“The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.” ― Robert Hughes
Great artists tend to live life swimming in a vast ocean of self-doubt. It’s that special blend of insecurity and perfectionism that fuels their desire to hone their craft and get better with each piece.
But that self-doubt can also be paralyzing and prevent potential artists from picking up the pen, paintbrush or guitar.
To encourage his mother to stick with her art, Reddit user Gaddafo shared a picture of his mother, Cindi Decker, a school teacher from Florida, holding a lovely painting she made of an egret.
“My mom painted this and said no one would like it. It’s her 2nd painting,” he wrote.
Then Reddit user Cacahahadoodoo asked the forum to take the post a step further. “Someone paint the photo of his mom holding her painting and repost it with the same title for extra extra karma,” they wrote.
Karma is a reward earned for posting popular content on the online forum.
Reddit user u/k__z jumped on the task and painted a picture of Decker holding her painting.
Then lillyofthenight took things a step further by painting a picture of herself holding a painting of u/k__z holding his painting of Decker holding her painting of an egret.
“Took a while and not perfect, but I painted the guy who painted the other guy’s mom,” she wrote.
Then seamusywray stepped in with his contribution and things started to get freaky. “I painted the girl who painted the guy who painted the other guy’s mom who painted an egret,” he wrote.
This kicked off a chain reaction that’s come to be known “paintception.”
Decker was shocked by the chain reaction and couldn’t believe she inspired so many people to paint.
“Even though people say, ‘You inspired me to paint,’ I don’t know that it was so much me. I really give credit to the first artist who painted,” she told the CBC. “You know, I’m not a painter. I’m just somebody who went out and did a little painting thing, so I got lucky to get caught up in all this fun craziness.”
When Jimmy Kimmel takes to the street, you know you’re in for a good laugh at just how little we actually know about, well, seemingly anything. That goes for anatomy too. In this case, female anatomy.
In a segment called “What Do You Know About The Female Body?” men try—and hilariously fail—to answer even the most basic questions, like “does a female have one uterus, or two?” much to the amazement of some of their female partners.
Here are some of the very best bits of nonwisdom:
Woman have LOTS of fallopian tubes and ovaries, apparently.
When asked, “how many fallopian tubes does the average lady have?” one man prefaced with “I know I’m gonna be way off,” before answering “four.”
He was right about being way off, indeed. Women usually have one fallopian tube on either side of the uterus, making that two fallopian tubes.
Another guy guessed that a woman has not one, not two, but six ovaries. Which, in case you didn’t know, is three times more than the correct answer (two ovaries, one on either side of the uterus). Where would a woman keep four extra ovaries? Her purse?
A mammogram examines the stomach.
The interviewer also asked: “What part of the body does the mammogram examine?”
“The lower half…” replied one man. Yikes.
And when asked to demonstrate where exactly the “lower half” is, he gestured toward the uppermost part of his belly, seemingly avoiding the actual area a mammogram covers entirely.
PMS is all in the mind, but only annually.
The next question up was “What does PMS stand for?”
And it definitely happens more than “once a year.”
An IUD is a “mammogram device.”
Oh, and a NuvaRing is a “pap schmear,” and a speculum is the actual “IUD.” Holy moly, if you thought IUDs were uncomfortable before…
Things really took a turn once the graphics came out.
And men were asked to point to where the cervix is. Plenty of things were pointed at—like the uterus. But sadly, no cervix findings.
Changing gears, the interview instructed the men to “point at something you know.”
To which one man replied (inaccurately) “uh…that’s a baby?”
Unless the woman is giving birth to a colon, that was incorrect.
Later in the video, a man is asked “where does the baby go?”
“In there,” the man answers after pointing to the ovaries. (Spoiler alert: It doesn’t go there. A fetus grows in the uterus, which this man thought was the cervix.)
His wife, a gynecologist no less, chuckled “I’m mortified…I’m apparently not a very good educator at home for my husband.”
Though this is just for pure fun, it is food for thought.
A woman’s autonomy over her own body has been the subject of much controversial discussion lately. And I can’t help but wonder how certain politicians/leaders would fare if given the same questions. Perhaps it is unwise to try to govern that which is not fully understood, just saying.
Not everyone enjoys flying. The level of non-enjoyment can range from mild discomfort to full blown Aerophobia, which is defined as an extreme fear of flying. While flying is the quickest way to get to far away destinations, for some people being that far off the ground is terrifying and they’d rather take their chances on the ground.
A passenger flying from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina to JFK International Airport in New York confronted that fear while flying with Delta. The woman, who is currently still unidentified expressed that she was nervous to fly according to Molly Simonson Lee, a passenger seated behind the woman who witnessed the encounter. Tight spaces don’t make for much privacy, but in this case, the world is better for knowing this took place.
According to Lee, who posted about the exchange on Facebook, the Delta flight attendant, Floyd Dean-Shannon, took his time to give the nervous traveler his undivided attention. Lee told Upworthy the unidentified passenger, “was very nervous and even before the plane took off, she was visibly shaken by each sound.”
Approximately 25 million people in the United States have Aerophobia according to the Clevland Clinic and most of them probably wish Dean-Shannon was on their flights. “He took notice and began explaining what each [sound] was, with the warmest, calmest tone,” Lee said. That wasn’t even the most amazingly sweet part of the story.
While the explanation of noises helped, Lee said about halfway through the flight the passenger was fighting back tears, which prompted Dean-Shannon to sit on the floor and hold the frightened passenger’s hand. He comforted her for the rest of the flight while sitting on the floor. “His tone was so kind and soothing,” according to Lee.
Dean-Shannon’s kindness didn’t stop there. Lee explained, “the woman next to me was celebrating a birthday and he sang to her and made her a ‘cake’ with all of the goodies he could round up.”
I’m not sure what Delta pays him but he needs a raise immediately and it seems the people of the interwebs agree.
Commenter, Miranda Anderson, tagged Delta Airlines and wrote, “I hope you see this! These are the types of people that deserve raises and make your company worth flying with. This is what pits [sic] you above the others so show these employees this is what you want and what you need.”
“I love this. This is what society is lacking. Empathy and kindness towards people in time[s] of need” wrote Diane Lawrence.
While Mary Beth Acker Ford, said, “I was on a flight with him today. He exudes joy and is intentional about making a connection with each person!”
This level of engagement with passengers is not a common experience but clearly people are happy to see this type of connection between humans. Flying anywhere can be stressful for any amount of reasons. From leaving the house late and having to participate in an involuntary 5k to catch your flight, to making your way through the devil’s backyard, also known as Atlanta International Airport…just for them to change your gate 10 minutes before boarding.
So having a flight attendant like Dean-Shannon is just the breath of fresh air people need. “The way he’s looking at her…letting her know she’s safe!!! This is just one of the many reasons I will always fly Delta Air Lines,” Liz Martin wrote in the comments.
“It was obvious he is just a good, kind soul who shares that generously with everyone he encounters. Such kindness is rare and a true gift when encountered,” Lee remarked. That level of kindness is rare indeed and we sure are happy someone thought to capture it.
Meghan Smith is the owner of Melody Note Vintage store in the eternally hip town of Palm Springs, California, and her old-school Gen X advice has really connected with younger people on TikTok.
In a video posted in December 2022, she shares the advice she wishes that “somebody told me in my twenties” and it has received more than 13 million views. Smith says that she gave the same advice to her partner’s two daughters when they reached their twenties.
The video is hashtagged #GenX advice for #GenZ and late #millennials. Sorry older millennials, you’re too old to receive these pearls of wisdom.
Here is some of the timeless advice that Smith shares in the video.
Perfection is bullshit.
You will never be more good-looking than you are today.
Put your phone down and enjoy your life.
Don’t change for anybody.
Don’t worry about making mistakes.
Laugh at yourself.
If somebody shows you their true colors, believe them.
Travel.
You end up dating the people you think you deserve. Usually, you deserve better.
This might only help one person and thats ok. Advice I wish somebody told me in my twenties. #genx advice for #genz and late #millennials #adviceforyour20s #lifeadvice #fyp dont be an asshat in the comments if you are older, its not helpful.
She followed up the video with a sequel with even more sage advice.
Know who’s on your side and who you can ask for help.
Don’t smoke.
Don’t spend longer than one year with the wrong person.
Find your own style.
Don’t stress over the small stuff.
Good manners don’t go out of style.
Do the work that it takes to be really good at something.
Your happiness is more important than other people’s disappointment.
This might only help one person and thats ok. Advice I wish somebody told me in my twenties part 2 #genx advice for #genz and late #millennials #adviceforyour20s #lifeadvice #fyp
We recently asked our Upworthy audience on Facebook, “What’s something that you really enjoy that other people can’t seem to understand?” and over 1,700 people weighed in. Some people shared things like housework, cleaning and laundry, which a lot of people see as chores. Others shared different puzzles or forms of art they like doing, and still others shared things like long car rides or grocery shopping.
But one answer dominated the list of responses. It came in various wordings, but by far the most common answer to the question was “silent solitude.” Here are a few examples:
“Feeling perfectly content, when I’m all alone.”
“Being home. Alone. In silence.”
“That I enjoy being alone and my soul is at peace in the silence. I don’t need to be around others to feel content, and it takes me days to recharge from being overstimulated after having an eventful day surrounded by others.”
“Enjoying your own company. Being alone isn’t isolating oneself. It’s intentional peace and healthy… especially for deep feelers/thinkers.”
Spending time by ourselves is something some of us relish, while some of us hate being alone. Naturally, this points to the common theory of introversion vs. extraversion, but in some ways, that’s overly simplistic. Even the most peopley people among us can enjoy some quality alone time, and not all introverts see time alone as truly enjoyable. (It might be necessary for an introvert’s well-being, but not necessarily something they truly revel in.)
Interesting, studies have found that people who enjoy being alone are not any more or less extraverted than those who don’t, though they do tend to be less “sociable.” They are also less likely to be neurotic (tense, moody, worrying types) than the generally population and more likely to be open-minded. Those characteristics are the opposite of what social norms often tell us about people who want to be alone.
“If our stereotypes about people who like being alone were true, then we should find that they are neurotic and closed-minded. In fact, just the opposite is true,” writes Bella DePaulo, PhD.
There may be lots of reasons some people like to spend time by themselves while others don’t. We are naturally social creatures and need social interaction, but some of us find ourselves overstimulated by being around other people all the time. On the flip side, some people find being alone not just unenjoyable, but extremely uncomfortable, which can be a problem.
“Ideally, we should be comfortable with ourselves, alone or with others,” writes psychologist Tara Well Ph.D.. “If you are uncomfortable being alone, it means you are uncomfortable being with yourself without distraction, engagement, or affirmation from others. This can be a liability in life. If you cannot be alone, you may stay in situations or make life choices that aren’t good for you in the long run, like staying in a job or a relationship, mainly because you can’t tolerate being alone while transitioning to a better situation.”
Dr. Well also points out that people can make the most of their alone time, even if it’s not something they naturally enjoy. One way is to make it purposeful, setting aside a little time daily to write in a journal, meditate, go for a walk or otherwise engage your mind and body in some form of reflection. Another is to pay attention to self-judgments that might make alone time uncomfortable and challenge them with some compassionate confrontation and counteraction with positive thoughts about yourself.
Alone time can be refreshing and rewarding, especially if it’s something you naturally crave. Some people even like to take themselves out on dates or enjoy traveling by themselves. That kind of self-care can be just as important as connecting with others for our overall health and well-being. Being alone doesn’t mean being a loner and it doesn’t mean being lonely. Some of us genuinely like having quality time with ourselves, whether it makes sense to other people or not.
In December of 2022, a American Pit Bull Terrier named Mara was hours away from being euthanized at a high-kill shelter in Georgia. Rocky Kanaka shares that the one-year-old pup had been languishing in the shelter for over a month with no one showing interest in her until a rescue group called Braveheart Bulliez stepped in to save her.
Braveheart Bulliez had secured a foster home for her and hired a paid trainer to do in-home training, but within a few weeks the foster bailed without explanation. On top of that, two people who had agreed to sponsor Mara’s rescue journey also bailed, so she was left high and dry with nowhere to go.
In January of 2023, Braveheart Bulliez sent Mara to a well-respected boarding and training program. She took to training like a champ, becoming a “phenomenal” leash walker and learning not to react to other dogs on leash. She was also muzzle trained to be with other dogs in doggy play time.
“She blew everyone away with how smart and willing to learn she was,” said Carrara.
However, no matter how hard they tried, Mara’s rescuers couldn’t find a foster or adoptive home for her. Reaching out to rescues across the country yielded no results. She ended up being boarded for another 10 months, which wasn’t good for her physically or mentally.
Finally, an almost-perfect foster for Mara came along. Someone had filled out an application expressing interest in fostering a special needs dog. “As soon as we read it, we realized this person would be perfect for Mara,” Carrara said. “We took a chance and reached out, and incredibly, they agreed to foster her.”
There was just one problem—they were planning on moving overseas within six months, so they wouldn’t be able to keep her that long. That foster has been caring for Mara since January 2024, but now it’s time for them to leave—and time for Mara to find her furever family.
If Mara doesn’t find a home, there will be no choice but to send her back into boarding, where she completely shut down after spending more than a years there. No one who knows her wants that for her.
“Mara is a beautiful girl, fully trained, and simply needs to be in a home as an only dog. She is very smart and LOVES human attention. She loves car rides, long walks/hikes, and LOVES PUP CUPS!” the rescue shares. “She MUST be the only dog in the home. However, Mara is fully muzzle trained and only needs it if she is near other dogs (in doggy day care). This darling girl has been failed by humans over and over again. But we never gave up on her, and she knows that. We will do whatever it takes to find this wonderful pup her perfect home.”
Let’s help this sweet girl find a family who can care for her and give her a loving home. For information about Mara and how to adopt her, go to: https://rockykanaka.com/adoption/mara/
The kids in high school in 2024 have always lived in a world where smartphones exist. Many were raised on iPads and given smartphones by the time they started middle school. During this time, research has begun to reveal the dangerous effects smartphones have on young people; now, teachers and students are forced to cope with the harmful effects of this social experiment.
A recent Speak Up survey found that 80% of teachers think phones distract students and 70% of administrators say it is difficult for students to manage their smartphones responsibly.
Mitchell Rutherford, 35, a high school biology teacher at Sahuaro High School in Tucson, Arizona, is quitting his job of 11 years because his students’ addiction to their phones is making it nearly impossible for him to teach. Rutherford told The Wall Street Journal that something “shifted” in high school kids after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There was this low-energy apathy and isolation,’ he told the Wall Street Journal. At first, he thought it was his teaching, but he realized it was the phones. “This year something shifted, and it’s just like they are numbing themselves, they are just checking out of society, they’re just like can’t get rid of it, they can’t put it away,” he told KVOA.
Tucson biology teacher quits over students not being able to put down their phones
“Now, you can ask them, bug them, beg them, remind them and try to punish them and still nothing works,” Rutherford told the Wall Street Journal.
Students aren’t allowed to use phones in classes at Sahuaro, but that doesn’t stop them. So, it’s up to the teachers to enforce what feels unenforceable. He says that when he tries to take a phone away from a student they hold onto them for dear life. “That’s what an alcoholic would do if you tried to take away their bottle,” he told them.
He likens his students’ relationships with their phones to a severe addiction.
“Opioids, obviously a huge problem, cocaine heroin, all of those drugs, alcohol, it’s all a big problem, but like sugar even greater than that and then phones even greater than that,” he told KVOA.
Mitchell Rutherford has taught high-school biology for 11 years. A millennial and digital native, he used to think technology had a place in the classroom and students could be taught to manage their phone use.
He even attempted to give his students extra credit if they reduced their screen time. “Here’s extra credit, let’s check your screen time, let’s create habits, let’s do a unit on sleep and why sleep is important, and how to reduce your phone usage for a bedtime routine, and we talked about it every day and created a basket called phone jail,” he said.
But in the end, it was a losing battle for Rutherford and the phones have won.
In February, he told the school that he was leaving the teaching profession to preserve his well-being. “I have been struggling with mental health this year mostly because of what I identified as basically phone addiction with the students.”
When asked how parents and school administrators can help fix this problem, his solution is simple: get kids off their phones. “As a society, we need to prioritize educating our youth and protecting our youth and allowing their brains and social skills and happiness to develop in a natural way without their phones,” he told KVOA.
Parenting comes with many blessings, but also many sacrifices—especially when it comes to your weekends. No more sleeping in, no more waking up to peace and quiet and enjoying your day off. No, no, no. You’ll be too busy getting to soccer games and birthday parties and any one of the other many, many social commitments your kids (and therefore you) have. Yay.
Recently, comedian and father of three Dustin Nickerson nailed this chaotic aspect of parenthood in a segment of his “Don’t Make Me Come Back There” podcast.
“If you really wanna see the difference between a parent and a non-parent, it’s Saturdays,” Nickerson said. For him, a typical Saturday means getting his three kiddos to “three different locations by 9 am…potentially in three different cities…each for $3000.”
“It’s the same amount of work for a single person to fly across the country as it is for a parent to execute one Saturday morning,” he says, since it requires the same amount of packing, planning and coordinating to make sure everything goes smoothly.
And that’s not even taking the sweet little angel into account, who Nickerson says is like “you’re juggling a thing that gets hungry. And cusses at you in front of your mom. Every Saturday.”
Down in the comments, other parents couldn’t agree more.
“Been up with mine since 5:30. Lived a whole life before 11 am,” lamented one.
“My kids are grown now. People always told me I would miss the sports days when they were over. Nope, I don’t miss it at all,” added another.
And of course #teamchildfree came in to gloat.
“Childless and slept till 11, it was glorious,” one person shared.
One cool dog parent wrote, “I woke up without an alarm and took my dog on my motorcycle to a doggo event at the park.”
All of life’s choices come with pros and cons. This might be one aspect of parenting that unanimously falls into the cons category, but at least all the moms and dads out there can laugh at themselves while dreaming of lazy weekends.
For even more relatable parenting content, you can watch the full “Don’t Make Me Come Back There” episode below:
There is a significant trend happening right now on social media where women are calling out men for using “weaponized incompetence” as a way to avoid taking responsibility for their families.
Weaponized incompetence is when someone pretends they can’t do a task correctly, so someone else ends up doing it instead. In families, this can create an unfair workload and reinforce traditional gender roles, leaving one person with more responsibility than they should have.
Obviously, there are many men out there who are pulling their own weight in their families, but those who live in the past and have no problem having their wives take on unnecessary burdens deserve to be called out.
Recently, a flight attendant on Reddit pointed out the unfair distribution of labor she sees when families take summer vacations. According to Yunghazel, she sees women doing all of the work with children on planes while the dads relax and enjoy the flight.
Some fathers even stay in first class while mom and the kids sit in coach.
“I am sick and tired of seeing the women doing all the work when she travels with her family,” she writes. “She is the one with the boarding passes, knows the seats, wrangles the children, and sits with them. Meanwhile, the husband/dad is sitting in a different row, kid-free, having the time of his life watching a movie.”
“The mom is taking care of the kids, has activities, snacks and does bathroom trips,” she continues. “Oh, and don’t even get me started on the ones who sit in First Class and leave their family in the back.”
She added that when she sees a father allowing his wife to relax on a flight, she will point it out. “I actually complimented one father who was amazing with his 3 kids and the mom was able to relax with a drink and assist as needed,” she wrote. “He was shocked when I told him it was a rare case and lovely to see. He said, ‘I’m just being a dad.’”
She finished the post by asking women to demand to be treated as equals when flying with their families. “Ladies, I am begging you. If you are going on a family vacation this summer, set some travel expectations on how you can tackle the plane ride with your partner so it’s an enjoyable experience. You do not have to do all the work. I hate to see it,” she concluded her post.
The post resonated with many women whose husbands who didn’t pull their own weight on trips.
“I hated trips when I was married and had young kids for this very reason. It was vacation for everyone but me. I spent the entire time minding kids, managing everything, making sure things were figured out, managing a man-baby’s emotions and being denied enough sleep to function,” whoinvitedthesepeopl wrote.
“I had a mini meltdown a few years ago because my husband checked us in and sat both kids with me and himself in the aisle seat across,” Treelakerockcloud added. “So while he would be close the bulk of the plane parenting would fall on me. He said that’s because we ‘always did it this way.’”
Many gendered double standards are so deeply ingrained into American society that we have a difficult time noticing them, whether we’re the man hiding behind weaponized incompetence or the woman behaving as mothers have traditionally.
Only when people speak up and point out these forms of inequality will we begin to see some change. That’s why posts like Yunghazel’s are important. Sometimes, someone must point out the obvious to start a conversation that we’ve been waiting too long to have.
It’s cliche to wax poetic about a generational athlete’s impact, but it’s never cliche to whomever experiences it. This group of 11-year-old girls just proved as much with their pure, shrieking laughter at a decibel unique to preteens. They cannot fathom that Los Angeles Sparks’ rookie No. 2 overall pick Cameron Brink, casually sitting across the court during pregame warmups, acknowledged their existence. “She waved! Guys, I’m gonna cry,” one girl frantically blurts to her Genesis basketball teammates. Brink is also tickled, beaming and giggling, almost as if she’s grasping the power she wields in real time. Three of the girls are wearing 2024 WNBA No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark’s No. 22 — two Iowa Hawkeyes jerseys, one Indiana Fever jersey — and all of them traveled two-and-a-half hours from Temecula, California to Los Angeles’ sold-out Crypto.com Arena for the Fever’s (1-5) 78-73 win over the Sparks (1-3) on Friday night, May 24.
Firsts defined the night. After an excruciating 0-5 stretch to the season, Clark snagged her first WNBA win. Brink and Rickea Jackson, the Sparks’ 2024 fourth overall pick, enjoyed their first home game at Crypto.com Arena. Brink and Clark faced off for the first time — each earning the loudest, most visceral cheers of any player on their respective teams throughout the night from a Sparks’ franchise-record home crowd of 19,103 fans.
Coming into Friday, Brink led the WNBA in blocks per game and had mostly flashed her monstrous defensive potential, but the reigning Pac-12 Women’s Player Of The Year and Defensive Player Of The Year started the most-hyped game of her rookie campaign aggressively and creatively, scoring six of the Sparks’ first 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting. Before the game, Sparks head coach Curt Miller lauded the former Stanford standout as “a sponge” and “an unselfish superstar” who “brings a great lightness” to the team. That was evident in the second quarter. Despite getting into early foul trouble, Brink never lost enthusiasm on the bench — giddily jumping and screaming to celebrate a deep Jackson three. Dearica Hamby’s 18 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists led LA, but Brink and Jackson were right behind her. Brink posted career-highs in points (15) and rebounds (nine), tacking on two blocks and two steals for good measure, and Jackson was often the glue that held a fickle Sparks offense together, scoring a career-high 16 off the bench.
— Women’s Hoops Network (@WomensHoops_USA) May 25, 2024
The Sparks controlled the first half, taking a 45-34 lead into the locker room. Clark failed to hit any of her first-half three-point attempts, as she was guarded tough by All-Star Layshia Clarendon and 2023 No. 10 overall pick Zia Cooke, but the Fever flipped the script with an 11-0 run to open the third quarter. Metaphorically, oxygen disappeared in Crypto.com Arena every time Clark pulled up from deep, and in its place floated a palpable desperation to witness what Clark developed into a pop cultural phenomenon during a record-obliterating Iowa Hawkeyes tenure. Brink, meanwhile, sat idle on the bench for most of the third quarter due to four personal fouls.
A huge swath of the second half felt, in some abstract way, emblematic of all the W’s minted stars paving the way for Brink, Clark, and Jackson to relish a culmination.
Fever 2023 No. 1 overall pick Aliyah Boston and 31-year-old center Temi Fagbenle had their best outings of the young season with 17 points apiece, generating chemistry with Clark, who finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, and four steals. For the Sparks, Dearica Hamby — an All-Star, WNBA champion, and Sixth Woman Of The Year — led the way with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists. Indiana 2018 No. 2 overall pick Kelsey Mitchell boosted the Fever’s comeback with nine-straight points in a fourth quarter that featured one tie and three lead changes.
Then, it finally happened. Clark swished a 33-foot three, and pandemonium erupted. A sigh of relief, a promise fulfilled. Clark emphatically high-fived a courtside Ashton Kutcher, whom she described to Uproxx after the game as “a fellow Hawkeye [who] has been very supportive of me” and “was encouraging me the whole game.” Brink wasn’t interested in Clark’s Hollywood ending, however, recapturing her early rhythm to dominate the final quarter with nine points, three rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one blocked Clark shot. Clark got the last laugh, for now, burying an ice-cold dagger from 29 feet out with 40 seconds left to put the Fever up 76-71 — one possession after a Brink three-pointer pulled the Sparks closer — and introduced her expressive, unbridled cockiness to the W.
“I feel like I’ve felt pretty comfortable over the course of the last three or four [games], just playing with a different energy about myself and confidence,” Clark told Uproxx. “Just trying to remind myself it’s not all about the scoring, it’s not all about the shots going in. How can I impact the game in other ways?”
In LA on Friday night, Brink, Clark, and Jackson represented a 2024 draft class already impacting the game in innumerable ways. They embodied hope, oozed charisma, and showed they’re among the best in the world at what they do.
“It’s great for our game — not only this rookie class, but a lot of new eyes [are] on some of the superstars of our game that should be known worldwide and now are getting even more exposure,” Sparks head coach Curt Miller said, later adding, “I’ll paraphrase Candace Parker: Time will tell the story. They don’t have to shout out their own stories. Time will tell.”
It’s a patronizing trope to characterize women in this league as anything other than world-class competitors, so, yes, the bottom line is the Fever won, and Sparks lost.
But is that really why anyone loves sports?
Why the likes of Cheryl Miller, Jason Sudeikis, Aubrey Plaza, Christen Press, Tobin Heath, Klay Thompson, and DeMar DeRozan were the most famous of the entranced and invested?
“Was that cool?” Kunis asked Wyatt, left in the trail of Clark’s pixie dust.
“Nights like tonight just remind me of why I love playing basketball and why I started playing basketball because you get a win, and then you walk off the floor, [and] there’s so many young kids just screaming your name and love getting to watch you,” Clark said. “I think it’s the little things that remind me every single day why I do this.”
This was a special night because it was the first; it mattered because it’s the start of a boundless future full of life-changing little moments.
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