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Now what
Sorry, we're running late this morning.
Our Caitlin Clark Fan Club meeting ran long last night. Yikes.
OK, the starting point is Holy Schnikes, more people watched Clark and Iowa dispatch defending champ LSU on Monday than have ever watched any other women's basketball game.
Yes, all title games previous and games even on main channels as ESPN drew a whopping 12.3 million viewers (6.2 rating share) on average for the Iowa win.
It bested the 1983 title game between USC and La Tech on CBS, which drew 11.84 million viewers.
But wait there's more about Clark being the biggest women's basketball draw ever.
In the current Neilsen metered era (since 1988), the previous record holder was last year's NCAA title game between, you guessed it, Iowa and LSU.
But wait, there's more.
The night cap on ESPN between UConn and USC had an average audience of 6.7 million viewers, making it the fourth-most watched game since 1995.
The other three ahead of it all included Clark.
Which begs the title question?
Now what?
How does women's basketball capitalize on a generational star like Clark?
Can they capitalize on it?
The numbers will likely be bigger come Friday when Clark and Iowa face UConn and Paige Bueckers?
Could Clark and Angel Reese be the WNBA's version of Bird and Magic for the next decade?
Not sure, but the numbers are enormous. Heck, Monday's are normally dominated by WWE vehicles, especially on cable ratings.
But ESPN's lead up studio show — on women's hoops people — and the midnight SportsCenter recapping the Monday hoopla beat each hour of WWE.
Not sure this will have the carryover and maybe this is a singular point in time as the cosmic tumblers click for the women's college game, but what is Clark's ceiling as an A-list sports star?
She already has monster endorsements with monster clients like Gatorade and StateFarm.
Moreover, she has an undeniable national appeal — and in a vacuum for women athletes in general and women basketball players in particular — that will crossover to pop culture.
If she and Iowa win it all — and do it against an unbeaten South Carolina — SNL would be foolish not to have her host.
She will walk away with more ESPYs — if that counts for anything — than the Dream Team.
My seventh-grade daughter watched almost every minute of Clark's magnificence Monday and when it ended wanted to know when they played again.
That's drawing power across generations friends, and there may have been better and more accomplished women's college basketball players in my lifetime, but none that have been appointment TV.
Heck, dare I say it, Caitlin Clark — if the cards fall right — could be Taylor Swift with a 3-point range.
A stout southpaw
So, we missed two of three picks Tuesday, because we just are teetering right at the record high for really like the last, what, six weeks Vader?
It happens, and being plus-101 or whatever it is, is still way better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
One of our misses was backing the Braves offense, which will be a frequent lottery ticket we will purchase over the next several months.
Especially against left-handers, as the Braves hit .288 against lefties last season, which was 18 full points higher than second-best in all of baseball.
That makes what Garrett Crochet did to this Braves offense even more impressive Tuesday night in Chicago.
Crochet — in his second MLB start mind you — held the Braves to a single run on just three hits while striking out eight.
The former Tennessee star who hit triple digits on the gun in Knoxville has averaged 96 mph on his fastball in his first two seasons in Chicago, but his Frisbee-like breaking stuff is nasty on nasty.
He will become a Jay's Plays regular, friends. And quickly.
Too long coming
So I am remiss that I have not chimed in more with on the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson celebrity fight that is scheduled for later this summer.
To put it bluntly, I am giddy for this.
In my lifetime, before Buster Douglas and the influences of Don King and way too many women, Mike Tyson was the most dominant and surest thing in sports.
Tyson in the mid-to-late 1980s was better than mid-90s Jordan and early-2000s Tiger.
He was a wrecking machine who offered a river of perfect quotes from a real-life wrecking machine like "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" and "I'm gonna knock him into Bolivia."
Now, I'm not sure who exactly Jake Paul is — the job title 'influencer' makes me remember I am an old guy — but I hope Tyson wakes up the ghosts and shows up ready to go.
Sure, Tyson is almost 30 years his elder, but know this for the folks who do not remember his heyday:
We talk about a lot of great sports happenings, and we all have our favorites, but the Super Bowl, the college football playoff title games, the Masters, the, name whatever you want, all were just games and golf compared to Tyson at the height of his powers.
It was truly an event.
Know this too: In the summer of 1988, I paid $30 to go into a closed-circuited movie theater to watch Tyson KO Michael Spinks. It lasted 91 seconds, and it was awesome.
This and that
— One more thing about Caitlin Clark, she was trending like parachute pants in the 1980s during his master class Monday, but this Tweet may have been the best with a Wheel of Fortune puzzle and LSU coach Kim Mulkey added in.
— Reports have Bronny Jamers entering the transfer portal. Wait, I thought he was headed to the NBA draft? OK.
— Yes, he's doing it in San Antonio for a team that truly is not very good, but many Victor Wembanyama stuffs a stat sheet. He almost nabbed a quadruple-double Tuesday night with 23 points, 15 boards, nine blocks and eight assists in a last-second loss to Denver.
— One, unlike Chattanoogans, Kansas City voters got to decide on sales taxes to be used for new stadiums. They said no.
— I'd hate to be heavily invested in a North Shore store or restaurant since the traffic is about to get way worse with Frazier Ave. going to two lanes and the addition of biking and scooter lanes. Yeah, how'd that work over there near the Aquarium in downtown proper? What did Yogi say? "That place is so crowded no one goes there any more."
— You know the rules. Here's Paschall on with more on the UT defensive secondary. Also of note on our site is Paschall catching up with PGA Tour winner and former Baylor School and UTC star Stephan Jaeger.
Today's questions
Which Way Wednesday starts this way: Which have you watched more of Caitlin Clark or the WNBA?
Which way do you fall — good idea; stinky idea — on the condensing of Frazier Ave. and the addition of bike lanes?
Which would you rather do, ride a bull or fight Mike Tyson?
Which athlete was most dominant 1980s Tyson, 1990s Jordan, early 2000s Tiger?
As for today, April 3, let's review.
On this day in 1953, TV Guide published its first issue. Wow.
Jesse James was shot and killed on this day in 1883.
Marlon Brando would have been 100 today. Is Don Corleone on the Rushmore of all-time movie characters?
(And heck yes that one is hard.)