Talk about a Cinderella story.
Of all the asinine hot takery that has spewed forth since LSU defeated Iowa in the culmination of one of the most electric women's NCAA Tournaments ever, who had the first lady coming up with the absolute worst opinion?
Just when you thought absurd NCAA Tournament expansion was going to be the lamest talking point to get traction during this year's edition of March Madness, first lady Jill Biden went and made the coach-fueled idea of watering down the bracket look like a minor offense by comparison.
She came out of nowhere, like a No. 16 storming from obscurity to cut down the nets.
She doesn't want the tournament field to grow. She wants the number of teams invited to the White House, an honor reserved for champions, to double so it can include this year's women's runner-up.
"I know we'll have the champions come to the White House, we always do," Jill Biden said Monday, while speaking in Colorado. "So, we hope LSU will come. But, you know, I'm going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game."
Stand down, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval. Your repeated taunting of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes before his team beat your Bengals in the AFC Championship is no longer the most recent worst example of a politician swinging and missing when it comes to sports.
Perhaps political opponents should start taking the same participation-trophy approach. Invite the losing candidate to deliver the winner's acceptance speech. You know, because the runner-up tried hard and ran a good race.
For those who have let the legitimate awesomeness of Iowa star Caitlin Clark distort their minds, a reminder. Iowa got beat by 17 points in Sunday's championship. LSU played a much better game when it mattered most.
The first lady's suggestion, which hopefully becomes nothing more than that, could have been a political stunt. Hope so. If not, it perpetuates the same kind of thinking that has unfortunately warped what should have been a women's tournament celebrated for its tenacity and widespread appeal into a spinout of talking-head theatre revolving around LSU star Angel Reese's taunting of Iowa's Clark in the championship's closing moments.
Anyone who says Reese didn't taunt Clark is fibbing. She pointed to her ring finger, where a championship rock will soon be worn. She mimicked — and embellished — a celebration Clark herself had used earlier in the tournament. It was not subtle. It was obvious, and in your face. The horror!
You know who else is fibbing? Anyone who says Clark didn't do some of her own taunting during Iowa's run to runner-up. We're talking about the same Clark who dismissively waved off a South Carolina shooter she viewed as a non-threat from behind the 3-point arc in a Final Four game, the same Clark who score-checked another opponent in an earlier game, the same Clark who was quoted as saying this following quote during this exact season.
"People are starting to see that women's basketball players can be emotional and passionate," Clark said in November. "And that's how the game should be played."
Women athletes talk trash, too. Who knew? Most of us, I figured, by now. Apparently not, based on the wringing of hands and clutching of pearls.
"I don't care about anybody else and what they have to say about me," Reese told reporters after the championship win. "That's the difference between me and a lot of people. I don't. The biggest goal for me is the national championship. I don't care to be All-American. I don't care to be defensive player of the year, player of the year. The biggest goal is to be a national champion, and that's what I did. That's what I can just brag on. At the end of the day, it's a team effort. Regardless, I'm going to be me, but I can't do it without the girls here, and I can't do it without the rest of my teammates and coaches. Twitter can say what Twitter can say. I love reading those comments. I have all the screenshots of what everybody has said about me all season. What are you going to say now?"
What aren't they going to say?
Some of the sudden experts in how celebrations should be handled happen to be media members who treat their social-media "wins" like they are worthy of ticker-tape parades. Go figure.
Many have forgotten, or just decided to ignore, that we lionize male athletes for similar displays of swagger. Allen Iverson is a legend for stepping over Tyronn Lue. Travis Kelce is The Goat for calling out that Cincinnati mayor during an on-field post-game interview. When Michael Jordan shrugs his shoulders and Dikembe Mutombo wags his finger, that's epic.
And yet there is a perceived need to rush in and tell Reese what kind of celebration is right and wrong. Newsflash: She's not interested in others' opinions on the topic.
Even more obvious is another trend, this rush to console Iowa. Why? Clark and her teammates don't need saving.
Two confident and talented teams with strong-minded star players clashed for a championship. One won. To the victor go the spoils.
This is why the first lady's two-team invitation suggestion is an air ball of an idea. It undermines the sport. At the end of what should have been an all-time women's tournament.
One of the funniest things, to me, about this whole celebration saga was that both Clark and Iowa coach Lisa Bluder, when asked about Reese's taunt, got a chance to be offended, on the record. Both passed.
"I'm sure she (Reese) was really proud of her accomplishment," Bluder said. "And I would be really proud of my accomplishment if I made it, won the national championship, too. We're all different people, and we all have different ways to show our emotions."
Sounds to me like a coach who knows that White House invitation was earned by just one team.
