sweet nothing - caitlin clark

this cage was once just fine

caitlin

may 14th, 2024

my alarm blares through the room way too early for my liking. i hear lexie grunt from her bed as i roll to turn it off. she rolls over to look at me and we both laugh before moving to get ready.

we're in connecticut right now for our first official game of the season. i'm really excited for it, since it's the start of my professional career. the sun's defense is the best in the league so i know it'll be hard but i've dealt with hard defenses in college so i'm not too worried. 

i go to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. i grab my practice jersey and throw it on and tie up my shoes. we have pregame media and then shootaround before the actual game. 

as me and lexie walk to the elevator i make sure to send ellie a good morning text, knowing she won't see it for a bit because it's too early for her to be awake. 

we meet up with the team and head to the arena to start getting ready for the game. christie, aliyah, and i get pulled out to do the pregame media. 

they ask the basic questions, how excited am i, what am i expecting it to be like, and other stuff like that. i answer all of the questions and lean my head into my hands while they shift to aliyah, feeling tired. everything has moved so fast in just a month, it's hard to wrap my head around. 

the championship and the end of my college career at the beginning of april, the draft only a week later, interviews, award shows, podcasts, flights back and forth and back and forth, moving out of my dorm, living in a hotel here, training camp for a week and then straight into games. 

i'm trying to balance it all well, but sometimes i can feel it all start to wash over me. 

i snap out of it when a reporter directs a question to me.

"caitlin, we know you love basketball, but is there something else you love that comes close to basketball?" i take a second to think as my brain is still spiraling. 

"um, i like warm chocolate cookies, so those i guess." i say. aliyah and christie turn towards me and laugh, christie shaking her head. the reporters in the room all laugh as well. i tell them about how my mom used to make deserts for the iowa team so i'll need her to start doing it here. 

the press conference ends and me and aliyah join the rest of the girls in shoot around. i honestly don't have high expectations for this game. i know we just met, but the team is just not gelling and team chemistry is the most important thing needed to win. i know it'll come with time, i'm trying to understand how to have patience with all of this. 

i know that no matter what happens tonight, all people are gonna do is talk about me. the internet has yet to let me forget that i lost another national championship game, as if i didn't know that. then it turned into how my game wouldn't translate and some of the vets had some not nice things to say about me, like how reality is coming and i'll never be as good as i was in college.

it's hard to hear that from players who i've looked up to so much, but all i've seen is headlines so maybe they didn't mean it in the way it came off, who knows.

tonight is the time for me to prove myself since everyone is gonna be watching me. 

shootaround ends and we go back to the hotel to gather out things. i run the straightener through my hair and change into a black tube top and black cargo pants as my tunnel outfit. we head out the door and onto the bus, arriving quickly to the arena. 

the fans are outside cheering as we step off the bus. i sign as many autographs and take as many pictures as i can until i have to go inside. we walk through the tunnel and cameras are lined up to capture my entrance, not bothering to film the rest of the girls' outfits in favor of following me all the way down.