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Dakich: sports media has created an ‘industry’ out of complaining about white athletes like Caitlin Clark
Dan Dakich thinks the latest Caitlin Clark complaint is part of a much bigger media problem.
Former ESPN host Cari Champion recently criticized Clark, accusing the Indiana Fever star of receiving favorable treatment from the WNBA and taking issue with the way Clark and her fans carry themselves.
Dakich did not see it that way.
The OutKick host used Champion’s latest Clark criticism to unload on what he sees as a sports media industry built around race-based complaints whenever prominent White athletes or media figures are involved.
“Sports media waits on every single move that a white person makes,” Dakich said on Thursday’s Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich. “The latest is ‘blatant favoritism.’ Well, it can’t be any farther from the truth when talking about Caitlin Clark and the Fever.”
Then Dakich took it a step further.
“But an African-American and failed SportsCenter anchor, Cari Champion, is once again whining about Caitlin Clark,” Dakich continued. “I’m telling you, man, there’s an industry for African-Americans to whine about every move — whether it’s Jaxson Dart, whether it’s Caitlin Clark, whether it’s me — of every white person. Y’all are doing pretty good with it.”
That was the real point.
Dakich was not just defending Clark from one media personality. He was arguing that Clark has become the latest White athlete to be picked apart through a racial lens by people who realize that attacking white athletes makes them popular among a certain segment of the population.
We also need to acknowledge the obvious: Caitlin Clark is popular because people care about Caitlin Clark.
She sells tickets. She drives television ratings. She brings attention to the WNBA in a way no player ever has. Her games matter in the national sports conversation, and every hard foul, technical, facial expression and postgame comment becomes a debate.
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It’s certainly not because the WNBA is protecting her. In most cases, the opposite is generally true.
It’s because she is the biggest star the league has ever had. And even that isn’t because she’s white. It’s because she plays basketball in a way that no woman ever really has. Steph Curry isn’t popular because he’s Black. He’s popular because he hits threes unlike anyone in history. Clark brought that to the women’s game.
Dakich also ripped Champion directly for her criticism of Clark.
“Cari Champion, who legitimately, if people are being honest — which they can’t — was the worst employee ever at ESPN,” Dakich said.
Champion has publicly framed her ESPN exit as a case of being unappreciated (she also blamed racism because, of course).
She announced in 2020 that it was time to leave ESPN, then later claimed the network made her feel like she “didn’t matter.”
That is Champion’s version of the story. But people who worked inside ESPN at the time may remember the situation very differently. I worked there, and Champion’s reputation inside the building was not a secret. I was once assigned to produce an ESPN Radio special involving Champion and my supervisor warned me that she was difficult to work with. In my experience, difficult proved to be a massive understatement.
Dakich described the exit in harsher terms.
“Now think about this: a beautiful African-American woman gets fired at ESPN. Have you turned ESPN on? That tells you how horrible Cari Champion is. But good for her, we’re talking about her,” the OutKick host said.
Champion is free to dislike Clark. Nobody has to root for the Fever star. Nobody has to pretend every reaction from Clark is perfect.
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But the idea that Clark has received some kind of easy ride from the WNBA is laughable.
Clark has been shoved, grabbed, mocked, criticized and blamed for the alleged behavior of “her” fans. She has also been expected to carry the weight of an entire league’s newfound popularity while veteran players, media members and commentators continue to preach that she doesn’t deserve that attention.
That is the part Dakich clearly finds ridiculous.
“She’s claiming the Fever star gets favorable treatment from the league, along with proclaiming that she, Cari Champion — who is the worst of the worst — doesn’t like how she acts or how her fans act,” Dakich said. “See, this is an age-old thing. Weren’t we talking about this three years ago? Of course we were.”
The names change, but the playbook does not. Dakich brought up Jaxson Dart for a reason.
Dart recently introduced President Donald Trump at a rally in New York, and the reaction from many corners of sports media was as predictable as it was exhausting. The conversation quickly became another referendum on politics, race, and locker-room dynamics.
That is the pattern Dakich was pointing to.
With Dart, it was a White quarterback standing next to Trump. With Clark, it’s a White basketball star bringing unprecedented attention to the WNBA. With Dakich, in his view, it’s a White media personality saying things the sports media class does not like.
Find the white person. Frame the controversy through race. Pat yourself on the back for being a hero. Devour the praise from like-minded race-hustlers in sports media.
Rinse. Repeat.
Dakich is right that there’s an industry built on this pattern, but the more important point he made was this:
“Y’all are doing pretty good with it.”
That’s exactly why this isn’t going to change anytime soon.
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‘This is not the New York City I knew’: Jews, Muslims and Christians unite at anti-Mamdani rally
NEW YORK — Hundreds of protesters waving Israeli and American flags gathered Tuesday night just steps from Gracie Mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side to rally against Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Speakers at the rally accused the mayor of failing to protect the city’s Jewish population and ignoring antisemitism. The protest featured a long list of speakers, including former “Big Time Rush” star James Maslow, artist Scott LoBaido, Lawfare Project founder Brooke Goldstein, along with several pro-Israel activists.
The rally was organized by #EndJewHatred, a grassroots group focused on combating antisemitism.
In between the speeches, the crowd broke into chants of “remove Mamdani” and “USA, USA,” and sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“This is not the New York City I knew and loved,” Ari Ackerman, an entrepreneur and outspoken pro-Israel advocate, told Fox News Digital.
“There’s a different ideology that has taken over by the man who’s living in that house right over there,” he continued while pointing at Gracie Mansion, “and it’s not good. It’s changed everything.”
Mamdani’s friction with the city’s Jewish community came into focus during his campaign, as some questioned his stance on Israel, refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” and ties to activists like Hasan Piker and Mahmoud Khalil.
Antisemitic incidents have surged in New York City since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel. Recently, there have been anti-Israel protests outside Jewish institutions and synagogues.
Since taking office in January, tensions have remained high, with many Jewish New Yorkers saying that they do not feel safe in their own city. New York City is home to the largest Jewish population in the world outside Israel.
Some speakers argued that the mayor’s rhetoric and actions reflected a deeper failure to confront antisemitism.
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Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, told Fox News Digital that while antisemitism has persisted for thousands of years, he believes Mamdani embodies its modern form.
“Rabbis have been studying antisemitism for thousands of years. We know what it is, we know how to recognize it, and Zohran Mamdani represents it in the here and now,” Menken said.
“On day one of taking office, Mamdani, what did he do? He gets rid of the definition of antisemitism,” influencer and activist Lizzy Savetsky said, causing the crowd to boo the mayor. “If we can’t define it, how can we even fight it?”
While much of the rally focused on antisemitism, several speakers emphasized they were gathered to oppose a mayor who they see as a threat to Americans, not just Jews. The speakers represented several different backgrounds, including Christians and Muslims.
“This is not about antisemitism. This is about who we are as Americans,” Goldstein told Fox News Digital. “Do we believe in the rule of law? Do we believe in civil rights? Do we believe in equal protection?”
“We are demanding equal protection under the law. The truth is on our side, the law is on our side,” she added.
Abraham Hamra, a Syrian Jew who was forced to escape his home country with his family as a child, said that Mamdani represented a larger threat to Americans.
“What’s coming here, me and my family escaped,” he said. “For every New Yorker, for every American watching this, this is not a threat to the Jewish community. This is a threat to you and your way of life as Americans.”
Hamra encouraged Americans to “stand up tall” against radical Islam and socialism.
Mamdani drew attention recently when he announced that he would not march in the Israel Day Parade, which is scheduled for May 31. Since 1964, every sitting mayor has attended the parade. This year, it comes amid a rise in antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel protests outside Jewish institutions.
“He’s not attending the Israel Parade, so we’re going to bring the parade to his door,” influencer Zach Sage Fox told Fox News Digital.
Anila Ali, president of the American Muslim & Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council, joined the protest just days before she was set to make history. Ali is slated to lead the first Muslim group to march in New York City’s annual Israel Day Parade, which has taken place for over 60 years.
Ali noted at the beginning of her speech that the rally coincided with the start of Eid al-Adha, one of the holiest holidays in Islam, which commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son as a demonstration of his faith in God.
“The Abrahamic prophets did not teach hate, and if Mayor Mamdani says he’s a Muslim, then this hate on Jewish New Yorkers is un-Islamic, un-American and immoral,” Ali declared.
She went on to accuse Mamdani of “using Islam to divide Muslims, Jews, Christians and all of us.” Ali also said that the mayor was using his faith to push his ideology.
While some focused on what they saw as Mamdani’s failures with public safety and his impact on the future of the city, others brought up current situations in which they saw the mayor falling short.
“He’ll condemn a swastika drawn on a building, but he won’t condemn Hezbollah flags and Hamas flags that are being paraded around the streets daily now in New York,” Fox told Fox News Digital.
Fox added that Mamdani represented a larger phenomenon in the U.S., in which many people “hate Jews, but they mask it under Zionism.”
The rally highlighted broader frustrations many of Mamdani’s critics have expressed, with speakers repeatedly voicing their concerns about public safety, antisemitism and the future of New York City.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s office for comment.
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Former Giant Will Clark slams team for doing hip thrusts in the outfield with a losing record
I can’t remember the last time a celebration took over social media the way the San Francisco Giants’ outfield hip-thrusting sessions have.
And I definitely can’t remember a time that those celebrations were being busted out by a team that is well under .500.
According to former Giant and six-time All-Star Will Clark, it’s a bad look, and he made it very clear that he’s not a fan of the thrusting.
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
“The dance where they’re doing the f–king pelvic thrust or something like that,” Clark said in a clip from his “Deuces Wild” podcast that has been making the rounds on social media. “I’m like ‘What the f–k is this?’ You’re 20 and 30, you don’t have the luxury of doing that kind of s–t out there. It looks like chicken s–t. Go back, high-five each other, ‘Nice job, we won one. Let’s keep the train running.’
“But the train has been off the tracks a little bit. I hate it.”
I mean… he has a point.
What’s so funny to me about this whole celebration is that if you showed someone who wasn’t following baseball, they’d see it and think that the San Francisco Giants are on top of the world and on cruise control until they win the NL pennant as a mere formality and dominate the World Series.
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That is not the case.
I guess you could make the claim that they’re trying to get the most mileage out of their celebrations since they haven’t been able to do them a lot this season.
Still, if I were playing on a team that was struggling at the bottom of the standings, I wouldn’t celebrate like that.
It’s just weird. Like when a football team is getting blown out, but they get a late touchdown and celebrate like it just put them ahead, when in reality it’s still like a three-possession game.
Maybe read the room.
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