The mass attention paid to the women’s college basketball tournament, and to Caitlin Clark in particular, brought to mind a unit covered in ninth grade high school English on the use of archetypes in literature. These are recurring symbolic characters or patterns that are common enough to be considered universal concepts. I was taught the most referenced source, the origin of more archetypes than any other work (at least in Western literature) was the Bible. The most famous archetype of that work being Christ, who was chosen to be the Savior of the world.
We have seen many chosen ones since then that are meant to save. These characters include Neo from The Matrix, chosen to save the world. Anakin Skywalker chosen to save the galaxy. Tony Stark self-sacrificed to save his universe, and Harry Potter his boarding school.
We frequently see athletes adopt the moniker, as Lebron James has it tattooed on his back after being placed on the cover of Sports Illustrated at fifteen along with the caption: The Chosen One. Lebron is one of the few athletes that has ever lived up to the hype as a prodigy. The idea of a chosen one to save is well repeated. This archetype requires two things: the savior and that which is need of saving.
Did College Basketball Need to be Saved?
Some feel college sports are going down the drain. One and done’s in men’s basketball have been around since the NBA upped the age requirement in 2005. The changes to transfers’ eligibility in 2021 allowed athletes to leave and immediately play for another school’s team. With NIL money coming in now, it can feel like the top athletes are going to the highest bidder. These athletes feel more distant than ever from the colleges they are supposed to represent.
As the divide between collegiate athletes and the schools continues to grow, one has to wonder how much further this divide will get. Will what we currently recognize as college basketball and football eventually become a junior professional league, feeding into the NBA and NFL? Why would there be a need for colleges to be affiliated with these semi pro teams at all? The traditional bowl games are already a casualty. Talks of expounding the NCAA tournament are in full swing. The college football playoff is radically different from 20 years ago, and is already being looked at for future revision. Is this the death of college sports? Do we not see the trend we are going on?
Of course every generation that has ever lived has feared the changes brought on by the next. As Woody Harrelson’s character Marty Hart said as in season one of True Detective, “Throughout history, I bet every old man probably said the same thing [the world is getting worse]. And old men die, and the world keeps spinning. “
Change is inevitable. John Wooden lamented the broadcasting of college games on television because of the negative effect it had on the game. Now you can watch almost any game anywhere in the world, for cheaper than ever. Attention spans have shrunk in the TikTok era, highlights are more important than games (at times, to some people). And the world of sports have kept on turning. Of course it is not hard to see the driver of all this change: money.
Technology allows for change, profit demands it. When there is money to be made the changes follow. And when money becomes more important than the spirit of the game, of the competition, that is where sports, and perhaps all passion, goes to die. Of course one can have both. Michael Jordan was revolutionary in his approach to maximizing his financial earnings. He was also about as passionate an athlete as you can find. The two are not mutually exclusive. But when competition and passion are subjugated and secondary to the almighty dollar, that is when sport becomes entertainment, and entertainment becomes business, and business becomes greed.
Is Caitlin Clark the Chosen One?
Now for the “savior.” I don’t watch much college basketball before March, but from time to time certain players/storylines rise above and enter the realm of public sports fans’ consciousness. The phenom of Zion Williamson, Kentucky’s undefeated run in 2015, and Coach K’s last season to name a few. Caitlin Clark has similarly risen above the fray, she has become a household name, and for good reason. This year she became the all-time division one leading scorer and a human highlight reel. Her skill is one of one. But she also gets a lot of attention for her demeanor and antics, her trash-talking.
This culminated in last year’s title game run, in which she gathered a lot of attention for her John Cena inspired “U can’t see me” taunt in the elite eight victory over Louisville. The debate on sportsmanship and disrespect reached a climax after Caitlin Clark’s defeat in the championship game at the hands of LSU. At the end of the game, Angel Reese repeated the gesture to her and pointed to her ring finger. Some loved it. Some hated it. Some loved one but not the other. But everyone was talking about it. There is no such thing as bad publicity, right?
It got people involved that otherwise couldn’t care less about the sport of women’s college basketball. And then it propelled the sport further. Caitlin Clark became a household name, but it was the rematch against LSU in the tournament that first started to break viewership records. An average of 12.3 million people tuned in to watch the high-stakes rematch. Some of it was simply to watch Clark, but she had played plenty of other games that year that weren’t anywhere close to that number. Sports is drama. The drama of the year before, the debate on the trash-talking, the supposed “bad blood”, it all contributed to being the most watched college basketball game on ESPN ever.
Her next two games continued to break the viewership records the preceding games set. The final four matchup against former player of the year Paige Bueckers, and another rematch from the previous year against undefeated juggernaut South Carolina. None of these games would have had the punch and underlying storylines if the players had left after one year, either to the WNBA or transfer portal.
Surely some of the viewers tuned in to see Caitlin Clark. She was the star. But she was not the only star. As more watched, the star power on display from those other than Clark also became evident. She was a tide that lifted all boats. With all the attention paid to the women’s tournament this year, more are aware of the seeds planted, the little budding rivalries being formed, the storylines beginning, that will blossom over the upcoming year. Star power really does take sport to new heights.
The Uniqueness of Caitlin Clark
So why Caitlin Clark? We have seen talented college players before. We have seen talented women college players before, why is so much attention paid to her? Why does she find herself in these situations? I would argue it is because she is unique. She is unique in her ability, but also unique in her style of play. At first some would say she plays like Steph Curry, or some other well-known (usually male) player. Now she plays like Caitlin Clark. No one does what she does. She is also true to herself. And part of being herself is being unabashedly passionate.
She brings a passion to the game that matches her skill and bursts forth in the form of trash talking and hand waving. This passion brings passion out of others, her fans and certainly her opponents. She is who she is partly because of the passion she brings to the game. I am sure she will do all she can to make as much as much money as she can, which she absolutely should. But one gets the sense that her love of the game is greater than the love of money, which another savior figure once taught was the root of all evil.
She is not the only player out there that wholeheartedly loves what they do. It would be an insult to all other college athletes to imply that Caitlin Clark is who she is simply because she cares more than they do. I can not believe that is the case. I would imagine she has put countless hours into her craft. She has been fortunate to have the genetic capacity to reach the heights she has been able to reach. The player Caitlin Clark will not save college sports. But the passion she embodies is what can.
As long as young players love the sport they compete in, and show that they care and are passionate about what they do, and keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible, sports will be ok. It will continue to change and develop and technology will give us new avenues to consume, and leagues will find new ways to make money. And people will complain about it and lament the changes to the game they once were, and maybe still are, so passionate about. But we will continue to watch, because watching competition that people are passionate about is impassioning.
Someone is watching the way that Caitlin is pioneering a new way forward in her sport, and that someone will want to try it out for themself, and will find they love it, and will give it their all, and some day will inspire the next generation. And so the world will keep on turning.