The race thing

 I've never completely gotten the Pat McAfee phenomenon, except for the fact he can be funny as all get out and he's completely free-range. And therefore is a media guy who's not really a media guy, even if ESPN employs him as one.

I could also say he's white and male, which is why he's allowed to say stuff no one else could get away with saying. I hate to go there, but sometimes the obvious is the obvious.

The other day, for instance, Pat went off on the apparent jealousy of Caitlin Clark in the ranks of the WNBA, and how it's racial in nature. Which is why he said this: I would like the media people that continue to say, "This rookie class, this rookie class, this rookie class." Nah, just call it for what it is — there's one white bitch for the Indiana team who is a superstar.

"One white bitch for the Indiana team." Nice.

Now, Pat got away with that one because the clear implication was he wasn't calling Clark that, but it's how he believes a lot of WNBA players think of her. Let's not kid ourselves, though: He also got away with it because he's white and male.

I mean, imagine how quickly ESPN would jettison say, Jemele Hill or any other McAfee-like black talent if they'd said the same thing in the same context. Actually the Worldwide Leader did get rid of Hill for calling Donald Trump a racist -- not even a racist bitch, mind you, but just a racist.

Which frankly isn't all that controversial, if you ask me. Not that anyone is.

Ah, but here we go again, right where the Blob didn't want to go. I realize it's unavoidable, especially in this riven time. And I realize, much as I'm loathe to admit it, there's probably a grain of truth to what McAfee was saying.

But only a grain. 

I don't think it's true, see, that the largely black WNBA workforce is resentful of Clark primarily because she's white. Pat McAfee may think that, but I don't. And I don't because it's pretty damn racist in itself to assume as much.

No, I think the main reason some WNBA veterans resent her (not all, and not even most; that's another false assumption here) is not because she's white, but because she's getting all this attention -- attention they rightly feel she hasn't yet earned. Here we've for years been putting all this sweat equity into building the WNBA into a viable brand, and now this girl comes sashayin' in and gets all the credit for putting us on the map. Hell, we drew the damn map!

Which they did.

And yet ...

And yet, it's undeniably true that Caitlin Mania has elevated the WNBA. People are paying attention now who never paid attention before. They're buying her merch; they're filling arenas to see her play. Her team, the woeful Indiana Fever, exceeded last year's total attendance in just five games.

In the meantime, while she hasn't yet walked on water, she's established herself as one of the top rookies in the league, averaging 17.6 points, 6.6 assists and 5.1 rebounds through a rough first month of the season. Yes, she commits turnovers in bunches. Yes, she's not shooting all that well. And, yes, she may not even be the best rookie in the league.

Check out what Angel Reese is doing up in Chicago. Or Cameron Brink out in L.A. They've hit the WNBA with significant impact, too.

But the hype is all with Clark, and she's dealing with it as well as anyone could when the hype is as beyond ridiculous as it is. And if the fact she's white has helped that along, that's not nearly as much a factor as McAfee and others want you to think it is.

 If that were true, people would be filling WNBA arenas to watch Brink, who is also white. But they aren't.

They're coming to watch Caitlin Clark. And I'll die on the hill that most players in the WNBA aren't resentful of that, because to suggest otherwise is to suggest most players in the WNBA are stupid.

They aren't. Like the professional golfers who realized early on that Tiger Woods and the attention he got was making them ALL rich, I 'm thinking the WNBA players realize that about Clark, too.

No matter how much the Pat McAfees want to muddy the waters.