While Mina Kimes has immersed herself as a leading voice in the NFL media, she often finds herself as the voice of reason and nuance in other forms of sports discourse. That seemed to continue into the Caitlin Clark conversation, which has led to just about everybody in the sports media space losing their collective minds over what the discussion has become.
But not Kimes.
The ESPN commentator remains composed, opting to dissect the situation with a critical eye.
“My point is, everybody’s looking at this one incident and then using it to paint a broad brush in whatever direction they want to go with,” Kimes said during a recent Pablo Torre Finds Out episode. “You say Caitlin Clark gets the benefit of her identity from a marketing promotion standpoint. And people say that by leading with that, you’re discounting her skills as a basketball player. But then if you don’t acknowledge it, people correctly will say, ‘Well, you’re ignoring something that is just fundamentally true.’ I guess my point is everybody is right?
“It seems perfectly calibrated to piss off everybody because there are so many things that are true at once. If you’re like me, and you get that For You Page (on X/Twitter), it’s not even just like here’s the clip. I’m being fed outrage on both sides. And whoever you are, if your consumption of that is not just the clip or whatever, or the entire game, but rather a tweet saying, ‘Look at these thugs.’ Or conversely, a tweet saying, ‘Oh, everyone’s gonna protect this (expletive) white girl, whatever.’ Of course, you’re going to be inflamed.
“And I think that’s the problem. I mean, that’s one of the many problems with this story, that’s already — as we’ve been talking about — calibrated to anger a lot of people is the consumption of it is through the lens of these extreme reactions, which are only stoking. Like, a lot of people are reacting to the reactions at this point and not the actual stuff that’s happening.”
And speaking of Kimes’ For You Page and reacting to the reactions, she shared a Fox News post that furthered the point she made on Torre’s show earlier.
In short, Kimes is advocating for a more nuanced discussion that acknowledges the complexities of the situation rather than resorting to online outrage.
While it’s wishful thinking to think social media platforms can be reformed to promote more thoughtful commentary, we seem much more destined to remain trapped in this never-ending cycle of outrage on both sides of the Caitlin Clark equation.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.