Clark still looms large in her hometown
Banner in downtown Des Moines is an extension of Super Bowl ad that featured female athletes
The other day I went downtown looking for eagles but instead found a Hawk.
There she was, hovering over Court Avenue like the smell of a breakfast burrito at the downtown farmers’ market: a giant Caitlin Clark. Kind of like an Iowa Godzilla, minus the destruction – unless you are the Indiana Hoosiers, the Michigan State Spartans or any number of other teams.
With its message of “You Can’t Win. So Win,” the banner is an extension of the Nike ad that ran during the Super Bowl. The banner covers most of the west side of the Court Avenue Restaurant & Brewing Company building at 309 Court Ave. To mark the occasion, the restaurant has a special cocktail (the Strawberry Stepback) and a From the Logo burger special.
On a neighboring building, there is a second banner of Clark, minus any message.
The signage shows how a year after the Hawkeyes’ epic 2023-24 season and nearly a year after Clark turned pro, she still looms large over her hometown and state. Heck, just the other day I saw a sticker of her standing in a cornfield, holding a basketball with a halo over her head. Not too overboard or anything.
And in a mad rush that will surprise no one, the Indiana Fever’s exhibition game against the Brazilian national team on May 4 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena sold out in 45 minutes on Thursday. That was just the presale, open to season ticket-holders and athletic department financial supporters at prices ranging from $70 to $200. No tickets survived for sale to the general public today.
Those shut out of tickets – even season ticket-holders – were more than a little miffed. And that’s understandable: A glance at StubHub now shows tickets for sale all over the arena with the lowest price at $599 each climbing all the way to $5,992. (I’d like to think the tickets going for $52,316 each – in row 6 in a corner of the court – are going to sit there for a while. I hope.)
Given all that, it’s kind of weird that the Nike message seems to come from a negative place – no one expects you to do anything, so you might as well win.
“Women’s sport isn’t the future, it’s right now. We’re seeing it in packed arenas, in TV ratings, in the way people are showing up for the game like never before,” basketball star Sabrina Ionescu said in press materials for the ad campaign. “Commanding attention isn’t about being the loudest in the room. It’s about making sure that when you step up, everyone takes notice.”
Among those also featured in the campaign (or “anthem” as Nike calls it in its marketing materials) are USC basketball star JuJu Watkins, track Olympian Sha’Carri Richardson, Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles and WNBA star A’ja Wilson.
No doubt female athletes have competed with limited expectations and fierce criticism for centuries but, to me, this seems like a moment for celebration and not for … ooooh I get to use my favorite crazy conceptual German word … schadenfreude (rough translation: nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah).
Then again, what do I know? I don’t make the big bucks as a Nike marketing executive.
What I do know is that there was a gorgeous and cinematic commercial featuring female athletes during the Super Bowl. Because they have marketability. Because they have clout. Because they have name recognition. Because they are part of the culture on the day of The Big Game, just like Doritos, Budweiser, Jeep and Jesus. Because people can walk down the street and see a giant image of a female athlete who is the biggest star in the country, regardless of gender.
Sounds like a win to me.
Jane Burns is a former sports and features writer for the Des Moines Register, as well as other publications and websites. She’s a past winner of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Mel Greenberg Award for her coverage of women’s basketball. Over the course of her career she’s covered pretty much everything, which is why her as-yet-to-be-written memoir will be called “Cheese and Basketball: Stories From a Reporter Who Has Covered Everything.”
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In addition to Nike's intended message of empowering women, and not just on the basketball court, which resonates for me as the son of a WWII defense plant worker and self employed single mom, I see it as a message for our state and a stab at some of the regional snobbery we're sometimes subjected to when watching national sportscasts of our teams. Like when they don't know the difference between Iowa and Iowa State (Never happens with Michigan, does it?). The latest one was during the Pop Tarts Bowl when they compared Ames to Miami and said Ames had tap water and pool tables compared to beaches and swimming pools in Miami. I'm sure they thought it was very clever and some folks got a big laugh out of it. Guess the Cyclones spoiled that presumably hilarious narrative by winning the game over "The U." Then there's the "why didn't Caitlin go to UConn" thing (sorry Geno, it's not "UConn and everyone else" anymore) or "Caitlin didn't win a national championship" when the guy she passed, Pete Maravich, never made it past the NIT in college and didn't win a pro title until late in his career with the Celtics.
That story has yet to be written for Ms. Clark. So win.