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An Iowa writer is under fire for his joke about Caitlin Clark after her WNBA debut, and he’s defending himself by tweeting that he was being sarcastic.
“Her shot mechanics suck,” CBS Sports and 247 Sports’ David Eickholt tweeted in a shared Indiana Fever video showing Clark as she “shakes off the defender and buries her fourth three of the half 😮💨”
Eickholt’s tweet has 1.4 million views through the morning of May 6, and it sparked a round of criticism before X users realized he was joking and actually defending Clark through sarcasm.
According to The Spun, Eickholt’s line was a reference to Fox Sports Radio’s Doug Gottlieb, who had pointed out Clark’s “mechanical flaw” in an April 30 tweet. “The amount of work it takes to be consistent through her mechanical flaw is really impressive,” Gottlieb, a former college and pro basketball player, had tweeted. “If you were advising her, would you fix it in the offseason? @HoopConsultants.”
Eickholt tried to make it clear that his post was sarcasm. “Oh my god— people are actually taking this serious,” he replied on the initial tweet.
“Homey missed the joke,” one person posted sticking up for Eickholt.
“Lot of them did 😂” Eickholt responded.
Here’s what you need to know:
Some Fans Missed David Eickholt’s Sarcasm & Criticized Him in the X Post Replies
In the replies, some people took the joke seriously and were critical. “*breaks every D-1 scoring record* but hey her shot form sucks huh?” wrote one.
“The closest I’ve been to a WNBA game is walking through a Las Vegas casino with my wife on vacay. The haters seem determined to keep the WNBA an afterthought. Here you have all these new people looking their way, and still you spew,” wrote another.
“Don’t think it’s smart to comment something like that when she made the basket 😂🤣 just a thought,” another fan wrote.
Eickholt has shared some of the negative tweets he received in response, including, “She’s hoopin, and your wastin your energy trying to bring her down. Mannn, who hurt you? Empowering goes so much further than negativity.”
He responded, “It’s very abundantly clear who has come across my tweets and who hasn’t. These comments have me rolling 😂😂”
Others wrote that Eickholt should have done more to make it clear his post was sarcasm. “Use quotes or emojis or some [expletive] There are ways to indicate sarcasm,” wrote another X user that Eickholt shared. Eickholt responded, “Or you could see I covered her high school and college career for a living. Not that hard.”
David Eickholt Has Written Positively About Caitlin Clark’s WNBA Debut, Saying That She ‘Shined’
Eickholt praised Clark’s preseason debut on X. “Former Hawkeye Caitlin Clark shined in her WNBA debut, finishing with 21 points and showcasing her range. Despite the loss, there are plenty of reasons for optimism in Indianapolis,” he wrote after the joke.
Eickholt’s post linked to an article he wrote about Clark’s debut for 247Sports. “One of the most highly-anticipated debuts in women’s sports history occurred on Friday night when Iowa native Caitlin Clark took the floor for her Indiana Fever. Clark, who has been the biggest reason for the growth of women’s basketball, dazzled in her opening game,” his story for “Hawkeye Insider” says.
Another person defended Eickholt, writing, “I don’t think the majority of the country outside of Iowa knows you are a fan of iowa lol. It was an honest mistake by him.”
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