WNBA Indiana Fever G Caitlin Clark's introductory press conference yesterday was overshadowed by an exchange with a reporter that was “generally uncomfortable," according to Sabreena Merchant of THE ATHLETIC. The Indianapolis Star’s Gregg Doyel made a "heart gesture with his hands in her direction," which Clark "recognized as the signal she gives her family after every game." When Clark made the association, Doyel responded, “Start doing it to me, and we’ll get along just fine.” Merchant noted the reaction to Doyel’s comments was “swift and unfavorable.” There was “near-universal agreement" that what Doyel said was "inappropriate" and "disrespectful to Clark." The uproar was “so overwhelming that Doyel felt compelled to express remorse for his remarks.” With Clark now in the WNBA, she is "inadvertently shining a light on a press corps that has been pretty sparse due to a relative lack of media investment in women’s basketball." As a result, reporters who "don’t have experience covering women’s sports are parachuting in to be part of the Clark phenomenon.” The league and its teams will “have to develop a more robust system when it comes to credentialing reporters as interest in the game grows,” but the media itself has a “responsibility to treat players with respect and professionalism” (THE ATHLETIC, 4/17).
TIME TO APOLOGIZE: In Indianapolis, Doyel wrote he “screwed up" yesterday during his "first interaction" with Clark. Doyel wrote he needs to be "more aware about how I talk to people -- not just athletes," and he “realized that only after my exchange with Clark went viral.” Doyel: “I was just doing what I do, talking to another athlete, another person, and didn’t see the line -- didn’t even know there was a line in the vicinity -- until I crossed it." Doyel wrote in his "haste to be clever, to be familiar and welcoming (or so I thought), I offended Caitlin and her family." Doyel: "What I said and how I said it was wrong, wrong, wrong. I mean it was just wrong” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 4/17).
