Will Caitlin Clark be the most famous Iowan ever?

[SwirlinLingerie]

Dan Gable is widely viewed as one of Top wrestlers in the history of the planet. Then he became the greatest wrestling coach of all time (I recognize Sanderson has some say in that).

CC may reach that status at some point, but Gable is a legend of legends in a sport that probably has a similar niche characteristic as WBB.

CC has completely transcended any kind of niche status. I went to school with one of Gable's daughters and even went to some junior high parties at her house. Which is a cool talking point when chatting with Iowans over age 50, or if I ever run into a wrestling fan anywhere in the world.

Last night my 9 year old son wore a Hawkeye t-shirt to a sports practice in Washington state.

After seeing his shirt, everyone (Moms, Dads, kids) was talking about Caitlin Clark.

Whenever I wear something Iowa related this winter or mention that I am from Iowa, it almost always is followed by a Caitlin Clark comment. We aren't talking just women's basketball fans, or even just basketball fans.

She has transcended all of that. It's mind blowing. There is no comparison with Gable.

 

[Hawkboys]

Back then we had both an offense and a defense.

Is that even allowed?

 

[dagdaj]

You know, a week ago, I was 100% in agreement with this post. But, I'm starting to wonder if The Show is just moving on.

Indiana Fever sold out their season tickets. Well that was a bit a a yo! to me because my family has been to WNBA games and many a time they are lucky to have 200 fans in attendance. So for any of them to sell out a game is a thing and I don't know how many times any WNBA franchise ever sold out their venue.

Well I don't live in Indiana so no problem, surely I could catch Clark at some other place this summer. So, I started checking out road games for the Fever and they are almost all sold out. Tickets in Chicago are getting up to $250 for something worth sitting at. Tickets in Dallas are the same way. Vegas had some seating still left. New York was quickly selling out.

Now I'm sure the Caitlin Clark effect is good for one year and if she doesn't perform at an all-star level, it will go down as a revolutionary career in college sports. But, what if she does keep bombing away from the logo at the pro level with circus like passes to Boston who we know can finish at the rim? I think the ball will keep rolling.

So, I don't think the arenas are too distant for her success. As kind of alluded to here, Taylor Swift may be the only woman in America more popular than Clark right now. People have interest and want to see the show, where off nights are triple doubles, 3's rain from the heavens, and all the grit and competitive spirit you would ever want.

The other thing Clark has going for her, that shoe contract that expires very, very soon. I was hearing that 4 shoe companies were highly interested in Clark and the bid was going to start at $3 mil. I'm telling you, Nike isn't spending $3 mil on Clark just to watch her disappear into Tuesday night on ESPN2.

So, for now, I'm in a wait and see position. Clark draws eyes and if the spotlight is shining bright, she has the ability to single handedly raise the ceiling to all new levels for the WNBA. But, maybe her critics are right. Maybe she isn't athletic enough to make it work against a very tall and twitchy-fast league. But, how can any of us bet against her at this point.

Oh...I hear you. There's a time limit here and it will fade faster than any of us "fans" would genuinely admit.
I just see it as plateaus.

And when I say a .5-1% bump in ratings/eyeballs, that's to me longterm. I think they will far outdo that 1% in the early part of the season. But, will fade fast. But, I genuinely don't see it fading back to the current level. If they can score a bonanza of vastly increased numbers for the first few weeks (and finals) hey, great. Bonus. But I think they're banking on keeping and maintaining a 1-2% bump indefinitely. That's still huge dollars for them. If they can keep adding fractions of a percent year over year to that 1-2% bump, there's a bit of an exponential factor to it. That's not an unreasonable thought because there's a lot of names of players that Clark has helped make widely known, who are not entering the draft this year.

 

[thedukeofearl]

You guys are too young. Forest Evashevski had some great teams in his time. Back then we had both an offense and a defense.

Perhaps the best football teams Iowa has ever had

Woody Hayes didn't particularly like Evy

They were throwing punches at the preseason coaches meeting

 

[HuckFinn]

Perhaps the best football teams Iowa has ever had

Woody Hayes didn't particularly like Evy

They were throwing punches at the preseason coaches meeting

I recall that there were limitations on substitution in those days. Many thought Evy retired when two platoon football became legal. He feared that recruiting at Iowa would become more difficult. Duke: Fact Check?

 

[thedukeofearl]

I recall that there were limitations on substitution in those days. Many thought Evy retired when two platoon football became legal. He feared that recruiting at Iowa would become more difficult. Duke: Fact Check?

Evy was concerned about his health and his wife wanted him to retire as football coach, I believe

He became Athletic Director at Iowa in 1960 and immediately hired Jerry Berns to replace him as
football coach