PSA From the Coalition of Ethical Haters
With the college season underway, the Coalition of Ethical Haters wants to remind you to hate responsibly.
Greetings and happy Thanksgiving family.
It is I, the chief elder in the council of hate here with a friendly reminder as this college season gets underway.
Right now, it appears we are in a year of extreme parity where anyone can contend for a title and the hoops fan in me is giddy.
As new teams emerge as threats and contenders, that means new storylines and absolute cinema across the board. This is exactly what we as fans should want following the increase in interest after a very polarizing, but entertaining, WNBA season.
I come to you, dear reader, with a plea as we embark on a new journey this season managing good basketball with all the hoes watching; please hate ethically.
Rivalries and agendas are good and necessary and can push the game forward when deployed responsibly. What I'm seeing right now that concerns me is reckless and baseless hate that comes when an agenda was made just for the sake of making one. It's led to some really silly arguments that are actually putting a damper on what we're seeing on the court so far.
This is primarily sparked by the discussions people have been having about Juju Watkins. Juju and her new look USC Trojans are trying to find their way and get into a groove as most teams with multiple high caliber weapons struggle to do out the gate. USC losing to Notre Dame is not a death note on Juju’s career and instead should be used to highlight JuJu’s peer Hannah Hidalgo and her backcourt mate Olivia Miles.
There's been a gross overreaction because many, myself included, have proclaimed that Judea Watkins is the next big thing. To be abundantly clear, this take is absolutely true as seen in the stars she's brought out SINCE HIGHSCHOOL and the celebrity status she's already reached as just a sophomore in college. Now reader, that does not mean Juju is without flaws and those flaws can't be discussed, but I need you to ask yourself what is the end game to nitpicking a 19-year-old’s still developing skill set? I already saw her put up 51 against a talented Stanford team on the road and lead her hometown program to an absolute resurgence after decades of dormancy. She has proven herself already early on and has earned time to take that next leap in the developmental phase of her young career.
This plea is primarily directed towards Caitlin Clark fans, many of whom I proudly shared space in the trenches with this past summer as our fav killed the noise and racked up accomplishments. Juju vs. Caitlin arguments are disingenuous and pretty silly. Be the bigger person and ignore those bad faith arguments at least until JuJu becomes a Valkyrie in 2028 (👁️). Then we can get a more accurate read on the type of player we're comparing to her and can go from there.
“But Chauny, you've been on Paige Bueckers’ neck for months, how can you tell us to chill out?”
Excellent question reader, I'm glad you asked. The answer is simple; Paige is 28. No but in all seriousness, Paige and Caitlin are peers in terms of age and there was discussion about who would go #1 in the draft before Paige announced she was returning to UConn for another year.
I think we also need to review what ethical hate is and what all that entails. Ethical hate is letting people know up front where you stand so if they choose to engage that's on them. Basically a heads up that this argument isn't being made in the the best faith so proceed with caution.
What makes it ethical in the information used to form your arguments. It's rooted in facts and data and not based on projections about their overall character personal life. Again, I am self-aware enough to remember I made the tweet that said “Don't fact check me baby I'm hatin,” BUT you cannot go off the deep end and just start saying whatever.
Me saying Paige is 31-years-old is a very clear and obvious exaggeration and when everyone takes into consideration I'm a hater and have an agenda, you can take what I'm saying with a grain of salt or completely dismiss it all together. You have the information you need to know how serious to take what I'm saying. However, arguing that Juju doesn't have star power when Snoop Dogg literally just showed up to her game wearing a custom sweatsuit with her name, image and likeness on it just doesn't make sense and reeks of unethical hate. There needs to be a consistency of logic when hating, otherwise your hate unravels at the slightest touch and you just look silly.
But back to Paige…
Mariah Rose just dropped a TikTok on the lore of Paige Buckets saying “she was Caitlin Clark before Caitlin Clark was Caitlin Clark” and while that's true in terms of hype that's still crazy to even say in a video that has nothing to do with Caitlin. Then there's the nemesis in my head, Luigi Auriemma, bringing Caitlin up in podcasts and making what I interpreted as backhanded critiques on her game. Checks have been written on behalf of Paige Buckets and she's old enough to cash them now if she's everything everyone is saying she is. She is the presumed #1 lock in this year's upcoming draft and should be fine handling the on court expectations set by her predecessor. What I'm doing is merely going through my checklist of things said on her behalf by various parties on public platforms and making sure it wasn't a lie.
And reader I’d also like to point out I am a master multitasker, so I can carry out this ethical hate mission while still promoting and appreciating good hoops. I'm built different, basically.
We can have a good time, get our hate on, but do it ethically and keep the fun going!
I co-sign asking my fellow Caitlin fans to stfu about Juju! We don’t want to be like those bitter UConn fans (who I cannot believe are complaining about ethical hating after all the non ethical hating they’ve done over the year)