All hawks suck….don’t care about any of them. Really wish for them to just go away
What do you think of Caitlin Clark?
- Thread starter Cycsk
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She’s dating Connor Mccaffery?!?! That explains a lot.
I'm not sure brave is the right word, but my god I get completely terrified if there are a couple guys on the patio watching me tee off. I can't imagine as a casual golfer having tv crews and large crows following me around.
By just imagine if all of the people watching you would fight each other for the banana peel you just threw at their feet. Makes a difference. The media has turned CC in to a kitten, everything it does is cute. There’s only upside.
Well you also haven’t played in a national championship basketball game. This stuff is just ridiculous. Brave is risking a dangerous situation to save others, not hitting a freaking golf ball in front of your adoring fans who are the only ones interested enough to watch.
In the original poll, I voted for Team Alisa, and I was right there with many of you getting annoyed with those in the state who implied that we're obligated to cheer for Caitlin Clark for some reason.
At the same time, I feel like many in this thread have gone way past that point. I get that it's annoying hearing constant coverage about her. But, like it or not, she is definitely the most nationally popular athlete in the state of Iowa at the moment, and it isn't close. Some have made comparisons between her and Purdy, Hall, and Haliburton, who are clearly Iowa State's most popular former athletes. However, for one thing, all of them are only tied to Iowa in that they played at Iowa State and still generally support the school.
If we start looking at data, Clark's national popularity still compares well with all three of them, despite their sports being far more popular than women's college basketball.
Here are their Google Trends results over the past 5 years. Purdy is more popular nationwide, largely due to the past NFL season, but Clark during the past NCAA tournament has the higher peak and still is slightly more popular in Iowa. Hall and Haliburton don't get anywhere close in most states (except for Indiana for Tyrese).
I think another, unrelated, thing that sticks out from this data is simply the dominance of professional sports for individual athlete popularity. On the timeline, Purdy and Hall barely have blips until they got to the NFL, despite their college success.
If we take Purdy out of that equation, Clark dominates the map, with Haliburton's popularity showing through in states that care more about the NBA or have more clear ties to him.
And finally, over the last 7 days, Tyrese's new contract is clearly the biggest story nationally. But people are still more interested in Clark in Iowa (especially in the past couple days).
TL;DR: Yeah, I know the Clark coverage is annoying. But it shouldn't be surprising given her popularity within the state. And I think some here underrate her national popularity as well. Whether we like it or not, she very much did drive the increased viewership of the women's Final Four. The fact is, Iowa State hasn't had any active player with this level of popularity (especially a player from Iowa) who could even approach this kind of attention.
At the same time, I feel like many in this thread have gone way past that point. I get that it's annoying hearing constant coverage about her. But, like it or not, she is definitely the most nationally popular athlete in the state of Iowa at the moment, and it isn't close. Some have made comparisons between her and Purdy, Hall, and Haliburton, who are clearly Iowa State's most popular former athletes. However, for one thing, all of them are only tied to Iowa in that they played at Iowa State and still generally support the school.
If we start looking at data, Clark's national popularity still compares well with all three of them, despite their sports being far more popular than women's college basketball.
Here are their Google Trends results over the past 5 years. Purdy is more popular nationwide, largely due to the past NFL season, but Clark during the past NCAA tournament has the higher peak and still is slightly more popular in Iowa. Hall and Haliburton don't get anywhere close in most states (except for Indiana for Tyrese).
If we take Purdy out of that equation, Clark dominates the map, with Haliburton's popularity showing through in states that care more about the NBA or have more clear ties to him.
And finally, over the last 7 days, Tyrese's new contract is clearly the biggest story nationally. But people are still more interested in Clark in Iowa (especially in the past couple days).
TL;DR: Yeah, I know the Clark coverage is annoying. But it shouldn't be surprising given her popularity within the state. And I think some here underrate her national popularity as well. Whether we like it or not, she very much did drive the increased viewership of the women's Final Four. The fact is, Iowa State hasn't had any active player with this level of popularity (especially a player from Iowa) who could even approach this kind of attention.
And I was clear to say that "brave" is probably not the right word. But to be an average golfer and to tee it up in front of that many people requires a boldness I certainly don't have, and I'll give her props for it. The CC hate is just kind of silly.
Ashley Joens -- an Iowa native -- won a national position player-of-the-year award for three consecutive years, and was more or less ignored by nearly all of the media in central and eastern Iowa.
Ashley Joens is and was fantastic. But due to her personality and style of play, she was never going to garner the attention that Clark is able to. I agree there were times when Joens deserved more coverage than she got. But media responds to incentives, and Clark certainly drives more clicks than Joens ever did.
Here is a comparison of Joens's and Clark's Google Trends data during their careers (cut off pre-Final Four to make it so Joens even shows up on the graph).
This worship of her is so incredibly nauseating. It’s so over the top now.
Is Clark polarizing? Absolutely, but nobody can run something into the ground like the state of Iowa media. It's just like Shawn Johnson, Gabby Douglas, Lolo Jones, etc. I lived on the east coast for a bit and I still cringe with this states obsession with the Iowa connection. It's weird.
Shawn Johnson was brutal. She was still being obsessed over beyond when she was relevant.
I figure about 2 more years of peak national popularity with her senior season, WNBA draft, and rookie debut. After that, it's bottom of the news cycle along with the rest of the WBNA. If she's on the Olympic of FIBA Worlds teams, you'll see some bump. Around here though, she's gained cult hero status. Everything she does will be front page for at least a decade.
The only thing this data is telling me is what media chooses to amplify.
Certainly it's difficult to separate the directional causation. But if that's the only thing the data (not just this data, but attendance data, viewership data, and more) is telling you, then I feel like you're willfully blinding yourself to Clark's popularity.
Good Lord, Murph and Andy have spent several minutes in both hours today talking about her. Murph had 7 teeets about her by himself yesterday.
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And brings us back to needing a Cyclone alternative because WHO, KCCI, and KXNO are just mouthpieces for Hawk AD.
Time to commander WOI again, if not in ownership at least on spirit? They do have a Cyclone weather guy at least.
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