Lynette Linton

[Lynette Linton @LynetteLinton1]

@lippyent or have been a fan of Brenda Leigh Johnson 😊

[Greg Berge @GregBerge]

Nobody talks about the lonely part.

“People always talk about talent, but what they don’t wanna talk about is loneliness. The empty gym…”

- Larry Bird

Confidence.
Nobody gives it to you.
You build it rep by rep.
In the gym when no one’s watching. https://t.co/4zIilqfX40

[Sports Patriot @SportsPatriotUS]

I’m going to say this as calmly as possible:

Watching Caitlin Clark in the WNBA has become genuinely hard to stomach.

Not because she struggles sometimes. Not because she makes mistakes. Not because she gets criticized. That comes with being great.

It’s hard to stomach because it has become obvious that the league, the officials, the media, the players, and even her own organization have all decided that the most important thing is not letting Caitlin Clark become too big.

And that is insane.

This league was handed the most marketable, electric, revenue-generating player women’s basketball has ever seen, and instead of building around the moment, too many people seem obsessed with humbling her.

She gets fouled. Held. Hit. Cheap-shotted. Mocked. Targeted. Then when she reacts like a normal competitor, suddenly everyone wants to analyze her attitude.

No.

Her attitude is not the story.

The story is that a generational player is being treated like a problem by the very league she helped drag into mainstream relevance.

This reminds me of the worst kind of youth coach... the one who sees a special player, feels threatened by her talent, and slowly drains the joy out of her in the name of “teaching humility.”

That is what this looks like.

The freedom she played with at Iowa is disappearing. The fire is still there, but the joy looks damaged. The confidence looks weighed down. She looks like someone constantly fighting the refs, opponents, narratives, coaching decisions, jealousy, and a league culture that should be protecting its golden opportunity instead of resenting it.

And let’s be honest: Stephanie White has not helped.

Benching Caitlin Clark randomly when she is controlling the game tempo, or having your best shooter off the floor in critical game ending minutes when a victory is within reach is basketball malpractice. Limiting her rhythm, downplaying her greatness, benching momentum, and treating her like just another piece instead of the engine is absurd.

You do not take a player who changed the economics of your sport and manage her like you’re afraid her greatness might offend the room.

Nike deserves criticism too. Other players get signature shoes rolled out with urgency, while the biggest draw in women’s basketball is somehow still waiting on that signature shoe. That is not confusing. That is revealing.

Fans are not stupid.

They see the fouls.
They see the double standards.
They see the jealousy.
They see the media resentment.
They see the league benefiting from her popularity while refusing to fully embrace her.
And here is the part the WNBA better understand quickly:
People are not tuning in to watch Caitlin Clark be humbled.
They are tuning in to watch Caitlin Clark be great.
If she walked away tomorrow, the fans would follow her. The sponsors would follow her. The energy would follow her. The high salaries and the charter jets would follow her. And the league would be forced to confront the uncomfortable truth it keeps trying to avoid:

Caitlin Clark did not need the WNBA nearly as much as the WNBA needed Caitlin Clark.

At some point, her family, her agent, and her team need to ask a hard question:

How much longer do you let a league profit from her while allowing the culture around her to beat the spirit out of her?

Because from the outside looking in, this does not look like normal adversity anymore. It looks like abuse.

It looks like a league trying to break the very player who made millions of people care.

https://t.co/AAxFrO46Z4

[Lynette Linton @LynetteLinton1]

@TheRutt13 Wings up! 🦅

[Rusty Strange @TheRutt13]

Keep workin kid!

[DocumentingLibs @HistorianUSA1]

😂🍪 This dude just walked out of a job interview and immediately recorded this in his car.

He knew the “biggest weakness” question was coming… brain completely short-circuited… and instead of the safe “I care too much” answer, he hit them with:

“Oreos. I’ll eat ‘em until the milk’s gone. Could be two, could be twelve.”

The way he says it with that deadpan delivery and then just accepts his fate is SENDING me.

Man, I genuinely feel bad for the guy… but I’m also dying laughing. We’ve ALL had that one moment in an interview where your brain just yeets itself out the window. Kid’s still out here job hunting. Somebody hire this absolute legend before he stress-eats the entire Oreo aisle.

Who else has completely bombed a “what’s your weakness” question?

[Rusty Strange @TheRutt13]

Come checkout these talented young ladies do what they love and do it at an elite level 🛫🏀💙🩶

[Ravenwood Basketball @wcsRHSBball]

Congrats to Sam Stepan to being named a WilCo Awards Finalist for Boys Basketball!!!!! Let’s go get some more hardware on June 9th.
@wcsCOAthletics @wcsRHSAthletics

#BTC
#UBUNTU

[Lynette Linton @LynetteLinton1]

Keep your 👀 on #13

[Rusty Strange @TheRutt13]

Thank you to @allornothingllc for covering our girls and capturing them doing what they love! Playing up 2 divisions in 16U was a great opportunity to get better. @tnflightsilver @hardestplayingteam 💙🩶🖤🛫

[Jr. All-Star Girls Basketball @JrAllStarBB]

The current girls UAA standings. 🙌

[Bryce Butler @bball_brainiac1]

You don’t have to be a star to get recruited — but you do have to be a leader.

College coaches are clocking your engagement, your energy, and how you treat your teammates on film long before they look at your stat line.

Find ways to lead from wherever you are on that roster.

[Lynette Linton @LynetteLinton1]

@TNFlightGUAA @HPT30s @TheRutt13 @UANextGHoops Congratulations! 💙🩶✈️

[Lynette Linton @LynetteLinton1]

@BellaB_2030 @TNFlightGUAA @UANextGHoops @HPT30s @tlownsdale @_BlakeDerrick Great weekend!

[Riley Jensen @RileyJensen]

30 years ago I was the starting QB at Utah State University. My senior year I got benched. For the next 15 years I walked around feeling like a certified loser. Then I read this quote from Pat Summitt:
'Winning is fun… Sure. But winning is not the point.
Wanting to win is the point.
Not giving up is the point.
Never letting up is the point.
Never being satisfied with what you’ve done is the point.'
It snapped me out of it. If you’re still carrying a sports setback, a benching, a missed opportunity, or any “I’m not enough” story… this is your permission slip to drop it. The game isn’t over. Your story is not yet written. You are still a work in progress. The point is you keep wanting it. You keep getting up. And you listen to that quiet voice that says, "I will try again tomorrow."

[Larry Legend☘️ @LarryBirdDaily]

Larry Bird: My confidence was never a gift of talent.

[Lynette Linton @LynetteLinton1]

@Nerdery_Richard @FOXSportsKnox Sure wish Lady Vols fans would get behind the program’s efforts to bring in recruits & hopefully overtake the constant negativity on social media.

[Lynette Linton @LynetteLinton1]

@KarlieGray2030 @TheRutt13 @_TheLyonnKingg @_BlakeDerrick @Scorers1stU @ProEdgeWBB @TNFlightGUAA @WolvesDen_4 @CAKWarriorsWBB @AbbyWilliams_88 @WeWorkHoops Looking forward to this weekend! ✈️

[Lynette Linton @LynetteLinton1]

@coachtravis_mc I think “fans” got just what they’ve been pounding this team with for a month…”terrible team, selfish players, incompetent coaching staff”, and day after day of telling them “you don’t belong in the NCAA tournament.” It’s time to stop and let the Lady Vols regroup.

[Lynette Linton @LynetteLinton1]

@rockytopinsider Not really surprised 😕

[Lynette Linton @LynetteLinton1]

@srtim1971 @CraigGrafx I doubt that…she’s having her own challenges