This Ain't Texas

The build up to the WNBA Draft did not disappoint this year. It was so exciting to see the spend from companies on advertisements and commercials as well as the social media and news reporting on the upcoming event. It's the first time in my lifetime where they held the draft somewhere and had fans pay to get a ticket to come and be in the audience. I would’ve gotten a ticket and gone to the historic draft, but when I thought about it I was informed that tickets sold out in 15 minutes (Not sure if that was an exaggeration or not).

Caitlin Clark with the #1 overall pick has been compared to Tiger Woods from the standpoint of what she could do to lift professional women’s basketball. Tiger was a generational talent and was outside of the normal professional athlete to shake up a sport like golf. I guess from the past year and especially from the last several months, Clark has become the leader of all kinds of people across the country watching and getting more excited about women’s basketball. From the NCAA tournament you would almost think that this was the first year that the women’s game had great talent. Which couldn’t be further from the truth. But I digress. Clark is preaching a new kind of gospel for women’s basketball first time fans and it is going to be incredible if she can bring this same kind of interest in the WNBA with her.?

I know about the comparisons with Woods, but it also parallels Beyonce’s country era. Bear with me. Being a Black girl living in Laramie, Wyoming from 9 to 16 years old, country music was the most popular thing. I don’t even think there was a hip hop radio station and definitely not any bringing rap, hip hop or R&B acts out to perform, so it was Top 40 and country. I wouldn’t say that I was a fan of anyone in particular, but I definitely liked country music and could sing along to the radio. I really like country music for the storytelling aspect, and as I was doing more in musical theater and wanting to be a singer myself, I thought country was a great fit. I was pretty sheltered so there were other genres of music that I liked the beat but it didn’t quite resonate with me or my life.?

I remember going to one or many sleepovers with whatever group of “BFFs” of the month and we were all singing to the music videos. I don’t remember if it was Shania Twain or or Faith Hill, but I was definitely in the zone. When the song ended, I said maybe I could sing country. And one of my friends laughed and said “Cara, there are no Black girl country singers. That would be weird.” Then the entire group of girls laughed and although it felt like all the blood in my body rushed to my face in embarrassment I laughed, too. And I don’t think I ever said those words out loud again. Not that it was seriously a make or break moment in my life, but it definitely stuck out as a time when the lack of support and visibility felt limiting and almost unachievable.

Cut to 2024 and the Cowboy Carter drop. All the hate and vitriol that has been spewed at Beyonce for making some not all country-inspired music on a CD. Heaven forbid that a musician or an artist create art. SMH. And you know what, there will be a sleepover where a group of little girls get together and they will be singing to “Texas Hold ‘Em” and when they’re done a little black girl could say that she may want to aspire to be a country singer and she won’t be laughed at. All of her girls could either support or champion this or take in stride that it was something that she could actually accomplish.?

So, just as Tiger Woods inspired people of color to believe that if they wanted to play golf that they belonged, Caitlin Clark is inspiring little girls to pick up a basketball and smash all the records no matter where they're from and maybe be a #1 pick in the WNBA draft. And no one will laugh at them because talent speaks for itself and records were meant to be broken.?