O'Donnell: Caitlin Clark’s hurtin’ quad strains CBS, Chicago fans and the WNBA
INDIANA FEVER COACH STEPHANIE WHITE has referred to the WNBA's Caitlin Clark Phenomenon as “Taylor Swift 2.0.”
All of a sudden, the Fever's national showcase game at the United Center vs. the host Chicago Sky on June 7, will carry all the zing of “Zachary Taylor 2.0.”
That general turnabout came about Monday when Indiana announced Clark had strained her left quad during Saturday’s 90-88 home loss to defending champion New York. She'll be sidelined for at least two weeks.
The 14-day desert stretch includes four IND games, culminating with what would have been a landmark TV matchup between Clark's Fever and Angel Reese and the Sky.
CBS WILL TELEVISE IT AS the first WNBA regular-season game ever in prime time on a legacy network. It'll also mark the Sky's first contest at the UC, which holds more than double the seating capacity of Wintrust Arena (a downsized 9,217, according to a team source), the club's usual home.
With Clark, the Fisheye Network was hoping to reach 3.5M viewers or more for the marquee event on West Madison Street.
Without Clark, divide by 2.5 and subtract No. 22.
HARDEST HIT ARE FANS WHO SCURRIED for tickets to the game, especially on the secondary market. Choice courtside seats were listing for more than $12,000 when the Fever dropped the unanticipated bombshell.
Now, $10 will likely get the most economically ardent into the high-and-dry life at the United Center.
From those third-level crow's nests, fans can crane their necks to get a glimpse of the idled 23-year-old megastar.
Downstairs, the more invested can merely riffle through their credit cards to register disappointment.
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DAN PLESAC, ONE OF THE MORE LIKABLE AND ENDURING PEOPLE around Chicago's big-league diamonds, has begun a fresh assignment.
Plesac is working the first wave of 21 White Sox telecasts as a spot fill-in for Steve Stone, who's taking more time off this season.
That's the good news. The more tepid news is that those Fail Hose games remain lost in space on CHSN, the private sports network that is still inaccessible via Comcast/Xfinity.
SINCE A BOYHOOD SPENT in northwest Indiana's golden Gary-Crown Point corridor, Plesac has crafted a rare professional trifecta: formidable MLB relief pitcher, broadcaster and harness racing trainer.
He was a three-time All-Star with the Brewers and later pitched for the Cubs, among others.
Following the end of his 18-year big-league career in 2003, Plesac pursued another passion by taking out his harness training license.
HIS FIRST STARTING GATE O' CALL was the late Maywood Park at First and North avenues in west suburban Chicago.
There he got to inspect sulkies and condition books with such legends of the game as the ruling Johnston family (Billy, Duke and Johnnie), crack publicist Tom Kelley and uber insider Paulie Gallo of Rosemont.
Plesac stepped away from the training game in 2009.
AS FOR STONE, who'll turn 78 in July, the presumption is that he's getting a bit frayed from calling endless bad baseball.
At the same time, he remains a trusted member of Jerry Reinsdorf's baseball roundtable, which means his microphone isn't going anywhere he doesn't want it to.
STREET-BEATIN':
No less than ESPN is touting Cubs wunderkind Pete Crow-Armstrong as the first-lap front-runner for National League MVP. Kyle Tucker is a few clicks back in the web's projected hunt. Two of the last sports voices in town still calling “PCA” by his full name are radio play-by-play man Pat Hughes and Cheryl Raye-Stout of WBEZ-FM (91.5). …
Fox's coverage of Alex Palou's win in the Indy 500 drew slightly more than 7M viewers. That was the race's best Nielsen since 2008. Much mixed social media over Danica Patrick's wardrobe choice: She wore a one-shoulder, diagonally striped black-and-white dress that some said looked like a checkered flag. (No one was critiquing what Rob Gronkowski wore over in “The Snake Pit.”) …
Thoroughbred racing took a hit with the death of trainer Christophe Clement, 59. The aristocratic Frenchman commanded international respect. He dropped into Arlington Park often enough to win the 2009 Million with Gio Pointi and also captured The Beverly D. three times. Daughter-in-law Acacia Clement — a former Miss Connecticut — is a TV analyst for the New York Racing Association. …
Ageless Chuck Dreiling Sr. of Buffalo Grove regaled holiday wing mates with film-noir tales of Rick Casares' old Pro Bowl on Dundee Road. With bowling lanes, a restaurant-lounge that featured show bands and quite a mix of late-night carousers, the star Bears RB technically had the region's first sports bar. Population of BG was less than 1,500 when Casares and partners opened. …
And TNT's heat-seeking Kenny Smith, on the tight playing rotation of the New York Knicks: “Tom Thibodeau wouldn't play nine guys in a baseball game.”
Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.