The sports outlet came under fire after releasing its cover for “Athletes of the Year”
Social media is speaking out after The Sporting News (TSN) decided to make Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark share the title for “Athletes of The Year.”
The sports outlet came under fire on Tuesday, Dec. 19 after releasing its cover for “Athletes of the Year,” which was shared by the LSU Tigers’ Angel Reese and Iowa Hawkeyes’ Caitlin Clark.
Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are the 2023 Sporting News Athletes of the Year.
𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗: https://t.co/n1LdSJfEM5 pic.twitter.com/BD7JwOaJph
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) December 19, 2023
In their editorial writeup on the cover, TSN credited Reese and Clark’s rising star power in the wake of their performances at the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship, where LSU defeated Iowa 102–85 to win the school’s first national championship and set a record for most points scored by a team in an NCAA women’s basketball championship game.
During the championship game, Reese recorded a double-double and was voted the Most Outstanding Player (MOP) of the Final Four. She has gone on to appear in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and win an ESPY for Breakout Athlete of the Year. But TSN still felt Reese needed to share the athlete of the year title with Clark.
“Iowa guard Caitlin Clark and LSU forward Angel Reese are stars. Clark has been featured in a national television commercial along with “Jake from State Farm,” the kind of prominence usually accorded Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes and NBA All-Star Chris Paul,” the outlet wrote. “Reese has been featured in a photo shoot and article in Teen Vogue and in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue.”
Now, social media is debating why TSN chose to share the coveted title, rather than giving it solely to Reese who won the championship and has grown exponentially in popularity.
“Whatever happen to one person winning ?” one Twitter/X user asked.
“They made the winner share the cover with the loser? Damn, that’s some privilege,” added someone else.
“Would Angel be added if LSU lost?” another tweet read.
The Sporting News has yet to respond to questions over the cover. Meanwhile, neither Reese nor Clark have reposted the cover on their social media pages.
