There are more than a few storylines to emerge from the Women’s NCAA Basketball Championship, none the least being the huge uptick in television viewership and high demand for tickets. There’s that, and South Carolina losing, and Jill Biden creating a stir when she invited both the winning and losing teams to the White House.
But nothing seems to have made more noise than the silent hand gesture by LSU forward Angel Reese, at least by the metrics of social media. In the waning moments of the Tigers’ title victory over Iowa, Reese waived her hand in front of her face right in the direction of Iowa superstar guard Caitlin Clark, who set a record for most points scored in the NCAA Tournament. That’s wrestler John Cena speak for “you can’t see me,” an insult of athletic prowess. Reese also pointed to her ring finger where her championship ring would go. This trash talk took a lot of the oxygen in the post-game, making Reese something of the lead figure in LSU’s historic win. For some context, Clark used the same hand flash in an earlier tournament game, but not as deliberately addressed to one person.
Not surprisingly, a lot of post-game comments were derogatory towards Reese. Apparently the term “classless” trended on twitter. Generally, it was seen as a lack of sportsmanship, particularly at a moment when she should have focused on the joy of winning instead of putting down the loser. Some did come to her defense, including several pro athletes, arguing it’s part of the game. One of those defenders was Caitlin Clark herself, who asserted it happened all tournament long with a whole lot of players. And to be clear, professional sports is littered with great trash talkers, many who become iconic figures – say Michael Jordan, Richard Sherman, Larry Bird – the list goes on and on. Basically, you find any sport where athletes compete one-on-one, and you’ll find people talking smack.
There was no lack of analysis of why or whether Reese deserved criticism, and who’s to blame either way. More than a few suggested that reactions were clouded by race and gender, and had Reese been male and white, the public would see this much differently. While there’s plenty of history to support that assessment, I would suggest this incident had more to do with the intensity of the moment itself – that it came at the end of the title game at a moment of growing interest in women’s college basketball. And college sports will always be judged by a different prism than the pros, fairly or otherwise.
As a parent of two kids who play team sports, I have a personal view on trash talking. Namely, I don’t like it. That’s driven largely by the fact that I don’t want my kids to do it, for a whole list of reasons, but probably because I still hold onto this anachronistic view of respecting your opponent – even if they don’t reciprocate. And maybe because I’m more concerned about how my kids might extend into life off the field, where that kind of rhetoric isn’t as normalized. Or maybe because I think your opponents aren’t really your enemy, because you’re both partners in the in the pursuit of excellence in competition. And yes, that sounds like something a coach in a high school football movie would say and is completely dissociated from the social media driven reality of 2023. It also sounds like someone who spent his athletic career in track and cross country, where the competition truly is yourself and the ground in front of you.
But all that aside, here’s a couple of quick thoughts Angel Reese and the John Cena hand flash. First, dogmatic reactions either direction are probably too much. Reese certainly shouldn’t be demonized, but let’s not pretend that’s something we’d love all kids to copy as well. Second, remember that what goes up also goes down. So I imagine Iowa – or really anyone from the Big 10 – will be waiting for their chance for payback to LSU. Which is probably good for the game anyway. Which leads to third, and finally, it’s pretty notable that at the end of the men’s and women’s college basketball season, we’re talking trash talk from a couple of star women from the championship game. That wouldn’t have happened 10 years ago, when there weren’t 10 million viewers for the final. And perhaps that, not the gesture itself, is the biggest story of all.
Keith Strudler is the director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. You can follow him on twitter at @KeithStrudler
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