one person that was a rookie win um MVP as well that was Candace Parker and she was just dominant from the beginning and on top of that it's not just about Caitlyn it's much more about what Asia Wilson's doing I think in the interest of just fodder sure you want to throw in the race fine Asia Wilson's gonna run away with the MVP it's not even a question or conversation period she's having one of the most dominant Seasons that we've ever seen a basketball play player have since Shaq won MVP a hundred years ago okay so like the dominance is there she is incredible and she has leveled up but now there's the question that our producers have posed that I also find to be a total and complete copout I hate this question should there be a co-rookie of the year because Angel ree is of course doing historical things with her double doubles as a rookie and Caitlyn Clark already has set a million records and and looks completely Unstoppable especially when it comes to dishing no and it feels like we are both on the same page here not a no they're not equal they are not that's you're going far no I'm no I'm not it's not rookies of the year it is the rookie who has had the biggest impact on their team and it's unequivocally and the odds are saying that it's even distancing itself even further that it's Caitlyn Clark she is leading in all of the statistical categories as a rookie minus rebounds obviously Angel ree is averaging a double double but the impact on the team we are talking again at nauseum about Caitlyn Clark leading as a rookie the fever to the playoffs for the first time since 2016 they are head of the Chicago sky so I think to me if this is even a breaching a conversation of splitting this it's it might as well be hey you're a rookie here's an award you're also a rookie here's just an award for being a rookie I'm 100% with you I'm not a big fan of Co anything I think it's a copout and it feels like a consolation this to me feels a lot like after LSU won the national championship last year and then First Lady Joe Biden was like well maybe we can invite Iowa too no no no no no no no no no the whole point of the voters is that you have to make tough decisions and I do still think the decision is tougher than you seem to think I still stand on the fact that I think that is Caitlyn Clark um because of all of the things that I've mentioned before but because people don't really do their research I'll remind them again because it is harder to translate as a guard right away in the league and also because of not just the historical stuff that she's doing but because she is so intrical to what the fever do and the idea that she is at the moment leading her team to the postseason how you contribute to your team and what your contributions mean in terms of Team success is important and so I think that it should be uh Caitlyn Clark as Rookie of the Year while I still enjoy the debate for people that feel like it should be Angel ree I also say that because we haven't seen this since the first two years of the league when they had something called Rookie of the Year and newcomer of the year now I don't I would love for a a w old head to fill me in on like what that meant it was that it was like someone from overseas they weren't necessarily a rookie out of college they did that for two years and they were like let's just go to the Roy because that's let's just go with one so they haven't done that before I certainly wouldn't do that sets a bad precedent it sets a bad precedent but we're also reacting as it relates to Caitlyn Clark to one of our colleagues Stephen A Smith on his show I've heard of him talking about sort of what has been an undercurrent this whole entire year and calling out people for their perceived hate on Caitlyn Clark and as someone that has already stepped in it into this space and was called numerous names on both sides of this argument I apologize for that by the way yeah stop tweeting at say said sorry well I haven't seen you in like three months I know it's true damn so listen up I'm I'm gonna present I'm gonna present this this argument okay in that if for people in the media Caitlyn Clark has become such a lightning rod that in many ways I'm going to liken it to sort of Voldemort and Harry Potter oh you're not supposed to say his name Beetlejuice right like do not say candy man three times where I'm leaving candy man candy man candy girl you are my world it has become really difficult to figure out how to capture and talk about some of these conversations because the vitriol just follows you know if you you know are very complimentary to Caitlyn Clark there's a function of the population that thinks that you're being mandated to say it and that you're trying to be safe and that you're trying to appeal to her and that you're trying to appeal to her fan base if you say anything critical you're a hater and I will just say that we should also give a little bit of space and Grace for the fact that it can be difficult to figure out how to address this topic when there is so much nastiness involved in it like this is not your typical like Is It Michael Jordan or is it LeBron James this is not your you know even what we heard you know this week from Dennis Rodman saying that LeBron James isn't really that skilled and all he has is a layup which is asinine right I missed that he said that he fully said that or your guy Anthony Edwards who's my guy I love Anthony Edwards saying that Michael Jordan was Michael Jordan because nobody else had any skill at the time except for him and everybody is much more skilled now like these are arguments that you can have and we can debate and we can be like you're crazy and we can yeah specifically the Caitlyn Clark topic is is such a lightning rod topic that it can be hard to figure out how you're going to navigate it and some people who have been on the receiving end of racism and threats and nastiness you could understand might want to avoid the topic altogether now I am a glutton for punishment I don't mind it I'll keep bringing it up because that's our job and like that's what we do as journalists especially in this space and because let's be real she's the biggest storyline in the WNBA this year amongst other very big story lines but she still in terms of mainstream is the most important thing I just want us to leave a little bit of space for that understanding as well and know that trying to beat people to death over this view or this subject trying to batter them trying to attack them trying to wait I mean we've got socalled quote unquote journalists just like laying in weight ready to pounce on anyone who has any perceived hate ready to attack them ready to send their missives to attack you and it can to some people feel incredibly daunting to the point where they just don't want to talk about it at all so I'm leaving space for people like that whoever they may be that maybe have gotten to the point where they're like I am damned if I do I'm damned if I don't I'm just not going to bring it up at all and I'm going to focus on all the other story lines because certainly it's not as if that narrative is missing I heard this before and in my head it makes sense when you at the top of a the pyramid you're exposed from all angles and arrows will come from all angles and I feel like because Caitlyn Clark is at the top of this pyramid the entire conversation is exposed the entire conversation is a 360 I think some people have welcomed maybe invited some of the the vitriol that we're that we're talking about that's getting thrown around but at the end of the day like we had 7 and Counting com ments on our last episode about K Clark W of the year and the conversation for MVP and I went through a really big bulk of them and it was split but I didn't I I I wasn't reading anything like egregious and it's the Internet it's the comment section alen there was just a lot of people who are like depending on what metrics you are looking at L's right depending on what metrics you're looking at Gary might have a point for the MVP thing so I think it's just it's par for the course understanding that Caitlyn Clark is a lightning rod in and of herself like onto the scene Boom the WNBA is now leading sports center it's in the a block of every national sports program it's in the a block of most national sports podcasts that just comes with the territory my opinion I I I disagree with you though that there is nothing that you can say short of just being disgustingly nasty and inflammatory there is nothing you can say that is opinion based on your opinion that should invite people calling you racist names the misogynistic things that have been said people threatening to kill you like those things are not welcome ever in this space and while we may have been able to have a conversation that shockingly created a nuanced conversation in the comment section that might be the first time that's not the case for everybody that's not the case for everybody and when you're painted with a hater brush it's very hard to get out of that and so I would just like to say that while we are navigating this space and talking about it because again I've had to fall on the sword and say I took some things out of context I made some things that were based on an opinion that just was not thorough which I'm not proud of but let's just remember that this is still human beings that we're talking about and you in the same way you would not walk up to someone that you disagree with and call them a racial slur you should not be allowed to do that on on social media just because you disagree with someone's opinion you want to call people haters or whatever that's fine but that is not at all where it ends for some people and it's unfair so when someone every time they go to engage on social media is seeing themselves being called incredibly offensive things or having people say that they should kill themselves because they're so stupid or having people denigrate their careers you could understand maybe if you put yourself in them shoes for a minute why they would just stay away from the topic altogether and I yeah I just I want I want us to just leave a little bit of room for that as well and that's that's where I'll leave it at that um [Music] I for spee foree for fore for yeah for for [Music] for [Music] e foree spe fore spee spee for for for back