If you mean people identifying with an athlete along reactionary lines like them putting other races in their rightful place then oh yeah that's a thing for sure. In MMA Sean Strickland fans were fucking intolerable for like the three months he was champ after defeating Israel Adesanya, a black man. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say all sports dominance is seen as colonization and conquest. I think it's more about being in the presence or even just living in the time of somebody truly undeniably special, a sheer talent that you know people will talk about for decades. Every time they perform you know you are watching history being written, history people will care about.

I will always root against the great white hope.

I think it’s mostly an influx of people who are just starting to pay attention to WBB and WNBA over the past year. Clark’s a great talent, and she will absolutely be a force in the WNBA for many years to come. But

• The small number of WNBA teams/players means she’s going up against the very best perimeter defenders she’s ever seen every game
• She’s stepping into a very high usage role just a few weeks out of college
• She’s on a bad team

It’s not like college teams never managed to slow Clark down, either; see Raven Johnson in the final three quarters of the championship game. If you can fight over screens and trust that the rest of the defense can handle whatever’s behind you, the long threes stop falling and the entry passes get picked off

I still can’t wait for the Fever to figure out how to relieve some pressure on Clark so we can see a high-low game develop with Aaliyah Boston