Everyone knows Skip Bayless lives for the Cowboys. However, he bleeds “America’s Team” blue until someone mentions the Indiana Fever. Then, suddenly, Bayless is swooning. Like, full-on heart-eyes. “I look more forward to watching the Indiana Fever than I do my Dallas Cowboys,” the veteran broadcaster said last year. And now, here we are – What began as a contentious game against the Connecticut Sun exploded into a flashpoint, and in the process, the Fever vaulted into a new kind of cultural relevance. The result? Not just Bayless, the entire America might soon prefer Fever over the Cowboys, as per another media personality.

For those unaware, the Fever vs. Sun game was packed with drama that overshadowed Indiana’s strong showing. The drama kicked off in the third quarter when Jacy Sheldon accidentally poked Caitlin Clark in the eye, earning a Flagrant 1. Clark reacted with a shove, which kick-started the big mess. Marina Mabrey rushed into the scene and shoved Clark from behind, sending her crashing to the floor. A full-blown brawl between the two teams unfolded, with Sophie Cunningham going all “enforcer” for Clark later.

What happened after reflected why Colin Cowherd called Clark, “the biggest basketball star in the world not named Lebron and Steph“. Because, how does one argue with the numbers Clark pulled on X the day of that scuffle? Within 24 hours, she was trending big with more than 24000 mentions. And not just her, Cunningham got her own glow up from the likes of Jared Verse and beyond. Throw in the Real Madrid manager, former tennis player Chris Evert, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, CC’s former coach Lisa Bluder – you had everyone from every corner in the world chiming in.

So, what Chad Withrow said definitely makes sense. “Caitlin Clark is a headline grabber and Caitlin Clark hate is its own cottage industry, and we’re seeing that night after night,” he said. And therein lies the #1 factor in surpassing the Cowboys mantle: storytelling.

As Withrow further explained, “The Dallas Cowboys have long been known as America’s team—I’m here to tell you right now, the Indiana Fever are becoming America’s team, for the amount of people shouting from the rooftops in joy that Caitlin Clark fought back, and that Sophie Cunningham, her new teammate, fought back against this.” And here’s the thing – good times or bad times, that name will stick through. After all, it takes just one person to sow the idea, as was the case with the Cowboys.

The Cowboys were dubbed the “America’s Team” following the 1978 Superbowl season by an NFL Films Editor, Bob Ryan. And they lost that time to the Pittsburgh! But as John Facenda narrated in the script penned for him by Ryan, “They appear on television so often that their faces are as familiar to the public as presidents and movie stars; they are the Dallas Cowboys, America’s Team“. That’s exactly the case with Caitlin Clark right now, and subsequently her team.

Despite records like 7-10, the Cowboys have somehow managed to pull in highest viewership numbers. That’s the power of a brand, not the win-loss column. That’s the power of being “America’s Team.” And in the WNBA, that same effect is unfolding in real time. Whether they’re contending or rebuilding, no team drives more buzz, brings in more viewers, or fills more seats than the Indiana Fever.

After all, the Indiana Fever didn’t just join the conversation. They became the first WNBA team ever to cross 1 million followers on a social platform. Between April and July 2024, their content pulled in a mind-blowing 800 million video views – more than any other team in the league and enough to land them in the top 5% of all U.S. sports teams. And one of the best facts? Before Caitlin Clark, many people have admitted that they didn’t even know ION was a channel. But after Clark started lighting it up on ION’s broadcasts, seven of their games averaged over 1 million viewers last year, all of them, not coincidentally, featuring the Fever. Also, Forbes named the Fever the second-most valuable WNBA franchise at $370 million, and more impressively, #1 in league revenue at around $32 million. The reason? Caitlin Clark.

Now, Withrow did say that short bursts of these narratives like the one that emerged with the Sun might be good for the league to capitalize on. Everyone watches when Caitlin Clark says, “I can do whatever the f— I want,” to those being classified as “bullies” on the internet. However, he also said, “what she’s been done to so far has not crossed the line“. And that brings our attention back to Stephanie White’s growing pains.

Caitlin Clark’s coach is not happy with the level of officiating

Stephanie White was clearly frustrated with how things unfolded late in the game against her former team, despite walking away with the win. The loss of Sophie Cunningham in the fourth quarter due to questionable officiating throughout the game didn’t sit well with her.

“It’s exactly what you expect out of fierce competition. So I started talking to the officials in the first quarter, and we knew this was gonna happen. You could tell it was gonna happen. So they gotta get control of it, they gotta be better. They gotta be better. The game is fast now. Things are happening quickly. Everybody’s getting better, except the officials. So we gotta find a way to remedy it,” she said.

A brutal assessment of the current situation. No coach would want their star players like Caitlin Clark to constantly get targeted by the opposition and go unpunished. What’s the point of wearing the “America’s Team” badge, whether that label clings to the Cowboys or the Fever, if the very stars attracting national attention are left exposed to dangerous, executive-ignored aggression? If the league can’t protect them, the label rings hollow and risks unraveling hard-earned momentum.