Everyone Trash Talks-A Defense of Angel Reese

By Sedric Granger
In the waning minutes of the NCAA Women’s National Championship between the Louisiana
State (LSU) Tigers and the Iowa Hawkeyes, LSU Forward Angel Reese took time to celebrate
the Tigers’ 102-85 victory through various celebrations and some trash talk. Two of the gestures
included Reese pointing at her ring finger (implying that she would soon have a championship
ring) and the mimicking of the “you can’t see me” celebration that both Iowa’s Caitlin Clark
gave to Louisville in the Elite Eight and WWE’s John Cena gave to many of his opponents.
These celebrations set the sports media world ablaze with many people calling Reese classless
for her actions.

The pushback that Reese received included not only average joes on twitter but also some
verified profiles such as iHeartMedia’s Keith Olbermann who described her as a “f****** idiot.”
Although many influential people such as Stephen A. Smith and Shaquille O’Neal came out to
defend Reese, the LSU star had to primarily advocate for her own individuality amid an
avalanche of slander.

“All year, I was critiqued for who I was. I don’t fit in the box that y’all want me to be in,” Reese
said after the win over Iowa. “Y’all say that I am too hood. Y’all say that I am too ghetto. Y’all
told me that all year. But when other people do it, you all don’t say anything.”

Angel Reese is originally from Baltimore, Maryland and chose to attend University of Maryland
in 2020. After averaging 17.8 points-per-game and 10.6 rebounds-per-game in her sophomore
year as a Terrapin, she decided to transfer to Louisiana State University (LSU). As a Tiger, she
became a record-setter in the 2022-2023 season, breaking the NCAA record for most
double-doubles in a season with 34. Off the court, Reese has established a phenomenal brand for
herself, earning the highest NIL valuation of any NCAA Women’s Basketball player at 1.3
million dollars.

Although some describe Reese’s actions as taunting, she is not in the wrong for doing a little bit
of trash talk.

When it comes to athletics, there is a highly competitive nature to it all. There is a copious
amount of trash talk that happens between players whether it is football, basketball, baseball,
softball, hockey, or any other sport. In addition, with there being many ways in which players
find their edge in a game, it is plausible that Reese had a back and forth with Iowa players
throughout the game in order to maintain a mental advantage over her opponents. After the Final
Four games, the story of the night was not how LSU defeated Virginia Tech but was instead
about how Caitlin Clark propelled Iowa to an upset win over the top ranked South Carolina
Gamecocks. Naturally, LSU coach Kim Mulkey leveraged that attention that Clark was getting to
drive her players, who were overlooked by the media, to greatness. The pure joy of overcoming
the people who doubted that Reese and her team could defeat the favored Iowa Hawkeyes gave
the LSU forward every reason to celebrate the accomplishment.

There have been multiple occasions in which athletes have received positive reception after an
outburst of celebration that could be classified as “taunting.” For example, in the 2014 NFC
Championship, Seattle Seahawks Cornerback Richard Sherman belittled his opponent Michael
Crabtree to a national audience in a postgame interview with Fox Sports Reporter Erin Andrews.
Aside from 49ers fans, many people applauded Sherman for his confidence. Likewise, Iowa’s
Caitlin Clark had her fair share of celebratory moves. As stated earlier, the hawkeye guard
celebrated her dominant performance against Louisville in the Elite Eight with a “you can’t see
me” celebration, making a hand gesture in front of her face. In addition, as the Final Four game
between Iowa and South Carolina was coming to a close, Clark waved off Gamecock players on
the perimeter, refusing to defend them since they were having a rough shooting night. In
response to these actions, Clark received a lot of praise without the mass array of media hatred.
If Sherman and Clark can do these things, why can’t Reese?

Furthermore, one of the troubling tendencies in sports media is for people, specifically men, to
coddle female athletes. Reese, Clark, and other women athletes have been on both sides of trash
talk for decades.

“We are all competitive. We all show our emotions in a different way. Angel is a tremendous
player. I have nothing but respect for her,” said Clark in a press conference after the National
Championship. “Men have always had trash talk. You should be able to play with emotion.
That’s how every girl should continue to play.”

It is about time people give Angel Reese and the LSU Tigers the credit they deserve for winning
the title as opposed to trying to drive up controversy on a minute detail of the game.