Charles Barkley calls out ‘petty’ Caitlin Clark critics: ‘Y’all should be thanking’ her | SPEAK

Emmanuel Acho, Joy Taylor, LeSean McCoy and James Jones react to Charles Barkley calling out Caitlin Clark’s critics, saying that ‘y’all should be thanking that girl.’

#Speak #WNBA #CaitlinClark

SUBSCRIBE to get all the latest content from Speak: http://sprtspod.fox/SUBSCRIBEtoSpeak
The all-new FOX Sports App, built for the modern sports fan: https://tinyurl.com/y4uouolb

►Watch the latest content from Speak: http://sprtspod.fox/TheLatestonSpeak

▶ The Carton Show’s YouTube channel: http://sprtspod.fox/SubscribeCartonShow
▶ First Things First’s YouTube channel: http://foxs.pt/SubscribeFIRSTTHINGSFIRST
► UNDISPUTED’s YouTube channel: http://foxs.pt/SubscribeUNDISPUTED
▶ The Herd with Colin Cowherd’s YouTube channel: http://foxs.pt/SubscribeTHEHERD
► The Skip Bayless Show YouTube Channel: http://sprtspod.fox/SUBSCRIBESkipShow
► What’s Wright? with Nick Wright YouTube channel: http://sprtspod.fox/whatswright/youtube

See more from Speak: http://foxs.pt/SFYFoxSports
Like Speak on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpeakOnFS1
Follow Speak on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpeakonFS1
Follow Speak on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/speakonfs1
Follow Speak on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@speakonfs1

About SPEAK:
The revamped SPEAK takes over the airwaves with Emmanuel Acho, LeSean McCoy and Joy Taylor covering the day’s hottest topics in sports and offering their unfiltered takes.

Charles Barkley calls out ‘petty’ Caitlin Clark critics: ‘Y’all| should be thanking’ her | SPEAK

Speak
https://www.youtube.com/c/SpeakOnFS1

oh he said a lot he said a lot he said a lot Joy I will sound off quickly uh and then I’m so eager to listen to what everybody else has to say there’s a very thin line between hate and facts and what I believe to be the case is that there was incremental growth in the WNBA comparatively to the exponential growth we are seeing now what I’m about to tell y’all I haven’t heard before so I doubt you have either before the 2023 season the WNBA had grown by 40% viewership from 2022 to 2023 but with Caitlyn Clark’s arrival it’s grown by 400% viewership what that means is if the WNBA were continue to grow at the rate it grew from 22 to 23 it would take until 2028 to do what Caitlyn Clark did this year okay now let’s not talk viewership let’s talk ticket sales bear with me ticket sales grew in 2023 by 16% from 2022 ticket sales have grown by 93% in 2024 what that means is without Caitlyn Clark the WNBA would have taken till 2029 or 2030 to get to where Caitlyn Clark has gotten them today okay we’ve talk in ticket we’ve talked ticket sales and we’ve talked viewership now let’s talk about regular season viewership not draft viewership regular season viewership it grew by 20% in 2023 it’s grown by 180% now which means it would take another five or six years to do what Caitlyn Clark has done so between draft a viewership which is up 400% to 40% between ticket sales which is up 93% to 16% between regular game viewership which is up 180% to 20% what CL Caitlyn Clark has done is grown the WNBA exponentially she did in five weeks what would have taken five years and as it pertains to draft viewership she did in five days what would have taken five years so yes the WNBA was growing before Caitlyn Clark make that abundantly clear but it was growing incrementally compared to the exponential growth you’re seeing now and this is just data this is just objective facts be mad with data please do not be mad at me Joy Taylor do you agree with Barkley’s comments um I do mostly agree with what he’s what he’s saying and what you just gave or facts and can’t argue with those numbers the numbers don’t lie men lie women lie numbers don’t and that’s what that said she’s Neo right like they were in The Matrix messing with the machines and stuff before he got there but they needed the one and the one showed up and then it took it to a whole another level that’s what she is they’ve been looking for her and she could bend the spoon she figured it out you need a hard to break through yeah so I I hear what he’s saying because there is some hate there is some I want to call it jealousy because that’s such a such an aggressive word but there is some feeling of we were here we were working on this we’ve been grinding we’ve been playing we’ve been hoop and we’ve been putting out a great product we just weren’t being paid attention to and that is true but like with anything when it comes to entertainment which at the end of the day while this is sports we are in the entertainment business the MBA is an entertainment product the NFL is a television product the money we talked about the Dax that he don’t care about that comes from television Revenue that is how all of this works it is an entertainment product you mentioned the numbers you mentioned the ratings all that matters that’s how the sponsors come that’s how the marketing dollars come that’s how you get paid that’s how you get charter flights that’s how you get better better facilities that’s how you get better paid coaches that’s how you get paid all of this comes together and you need a star and she is the star and whether she is winning games right now or looking like a rookie it doesn’t Mattery Define star for me because so often people say yeah she’s a star but there were stars before her you know there there there there is Asia Wilson there’s there is Diana terasi there is super there’s you but you said incredible players how do you define star because people get lost there we don’t get to decide who the star is that’s what we’re going to talk a little bit later about the face of the NBA right we’ve had this conversation all the time is it anunt is it Luca you know who is it who’s going to be the next face of the NBA we don’t get to decide that the marketplace decides that the people have chosen Caitlyn Clark they enjoy watching her play her style her energy her shot whether it’s because her game mirror is one of the greatest players in the NBA in Steph Curry or not I don’t know what it is it’s an intangible thing right yes we can say she’s a dog okay there’s been other dogs okay she’s a great shooter there’s been other great Shooters she has it she’s got the thing we can’t assign it stars are in some ways manufactured of course we’re in Hollywood we know that there’s a machine but you got to have the thing and she has it so I do understand what he’s talking about which is there is a there is a sentiment amongst some of we’ve been here doing this we built this and all the credit is going to her I don’t think all the credit is going to her though I think there’s a lot of people saying what you said I think there’s a lot of people recognizing the stars that have been in the wmba the women that have been working hard the women that came before the women that are playing now I remember when the WNBA started I was thrilled I was a fan I couldn’t believe it was an opportunity for me a 5 foot2 97b girl to go play professional basketball that wasn’t going to happen for me but the idea that it existed was special to me and now she’s offering that to not just little girls but little boys as well she’s spread the fan base so all in all it’s a positive thing I understand what he’s saying and this isn’t actually that uncommon because the thing that he mentioned when you we went all the way through his whole comments was that you have this in men’s sports all the time you have lots of oldheads complaining about how the new guys get charter flights and how they get to eat better and they didn’t have to sleep with you know in these hotels and they had better transportation and better training and know you get massages and look at how much money they’re making that’s a common thing but at the end of the day you can’t be the one that broke through the ceiling and then complain about it I think one of the main things in this in this whole thing is when you feel like you’re not getting the respect yeah and I think when you feel like you’re not getting the respect that’s when you tend to say comments that come off as hate right and that’s what a lot of these women are doing is they feel like what we have done for this game this young player has come into our game and she’s getting way more respect and all that stuff than we are as she should the young girl is a baller the young girl has people watching because of the way she can shoot this basketball like Steph Curry Steph Curry can’t dunk Steph Curry don’t do none of that in the game he probably dunk by himself but he don’t really do none of that in the game he is a shooter and fans tune in to see Steph Curry when I look at Caitlin Clark fans are tuning in to watch her and you know who that’s helping everybody else it’s helping the Asia Wilson it’s helping everybody else the plums all that it’s helping all of them the terasi so y’all should be really thanking her embracing her and that does not mean you guys are not Ballers I remember Charles Woodson told me man we walk into this stadium and all we see in The Stance is offens of jerseys we see Jones we see Jennings we see driver we see Rogers we see Nelson we very rarely see Charles Woodson and he better than all of us but that don’t mean we not good though so just because Caitlyn Clark is getting all the attention and she’s growing the game it does not mean you women are not Ballers you guys are ballers but I think the way some of them are taking it it’s like she’s taking all the shine away from us and taking away from us being Ballers no you are taking it like that people are tuning in yes they watching Caitlyn Clark but they watching your games now too and when you play Caitlyn Clark has even more eyes on you to show that you are like that so for me I feel like the young girl is taking way too much heat for really helping you guys and growing y’all game does that mean y’all had nothing to do with this absolutely not that is why the young girl is 0 and five because y’all are ballers you know what I’m saying it’s nothing to take away from y’all but growing this game she was chosen like Joy said and there’s nothing you can do about that and that’s crazy like everything y’all are saying you know what that means she’s the goat y is giving go facts you just talked about nobody’s really watching now they watching right you get car chartered planes now like come on the things you said the things you just say that’s goat Behavior that’s goat stats and everybody everybody hates on the goat think about it right it was a time where everybody love Michael jman was a time where people ha no Michael Jordan like was he game too much this that third you talk about LeBron James I mean we already know his path Kobe Bryant when you to go to something people hate on it Magic Johnson right so I just I don’t have a lot to say about it is is funny though because it’s like you should be happy the other day I was at a um restaurant very nice restaurant and you know typically they have like the little at the bar they have like ESPN or Fox and they have this going on that going on they had Caitlin on there and you should see people that was so all engaged older women older gentlemen right different races and I’m s back it’s like cuz you know I do this for a living so I’m like wow this girl has really changed the game and she’s she doesn’t have any championships she don’t have any all w a right she don’t have none of that player the year she none of that she’s just really really nice she from college been nice now I’m in the pros and now I’m uplifting the game and we all should be thankful I go to the barber shop that’s the biggest talk show ever is the barber shop right especially in the hood they talk about little LeBron and the Lakers they talk about Little J T Jason Tatum and in the Celtics you know else they talking about little Kyrie Irving and Luca but the last and maybe the biggest conversation is Caitlyn Curry yeah CL and and not only that like these teams let’s just say NFL these teams in the NFL that got Prime Time games is because of the Prime Time quarterback does that mean Travis Kelce ain’t good none of that no that just mean Patrick Mahomes is like that we talked about the Jets having all these PR why J because of Aaron Rogers I want to I want to talk about something on the other side of the commercial break is how do you deal with the psychology of knowing that you’re better than Caitlyn Clark because right now there are several WNBA players better than clar James let’s get back to the Caitlyn Clark conversation I think um the WNBA because it’s seeing more eyes than it has ever seen it’s seeing more scrutiny than it’s ever seen so obviously when you turn on the light you might see some different things you didn’t see prior in football you have to deal with it you have the star defensive end you have the star linebacker you have the star defensive back like you were talking about with Charles Woodson they won’t get as much attention as the average Quarterback or the above average Quarterback Kurt Cousins still gets heck of attention when dvin cook was balling back when he was in Minnesota Justin Jefferson one of the greatest receivers we’ve ever seen and everybody still got more Kurt Cousins jerseys if you will but now in the W it’s interesting because Caitlyn Clark she’s not a top 10 player right now like shady said she’s a rookie but she ain’t getting rookie attention she getting number one player ever attention but she’s not that right now talk to me about the psychology of having to deal with that well first off you gotta be good with who you are you know what I mean and to me it all depends on what you’re chasing you know because I think that’s when you start get into that jealousy world when you’re chasing to kind of be like Caitlyn Clark and you want the attention of Caitlyn Clark or you want the attention of a a star receiver or whatnot be good with who you are if you’ve been a really good basketball player be good with that no matter how much attention somebody’s getting I think that’s why Caitlyn Clark has taking so much heat from some of these players is because they don’t really sound like they good with who they are and what they got and y’all are ballers and y’all are good but you guys are worried about what Caitlyn Clark has I never done that right I I never done that I’m I’m good who I am if the money is for me if if I’m supposed to get certain amount of catches if I’m supposed to play at this level I’m going play at this level but at the end of the day I didn’t expect to have the same attention as uh Terrell Owens are I didn’t expect that because number one I have not earned that Caitlin Clark has earned this in college she earned that everybody was tuning in to watch college basketball too the last time I checked and she bumped up them ratings and she wasn’t winning national championships or none of that but she bumped that up because of who she is and how she played so you can’t even really compare yourself to Caitlyn Clark and if you can’t compare yourself to her then you shouldn’t expect to get that much attention as her but the Dilemma is you have Shady McCoy an incredibly intelligent individual both on Sports both athletically all the things Shady you say she’s a goat but when people hear goat they hear greatest of all time now you’re not specifying that she’s a goat as it pertains to sales and revenue you’re just saying she a goat so somebody might be like wait but what about Candace Parker what about terasi what about Banna Stewart as it pertains to what about Maya Moore goat on the court with their play when you say she’s the goat that could offend others who were like she ain’t near one of the greatest basketball players yet the W’s ever seen well she’s a rookie so I mean to say she’s the greatest basketall player we ever seen play right we can’t we have enough evidence to say that then why do you say she’s a goat because when you look at the game of the women’s basketball right all the great names you just names a lot of great ones yes sir what do they do for the game they laid the foundation say laid the foundation what else helped increase things and move things along yeah increase things what else they didn’t bring the attention like come on a even close you just read them numbers read them numbers again please up 400% as it pertains to Draft Day viewership up 93% as it pertains to ticket revenue from 16% up 180% as it pertains to regular season viewership from 20% so all I’m saying is like and Joey talked about uh last week about like Paving the way and and they did in some sense pave the way they got some championships and and people were watching but they not watching like they watching now so many people are are from kids to the grown-ups they want to see Caitlyn they want to see basketball now more people know about the rosters with women’s basketball than they ever did that’s very true it’s on TV all the time you couldn’t find no couldn’t watch my more if you really wanted to right you can watch Caitlyn though she’s out here another thing is when you go to these away games let’s not even talk about Caitlyn yeah let’s talk about the opposing Team every time she plays against a new team they set a record of of attendance come on a girl you didn’t know that was even good right you watch Caitlyn oh D who this other girl on the other team woo she’s good woo she’s nice yeah you see it I mean this is this is not uncommon we talk we we’re talking about Caleb Williams right Caleb Williams is a massive star he was a massive star in college all these expectations generational Hall of Fame all these conversations before he ever he’s still not played one down in the NFL and we’re talking about this is is he gonna have a Hall of Fame career which just sounds crazy but that he’s a star that’s what happens and when you are that good those expectations come with it and what did what did Jaylen Johnson say can’t bring all that Hollywood stuff in the building and what were we saying why are you talking about that why why are we talking about Hollywood stuff he’s a he’s a rookie of course he’s gonna have some struggles rookies always do as why shady and R like what are the expectations for him we don’t know he’s a rookie Caitlin Clark is a rookie but what she is not is invisible what she is not is ignorable and she is she’s not Paving the way she’s broken through and that’s always the cost that you pay when you’re a trailblazer you might not get the the recognition that you deserve or people might not know your name for the things that you did and the the work that you did as an ally or the the the things that you had to deal with that’s part of the deal the build the business wasn’t the same when I came in it 17 years ago it’s different now for women I like to think I played a small role in that I don’t need a recog I don’t need recognition for that that’s what you do you do it for the next generation and if you happen to be able to benefit from her which a lot of the players in the league all of the players in the league now are that’s what it is and so I think that’s really what Chuck’s saying it’s it’s it it sounds aggressive the way that he’s saying it but that’s why he brought up the men too because you see this in any sport when there the guys that played 20 30 years ago did not experience the same things that guys are experiencing now they’re not getting these these checks they’re not the CBA is better every single time that’s how it works that’s how progress works so she’s she’s she’s doing everything that she’s supposed to do and she also didn’t ask for this she just happened to be the one and and not only for me like can we call her Messiah she saving that game have you sa we sit in the locker room and we say Man how he get that money how he get that he ain’t that good or whatever like that that happens right so I can understand AO you play linebacker you could be like man I feel like I’m better than this linebacker and he making more money than me Shady was the highest paid running back in football it was somebody before him he probably thought he was better than him you know what I’m saying and he’s making more money Kaylin Clark making the same bread as y’all on this basketball court well not not off of it B but but I’m just saying we’re talking on court can we can we we’ve never seen nothing like her before right what do you mean cuz we have we haven’t seen anything like this we have not seen why we watching her when this when when the moment happened last year with Angel Reese and Caitlyn Clark in the national championship game the one that broke through that that that everyone was discussing should Angel Reese have gotten in her face all that that that that moment positioned everything that’s happening right now and and I’ve said it a million times it’s not a perfect comp but the NBA was struggling it was failing it had Stars everywhere historic Stars Kareem wils it was failing magic and bird showed up magic and bird got hated on there were plenty of people who didn’t like magic and bird but they they had that thing they had that extra quality that made people want to watch and they were marketed properly and all the work that have been done in the league before that presented the platform for them to save the league sometimes that that you just need a star we’ve never seen that like we’ve never seen anything like but what see I don’t think we’ve seen a situation like what Caitlyn Clark had in women’s basketball in college but are yall talking about we haven’t seen a talent like Caitlin CL we know what we’re saying it’s it’s her Talent it’s the moment it’s it’s the style that she plays with it’s the star quality it you can’t always quantify what makes somebody polarizing and a star she is that of course there were great players that came before there’s there’s great players that playing now there’s better players players in the WNBA than her she’s a rookie it’s not about that all things kind of come together at one moment you don’t get to decide who that person is the people have decided people have chosen my prayer is and I root for kayln Clark and I root for a lot of these girls but my prayer is that they keep losing and they get paid subscribe here to get the latest from speak and go watch a few segments from our other shows on FS1