Joy Taylor: Caitlin Clark became famous thanks to Angel Reese moment

Fox Sports host Joy Taylor went off on a Caitlin Clark Angel Reese tangent this week, saying Clark became famous due to the rivalry with Reese in college.

The viral moment from their national championship showdown, where LSU beat Iowa , showed Reese doing Clarks version of the you cant see me celebration.

Reese did it in Clarks face as LSU celebrated the title.

That moment went viral and like Taylor does, virtually everyone watches when the two square off in the WNBA these days.

But despite Clarks global appeal, Taylor argued Reese is the reason why the former Hawkeye is as famous as she is.

Her take can be read below and well, its something.

[The Clark vs.

Reese rivalry] has now spun into this thing where, like, Caitlin is better than Angel, and blah blah blah, Taylor said on The Joe Budden Podcast .

I just said that we would not be talking about Caitlin Clark the way that we do if it wasnt for that moment with Angel Reese.

And I will die on this hill.

I will die on this hill.

She will die on that hill, so theres really no convincing Taylor, who hosts Speak on FS1, a debate show nonetheless, featuring Keyshawn Johnson and Paul Pierce.

But based on WNBA ratings, Clark is the needle mover.

How did she become that popular? Well, according to Taylor its because of Reese beating her in college.

She doesnt want to hear the narrative of people wouldve talked about and watched Clark play basketball anyway.

Its crazy to me, every time I bring this up, theyre like, Angels not better.

We wouldve been talking about her anyway.No the (expletive) you wouldnt.

You (expletive) wouldnt, Taylor said.

And the reason you wouldnt is I do this every goddamn day.

I know what we talk about on my show.

We were not doing WNBA topic whole 15-minute segments on the (expletive) show until that happened.

Taylor does have a point.

Her show wasnt doing the WNBA at that time, considering both Clark and Reese were still playing college basketball.

But at that time, Clark was setting records and went on to become college basketballs all-time leading scorer and played another season of college basketball.

Reese, a stout defensive player in her own right, rose to superstardom after that game.

But Clark was moving the needle in womens college basketball in terms of the ratings of which little players, or even none, have done before in the mainstream.

Suddenly, debate shows across ESPN and other networks were talking about womens basketball.

Now, the WNBA is a regular topic when discussing how great Clark is because she was the Steph Curry of womens college basketball while in Iowa City.

But Taylor knows what she knows and shell stick to it, as she pointed out on Buddens podcast.

(Expletive) off, Taylor said.

I know what Im talking about.

Its not about saying that Angels better than Caitlin or that Caitlin wouldnt be a great player.

Its principle storytelling.

Im not making this up.

I know what Im talking about.

The 2025 WNBA season debut for Clark vs.

Reese made ratings history for ESPN.

The four-letter network recently announced that the game between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever averaged 2.7 million viewers with a peak of 3.1 million.

It was the most-watched WNBA game ever on ESPN platforms, including regular season and postseason games.

So maybe Taylor has some merit when talking about Reese.

But hosting a TV show, she should be aware of the ratings.

Those ratings involving womens basketball? They dropped by more than half when Clark was out due to injury, down 55% for nationally televised games and down 53% for Indiana Fever national TV games, per USA Today.

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission..

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