Christine Brennan writes columns on national and international sports issues for USA Today. She's also a commentator for ABC News, PBS NewsHour and National Public Radio, and the best-selling author of seven books.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from WOR Now more of the
WOR Saturday Morning Show and Larry Minte.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome back. Caitlin Clark has changed the WNBA and women's sports,
and now there's a new book out about her meteoric
rise on her game, Caitlin Clark and the Revolution of
Women's Sports, written by the award winning USA Today columnist
Christine Brennan. Good morning, Christine, Well, good morning Mary.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Sure. I was fascinated by your title because you took
this maybe further than I would have taken it, but
I agree with you the revolution in women's sports. You
think she's leading a new revolution in women's sports.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Oh, I absolutely do. And in the book I talk
about all kinds of stories and basically it's your interest
in love in Caitlin Clark and everyone listening. I think
people are probably nodding their heads, going yeah, yeah, that.
You know, you wouldn't have paid much attention to women's basketball.
And then you're watching the logo threes. You know, she's
chucking it from the parking lot from the next county
(01:04):
and it's going in and like you're saying, as I know,
I was in my kitchen watching some of these games
early on. What am I seeing here? You know, I've
covered a lot. I've been so fortunate in my career,
the Tiger Woods, you know, Olympic super Bowls, And I
was kind of like, oh, this is something new and different,
certainly to see a woman playing that way, with reckless
abandon with the speed the passes. She's really, of course
(01:27):
a basketball player, Larry, but she's really an entertainer the
high wire act. And I think that's what I try
to get at throughout the book, and I think that
is the allure for so many millions of people.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, and her story reads like a novel, and even
the way she's playing now, and the fact that she
doesn't get along with certain players, and there's a bad
person and there's a good person, just like in a
good novel, and there's someone that comes to her defense.
It reads like a story, but it's playing out almost
like a Broadway play. That's why. That's part of the reason,
(02:01):
aside from her immense talent, that's part of the reason
everybody's fascinated in this.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Actually, I like that idea. You and I we can
collaborate on what you think, you know, what people would
come I'm in Ohio, my hometown, and we just had
unbelieve people were parking on like the soccer field hockey
fields to come in last night in the suburbs of Toledo. So,
you know, I think there might be something here with
this woman. But you know that's the thing too. Think
(02:27):
about this. We're watching someone from the University of Iowa,
the heartland taking over the nation, including the two coasts, right.
And you could see this when she was in college
those last two years where there were lines in January
February in the cold, you know, really cold weather in Columbus, Ohio,
in outside of DC and Maryland, in Michigan and Indiana
(02:52):
waiting to get into a huge college basketball arena to
watch a woman play basketball, kind of like it was
a Springsteen or Taylor Swift concert. Again, that's what I thought.
I thought, My goodness, you know, having been around a while,
you know, I'd never expected to see this in my lifetime,
which then led to my fascination starting to write columns,
(03:13):
meeting her and then eventually the book. And even just
a year ago right now is when I was talking
with my editor at Scribner just to begin the process.
So we really scooted along and it's current goes up
till April. So lots and lots of anecdotes and stories
about college and also that first year, that rookie year,
and of course, as you said, the drama. All of
(03:36):
that's in there. The WNBA Angel Reeves, Caitlin Clark, the
Kennedy Carter hipcheck. You know what I mean. That's all
there because that's all a part of a journalistic look
at one of the most famous, not only athletes in
our country, one of the most famous people in our country.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
She's raised attendant, she's raised salaries, she's got them all
private planes. But there seems to be, as has been
reported several times, a jealousy in the league. Can you
understand that.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I do a little and I really try to explain it.
I have some great voices in the book, lots of
voices in the book throughout, but in this particular case,
Briana Scurry, the goalkeeper from the ninety nine women's soccer team,
the first black superstar of that team. I quote her
about exactly that, about the issues, like you know that
the players need to understand. This is the moment seventy
(04:23):
four percent black league. I think we can all understand
a white woman comes in there could be tension in
this polarized society of ours, right, that's not a surprise.
So what someone like Briana Scurry is saying is that
it's time to work through it and everyone makes more money.
The rising, timeless all boats. Doctor Harry Edwards, great civil
rights leader, the man behind the Black Power, saluted the
(04:46):
nineteen sixty eight Mexico City Olympics. Same thing. He says.
There should have been seminars and conversations, get people in
sociologists to talk to the players last year in preparation
Larry of Caitlin Clark's arrival, not because they're damsels in distress, no,
their college graduated great athletes, but because this was just
so unusual for majority black league. I deal with all
(05:09):
of that, and unfortunately the WNBA, to me anyway, just
did not seem to be prepared for the moment. Wasn't
anticipating it, and certainly wasn't anticipating the national scrutiny that
they have received.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
In defense of them. How could they, I mean, this
is a phenomenon that we haven't seen in a long time.
Can you explain it? Can you explain why her story
when there's been so many superstars in all the sports
is such a phenomenon.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And you know what you said, Yeah, how could they?
I mean, I understand that maybe they didn't believe it
would be possible for a league that always got short
shrift right from the male dominated mainstream sports media. I tried,
others tried to get coverage of women's basketball back in
the nineties and in the early part of this century.
It didn't happen. But they also could have seen those
crowds and those TV ratings and four million more watching
the women's final in the NCAA in twenty twenty five,
(06:00):
or four million more people than watch the men the
next night. We'll never see that again. At least I'd
love to see it, but probably not. It is the
entertainment value. People who don't know anything about basketball will
tune in grandmother's, grandfathers, you name it. The guy who
said he'd never watched basketball, right, that guy's now wearing
a twenty two jersey not only the games, but to
(06:20):
the grocery store and the DAS station. It's because, as
I've got a chapter title on her game, you can't
take your eyes off her that's a quote from Curtis Strange,
two time US Open Men's golf champel.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
He will not leave the room.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
He said, if that ball's coming up the court, if
she's bringing up the court, you have no idea what's
going to happen. You have to watch. And that's it again.
I think it's much more than basketball. It is about
entertaining everybody. And as you said, she sure's doing that.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Well. I'll tell you what. You sound excited about the book,
which is really great to hear. I'm excited about the book.
I'm sure a lot of people are. I haven't been
able to dive into it yet, but I promise you
I'm probably going to read it this weekend on the beach. Christine,
congratulations on the book. By the way, you can buy
the book on her Game, Caitlin Clark and the Revolution
in Women's Sports right now at any place you buy books,
(07:12):
including Amazon. Christine Brennan, Award winning USA Today columnist and
television commentator. Thanks a lot for your time, Christine.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
My pleasure. Larry, thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
This has been a podcast from wor
This is a podcast from WOR Now more of the
WOR Saturday Morning Show and Larry Minte.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome back. Caitlin Clark has changed the WNBA and women's sports,
and now there's a new book out about her meteoric
rise on her game, Caitlin Clark and the Revolution of
Women's Sports, written by the award winning USA Today columnist
Christine Brennan. Good morning, Christine, Well, good morning Mary.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Sure. I was fascinated by your title because you took
this maybe further than I would have taken it, but
I agree with you the revolution in women's sports. You
think she's leading a new revolution in women's sports.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Oh, I absolutely do. And in the book I talk
about all kinds of stories and basically it's your interest
in love in Caitlin Clark and everyone listening. I think
people are probably nodding their heads, going yeah, yeah, that.
You know, you wouldn't have paid much attention to women's basketball.
And then you're watching the logo threes. You know, she's
chucking it from the parking lot from the next county
(01:04):
and it's going in and like you're saying, as I know,
I was in my kitchen watching some of these games
early on. What am I seeing here? You know, I've
covered a lot. I've been so fortunate in my career,
the Tiger Woods, you know, Olympic super Bowls, And I
was kind of like, oh, this is something new and different,
certainly to see a woman playing that way, with reckless
abandon with the speed the passes. She's really, of course
(01:27):
a basketball player, Larry, but she's really an entertainer the
high wire act. And I think that's what I try
to get at throughout the book, and I think that
is the allure for so many millions of people.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, and her story reads like a novel, and even
the way she's playing now, and the fact that she
doesn't get along with certain players, and there's a bad
person and there's a good person, just like in a
good novel, and there's someone that comes to her defense.
It reads like a story, but it's playing out almost
like a Broadway play. That's why. That's part of the reason,
(02:01):
aside from her immense talent, that's part of the reason
everybody's fascinated in this.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Actually, I like that idea. You and I we can
collaborate on what you think, you know, what people would
come I'm in Ohio, my hometown, and we just had
unbelieve people were parking on like the soccer field hockey
fields to come in last night in the suburbs of Toledo. So,
you know, I think there might be something here with
this woman. But you know that's the thing too. Think
(02:27):
about this. We're watching someone from the University of Iowa,
the heartland taking over the nation, including the two coasts, right.
And you could see this when she was in college
those last two years where there were lines in January
February in the cold, you know, really cold weather in Columbus, Ohio,
in outside of DC and Maryland, in Michigan and Indiana
(02:52):
waiting to get into a huge college basketball arena to
watch a woman play basketball, kind of like it was
a Springsteen or Taylor Swift concert. Again, that's what I thought.
I thought, My goodness, you know, having been around a while,
you know, I'd never expected to see this in my lifetime,
which then led to my fascination starting to write columns,
(03:13):
meeting her and then eventually the book. And even just
a year ago right now is when I was talking
with my editor at Scribner just to begin the process.
So we really scooted along and it's current goes up
till April. So lots and lots of anecdotes and stories
about college and also that first year, that rookie year,
and of course, as you said, the drama. All of
(03:36):
that's in there. The WNBA Angel Reeves, Caitlin Clark, the
Kennedy Carter hipcheck. You know what I mean. That's all
there because that's all a part of a journalistic look
at one of the most famous, not only athletes in
our country, one of the most famous people in our country.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
She's raised attendant, she's raised salaries, she's got them all
private planes. But there seems to be, as has been
reported several times, a jealousy in the league. Can you
understand that.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I do a little and I really try to explain it.
I have some great voices in the book, lots of
voices in the book throughout, but in this particular case,
Briana Scurry, the goalkeeper from the ninety nine women's soccer team,
the first black superstar of that team. I quote her
about exactly that, about the issues, like you know that
the players need to understand. This is the moment seventy
(04:23):
four percent black league. I think we can all understand
a white woman comes in there could be tension in
this polarized society of ours, right, that's not a surprise.
So what someone like Briana Scurry is saying is that
it's time to work through it and everyone makes more money.
The rising, timeless all boats. Doctor Harry Edwards, great civil
rights leader, the man behind the Black Power, saluted the
(04:46):
nineteen sixty eight Mexico City Olympics. Same thing. He says.
There should have been seminars and conversations, get people in
sociologists to talk to the players last year in preparation
Larry of Caitlin Clark's arrival, not because they're damsels in distress, no,
their college graduated great athletes, but because this was just
so unusual for majority black league. I deal with all
(05:09):
of that, and unfortunately the WNBA, to me anyway, just
did not seem to be prepared for the moment. Wasn't
anticipating it, and certainly wasn't anticipating the national scrutiny that
they have received.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
In defense of them. How could they, I mean, this
is a phenomenon that we haven't seen in a long time.
Can you explain it? Can you explain why her story
when there's been so many superstars in all the sports
is such a phenomenon.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And you know what you said, Yeah, how could they?
I mean, I understand that maybe they didn't believe it
would be possible for a league that always got short
shrift right from the male dominated mainstream sports media. I tried,
others tried to get coverage of women's basketball back in
the nineties and in the early part of this century.
It didn't happen. But they also could have seen those
crowds and those TV ratings and four million more watching
the women's final in the NCAA in twenty twenty five,
(06:00):
or four million more people than watch the men the
next night. We'll never see that again. At least I'd
love to see it, but probably not. It is the
entertainment value. People who don't know anything about basketball will
tune in grandmother's, grandfathers, you name it. The guy who
said he'd never watched basketball, right, that guy's now wearing
a twenty two jersey not only the games, but to
(06:20):
the grocery store and the DAS station. It's because, as
I've got a chapter title on her game, you can't
take your eyes off her that's a quote from Curtis Strange,
two time US Open Men's golf champel.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
He will not leave the room.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
He said, if that ball's coming up the court, if
she's bringing up the court, you have no idea what's
going to happen. You have to watch. And that's it again.
I think it's much more than basketball. It is about
entertaining everybody. And as you said, she sure's doing that.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Well. I'll tell you what. You sound excited about the book,
which is really great to hear. I'm excited about the book.
I'm sure a lot of people are. I haven't been
able to dive into it yet, but I promise you
I'm probably going to read it this weekend on the beach. Christine,
congratulations on the book. By the way, you can buy
the book on her Game, Caitlin Clark and the Revolution
in Women's Sports right now at any place you buy books,
(07:12):
including Amazon. Christine Brennan, Award winning USA Today columnist and
television commentator. Thanks a lot for your time, Christine.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
My pleasure. Larry, thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
This has been a podcast from wor
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