Filling in Caitlin Clark\u2019s shoes is like stepping onto the Avengers\u2019 jet and being told, \u201cYou\u2019re Captain America now.\u201d You either crumble\u2026 or you show up like Aari McDonald. She\u2019s got that rare combo of grace under pressure and absolute fire on the floor. Imagine someone getting their name mispronounced the whole interview. Still, smiling through it, dropping the correction with a smile and going forward to average 9.9 pts, 4.5 assists. And don\u2019t sleep on the clutch gene. Her career average is 84.3% from the line, and a perfect 100% in three of the last five. Oh, and while you are reading this, it\u2019s pronounced \u201cAIR-e.\u201d Like the breeze, she leaves defenders (and a certain latest critic) in.<\/p>\n
Now, about that critic. It all started when American columnist Jason Whitlock decided to fire off an unsolicited jab at Aari McDonald\u2019s hair. Most likely, he confused her for Kahleah Copper, whose wig once fell off during a Mercury vs. Mystics game. But even that doesn\u2019t justify the tweet he made: \u201cAny female WNBA fans give me an opinion on Aari McDonald\u2019s wig? Looks crazy to me. But I\u2019m no expert.\u201d Whatever you or I are thinking while reading this dissection of the appearance of a woman, Aari was thinking the same. The best part is that she said it out loud. And oh, she educated him in the process.<\/p>\n
As per an Instagram post two days ago, there was no wig. The post came from @ski_thehairstylist\u2019s account, where you could see Aari posing, showing off her newly done hair. As the caption said, it was some \u201cStitch braids + sew in. Hair (3 18 inch),\u201d for any of you looking for details. That made Aari\u2019s response even sharper as she maintained her signature calm. She said, \u201cLOL I usually don\u2019t respond to foolishness like this, but I couldn\u2019t help myself this time. You\u2019re very lame for commenting on a woman\u2019s appearance and for your information it\u2019s not a wig. Don\u2019t make me get @stephenasmith \ud83e\udd23. Stay blessed \ud83d\ude0a\u201d<\/p>\n
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Turns out the threat of invoking Stephen A. Smith works. Because within eight minutes of her post, the man folded. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Aari. I sincerely apologize. Great victory.\u201d Spoiler: Aari McDonald wasn\u2019t even reading it by then. She was probably off celebrating that \u201cgreat victory\u201d with the rest of the Fever. Because, yes, it was a big one.<\/a> Their fifth straight win, tying the franchise\u2019s longest streak in a decade. And that little Stephen A. reference was not random either. Aari name-dropped him not just because he defends women like Caitlin Clark on air, but because he\u2019s long had beef with her would-be critic: Jason Whitlock.<\/p>\n Stephen A. Smith once went on air and said of Jason Whitlock, \u201cHe\u2019s a no good individual. Probably the worst individual I\u2019ve ever had the displeasure of being associated with in any capacity.\u201d That explanation came after Smith called him a \u201cfat b\u2014\u2014\u201d.\u00a0It was probably because Jason Whitlock tore into Smith\u2019s memoir, claiming, \u201cVirtually everything in this man\u2019s memoir is suspect. EVERYTHING.\u201d He doubled down with \u201cHow can you be a \u2018journalist\u2019 and be this comfortable with lying?\u201d He claimed all of it proudly aired on his show Fearless with Jason Whitlock. Oh, and just to pad his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of slander, Whitlock once called Stephen A. a \u201cplanted liar\u201d by ESPN.<\/a> Yes, the same network that once fired him.<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n While exiting the organization, he said that he was the \u201cthorn in ESPN\u2019s side.\u201d Because it was \u201cthe world\u2019s most powerful institution in sports and it needed to be questioned by someone with stature and credibility\u201d. But Aari isn\u2019t the only one Whitlock has criticized.<\/p>\n Not Just Aari McDonald<\/p>\n Whitlock has been using his platform to start fights with pretty much every woman in the WNBA. Take his latest rant about the \u201cPay Us What You Owe Us\u201d shirts players wore during the All-Star Game shootaround. Jason Whitlock, now 58 and working at Blaze Media (the network co-founded by Glenn Beck), didn\u2019t hold back. He called the players \u201cdumb, desperate, and delusional.\u201d He even trashed the game as \u201cthe worst All-Star Game in history,\u201d\u00a0and dismissed the WNBA as a\u00a0\u201ccharity welfare league.\u201d And of course, he dragged Caitlin Clark into it. Apparently, wearing a T-shirt is enough to set off his podcast rants.<\/p>\n Funny to think that Whitlock went viral last year for claiming that the WNBA survives off the NBA\u2019s generosity. But when players actually push for pay equity, they are being desperate?\u00a0\u201cThis is a sign of how desperate they are,\u201d\u00a0he raged.\u00a0\u201cThis is a sign of how delusional they are. This is a sign of how dumb they are.\u201d That\u2019s not even analysis. He even compared the performance at the All-Star event a \u201cdoo doo sandwich.\u201d\u00a0Yes, he really said that.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the players were trying to start a real conversation\u2026 one based on facts, not emotions. The WNBA is breaking records in attendance, jersey sales, and media coverage. If that doesn\u2019t justify asking for better pay, what does?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Filling in Caitlin Clark\u2019s shoes is like stepping onto the Avengers\u2019 jet and being told, \u201cYou\u2019re Captain America…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":117890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-117889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114969894272002835","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}