Poor Jenny Cavnar. She spent 12 seasons with the woeful Colorado Rockies and then got sent to the Oakland Athletics in the offseason.
OK, so that is a bit tongue-in-cheek. In the process, Cavnar smashed a glass ceiling for women in sports. She will be the first female play-by-play announcer in the history of Major League Baseball. Her friends in Denver were rightly elated by the announcement, despite the Atrocious A’s being nearly 10 games worse than the 103-loss Rockies last year.
Cavnar is one more example of women proving they are the future of sports.
For me, her hire came in the middle of a fortnight dominated by watching women competing at the highest levels. And it was more entertaining than any men’s sports I watched over the same period.
As is the custom for my Chelsea supporters group at the British Bulldog, we watched the women triumph in an FA Cup match before falling to Manchester City in a clash of the top two teams in the English Women’s Super League.
Despite the outcome, the match was captivating. The pace and power of Kahdija Shaw before slotting home with a technically perfect shot on the outside of her boot for the match’s only goal cannot be denied. Yet her exploits may have been for naught but for the acrobatic exploits of their goalkeeper, Khiara Keating, to deny Chelsea an equalizer. The intricate passing and spacing of the two teams was arguably more entertaining than the 1-1 draw the men played to the following day.
When not watching the Chelsea Women, I was glued to Iowa’s Caitlin Clark pursuing the NCAA women’s scoring record. My wife is a diehard Hawkeye. She watches nearly every game they play, men or women. She has probably seen about 80% of the 3,600-or-so points Clark has scored to date. She talks to the television between handfuls of popcorn and always refers to the players by their first name.
Last March we even looked up flights to Dallas when Iowa made the Final Four aided by Clark’s all-time great tournament performance. Clark is the only player — male or female — to ever have a 40-point triple double during March Madness. She led the upset against last season’s South Carolina juggernaut, the overwhelming favorite to win the title. And then she came up just short in the championship game against LSU.
We watched every minute.
Consequently, Clark’s pursuit of the record became appointment viewing for us over the past few weeks. We were not alone. Stadiums across the country have been selling out all season when Clark came to town. It grew to a frenzy — some tickets were nearly as pricey as those to the Superbowl — as she drew closer and closer. We thought she would break the record away at Nebraska when she had 31 points through three quarters and only needed eight more for the record; but a scoreless final stanza scuttled that opportunity and the game for Iowa.
It took less than three minutes in the next game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena for her to break the record. And she did in iconic Clark style, shooting a logo three over the outstretched hands of a Michigan defender. I still get chills watching the replay on YouTube.
It made it even sweeter that two women called the moment.
It was also nice to see some of their male pundits recognizing that Clark is as entertaining to watch as any male players, college or pro, playing today. Tim Legler listed her among the top five most entertaining basketball players he has ever watched, alongside folks like Larry Bird, Steph Curry, and Michael Jordan.
And then the Iowa legislature declared February 22nd “Caitlin Clark Day.”
In the next three games, Clark will likely break the all-time women’s mark held by Lynette Woodard (the NCAA did not even sponsor women’s basketball until 1982 — hence why the former Kansas star was not the official women’s mark) and the all-time record for any gender set by “Pistol” Pete Maravich more than 50 years ago.
If she doesn’t come back for another year (every athlete playing through the pandemic was granted one additional year of eligibility), she will be the overall first pick in April’s WNBA Draft. Last year that honor went to former Gamecock Aliyah Boston, whom Clark bounced from the Big Dance. Nonetheless, Boston had nothing but admiration and superlatives for Clark when she cameoed as a post-game studio analyst.
From athletes to announcers to pundits and executives, women continue to make strides in the world of sports. There is a constellation of stars in waiting to capture our attention. Whether it is for a new women’s soccer team in Denver or in the Spring Training press box for Las Vegas’ MLB future team, it is time for everyone to take notice.
Mario Nicolais is an attorney and columnist who writes on law enforcement, the legal system, health care and public policy. Follow him on Twitter: @MarioNicolaiEsq.
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