Men can drool over Sophie Cunningham

Caitlin Clark is back but it's far from certain if she can produce real highlight reel stuff again. Her "Fever" played yesterday (Saturday) and won. Beat the New York "Liberty" in fact. But it's just pre-season. 

Surely "CC" has been the catalyst for women's basketball making great strides. Being in the pros might slow down her superstardom. Only the best in the pros. 

I'm wondering if anyone besides me has noticed a change in the "look" of women's basketball. A change from much of its history. Not talking about the style of play. Not talking about sheer entertainment value of the game. I ought to hesitate right now, not go any further with this. My goodness, what exactly is on my mind? 

It's something that could get into a horrible minefield if I seek to elucidate. I'm talking about players' "looks." About the most subjective realm for discussion that you could imagine. I will argue that many years had to pass before the "cute" or feminine girls felt comfortable wrapping their arms around basketball. I would suggest that such girls for a long time considered such sweaty and intense action "unbecoming" for them. They went in other directions. 

Sports was left largely to the girls who might be considered "rough," or perhaps inviting terminology that would make feminists want to strangle me. "Tomboyish?" Or edgier yet, "butch?" But I will argue that my assessment here is totally on the money. And I don't care about anyone's actual "sexual orientation." But I find the "butch" thing to be quite the turnoff. No equivocation IMHO. 

We have learned thanks to Caitlin and others that a girl who is fully attractive by the standards of your typical heterosexual men can play basketball with the best. Struck me as rather a revelation when it sank in. Should we be surprised? Well, probably not. 

Feminists again would want to string me up for talking in terms of "standards of typical heterosexual men." Feminists have to acknowledge that whether they like it or not - they definitely don't like it - heterosexual men have a pretty fixed perspective. We don't like to admit such judgments. Guys my age were coached in the days of Dean Martin and Bob Hope to feel attracted to a certain, ahem, prototype for attractive women. 

Network TV knew what people wanted, knew what men wanted. Go ahead and hurl brickbats. 

I studied a team photo of the Iowa Hawkeye women from this past season and had to note: not a single "butch"-looking woman in the group! 

Girls sports was just starting when I was in high school. I laud the women who were pioneers. They were not the Homecoming royalty type of girls. Today they might well be. Cultural norms are always evolving. We can be supremely happy. But women's basketball has experienced further development over the last approximately three years. If it ever was a sport for the "rough-hewn" girls - terminology again risky - it is not now. 

Sophie is alluring

I consider a teammate of Caitlin Clark's - Sophie Cunningham - to be an incredibly attractive female. Attractive even by the standards of Dean Martin and Bob Hope. I really never thought the day would come. In the past I would have expected such a female to be bowled over by the girls who were more visibly muscle-bound. But no, not only is Sophie Cunningham a superb player, she actually has an "enforcer" role mainly to protect Clark. 

What I write of her is a sea change and I think it's most welcome. 

 

Would Sophie object to my headline for this post? I think not and that's because this "knockout" has no problem putting herself forward as a sex symbol!

 

Celebrate with music! 

Now I'll share with you my lyrics to an original song I wrote, inspired by Ms. Cunningham. I re-purposed an old melody for a song I wrote about baseball player Chico Ruiz. That song I titled "He Stole Home." The new song you see below is titled simply with the player's name: Sophie Cunningham. I frankly think I am in love! Watch Sophie, Caitlin and others over this coming WNBA season. Basketball in summer! And why not?

 

"Sophie Cunningham"

by Brian Williams 

 

Stole my heart

She did and it wasn't close

As she played her game of basketball

With her blond hair bouncing and her smile wide

She has me so enthralled

She can shoot

The lights out with anyone

As her 3's go arcing toward the hoop

She will help the Fever when the game is close

Her talents all turned loose

Side by side

With Caitlin they have no peer

Watch them sprint so fearless on the court

I'd be so wide-eyed if I could play with them

In just a game of "horse"

Women's hoops 

Is fab in the summer months

There's no lock for baseball as the best

How can you beat watching Sophie Cunningham

And Caitlin and the rest?

She turns heads

Arouses a primal flame

On the court and with her podcast too

She is right in league with movie actresses

A full-fledged ingenue

You should know

This player of whom I sing

I'll repeat: it's Sophie Cunningham

You should tune in, watch her shoot and drive the lane

Her presence is so grand

You might think

That Caitlin will steal the show

That's OK, you're not the only one

We still love the Hawkeye who can turn it on

But Sophie is such fun

She was once

A Tiger in college days

Drawing cheers throughout the "show me state"

And she showed Missouri fans just how it's done

To make the Tigers great

Yes I sing

Of Sophie and how she plays

Up and down the hardcourt she just cooks

But I have to say I put her in the class

of Sydney Sweeney's looks

All it takes

Is watching a YouTube short

You will see that Sophie is a queen

And the Fever in their crimson uniforms

Will surely be your team 

 

Sophie in the white version of the Fever uniforms

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - musicstuff54@gmail.com