On Sunday, April 2, 2023, the NCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship had nearly everyone across the country glued to their television screens, with over 9.9 Million television viewers. A sellout crowd of 19,482 fans at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, witnessed the LSU Tigers defeat Iowa Hawkeyes with a final score of 102 to 85 in a thrilling competition.
As a sports fan and, most importantly, an advocate for the recognition of women’s basketball as an impactful and significant entity, I will always root for the underdog because I know what it’s like to be one. So when I heard the Glitter&Gumbo bat call to get people excited about this team, the vision became clear to see LSU make it to the end and eventually claim the title as National Champions. View the LSU video of hip-hop’s Louisiana legend Lil Boosie inspire the team here: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRcPntmf/
On the other side of the battlefield, Iowa’s darling three-point menace, Caitlin Clark, is a phenom who fights with tenacity in helping her team defeat the odds and make it to the NCAA big stage. Watching Clark go off as Iowa competed against South Carolina in the Final Four was entertainment television at its best. Likewise, the fourth-quarter celebration of Clark standing on a chair in front of the crowd, making hand gestures to opponents, and more solidified her role as the one to beat.
Besides, if anyone has ever been to a neighborhood pickup/basketball game in the hood, trash talk is inevitable and the best part of the game. Fans thrive on this spectacular feat, especially when a player has the chops or skills to back it up.
However, as Black women in society, we are not shown the same grace to compete and be ourselves in a world that so desperately tries to contain our magic, grit, and fire, most notably on a big stage in front of a vast demographic audience. As a result, black women must tone it down to avoid offending audiences. Often asked or corrected to use vernacular English in public settings, watch our oral delivery so it doesn’t appear that we have an “attitude,” act like a lady, or behave in a manner that doesn’t cause embarrassment in the eyes of the European holder.
So, when Caitlin Clark made the John Cena “You Can’t See Me” hand gesture during the March Madness game against Louisville, regardless of it being towards another player or coach on her team, this act was deemed acceptably worthy. In a video obtained on Twitter via user @KangDoz18, the gesture’s origin provides a unique backstory. “You can’t see me is kinda a way to talk smack in hip-hop culture to say you’re not on my level,” John Cena explains. The original intent was to pay homage to hip-hop rapper Tony Yavo from the G-Unit rap label.
This Cena story depicts hip-hop’s impact on American culture and how it often subconsciously infiltrates human beings in unimaginable ways and during various scenarios in sports and beyond. The fact that Caitlin Clark directly talks smack and uses hand gestures and the “You Can’t See Me” during play on a court signifies the permeated glue Black culture has as it is undeniably marketed worldwide.
Sadly, when LSU’s Most Outstanding Player, Angel Reese, reiterated Clark’s “You Can’t See Me” gesture back to her on the court during the game’s final minutes, most of white America and a few Black folks became enthralled and desired to call Angel anything but a child of God. A double-standard game piece came into play. Black people attempt to mind their own business, and race becomes an issue or topic of discussion when we are reminded of how our skin color and decency as human beings are threatened or critically judged based on our actions.
Are women not allowed to get physical and play with all their heart and soul, including talking trash on the court? Men do it, and viewers praise them or say it’s just boys being boys. And for those who say what Angel Reese did was not good sportsmanship, have you ever competed for a National Championship and became so fired up to the point where you have the eye of the tiger and are ready to roar? Have you seen a tiger go after its prey? Has a tiger ever been meek?
And the way mainstream media provided significant coverage to Caitlin Clark alone, plus the Iowa team compared to LSU being in the NCAA finals, was quite notable. Therefore LSU’s Alexis Morris had every right to demand, “Put some respect on our LSU name.” Congratulations, LSU and Coach Mulkey, on a phenomenal season.
