Great moment in women's sports soiled by patronizing criticism and congratulations

This is a column by Shireen Ahmed, who writes opinion for CBC Sports.  For more information about  CBC's Opinion section , please see the  FAQ .

There is no doubt the NCAA women's basketball tournament was a success. The championship game, featuring Louisiana State University versus the University of Iowa, was the most-watched college women's basketball game in history with nearly 10 million viewers.

Yes, the men played too, but truthfully I didn't make it through their final. As a dear friend noted, there was no drama. I don't mean drama in an insidious manner. I mean it as a way to increase the hype. Discourse around women's sports and gender equity and race really culminate on platforms such as women's basketball. It is arguably one of the most racialized American college sports. 

The NCAA Women's National Championship's 9.9 million viewers are more than:<br><br>▪️ Any Women's CBB game ever <br>▪️ Any MLS game ever<br>▪️ Any Stanley Cup game since 1973<br>▪️ The 2023 Orange Bowl<br>▪️ The 2023 Sugar Bowl<br>▪️ 2023 Thursday Night Football<br>▪️ The 2021 NBA Finals<br>▪️ The 2020… <a href="https://t.co/X6MGXYkflQ">pic.twitter.com/X6MGXYkflQ</a>

The game, which LSU won 102-85, featured two of the best players in the NCAA — LSU's Angel Reese and Iowa's Caitlin Clark. Much of the post-game attention centred on Reese's taunting of Clark, which both players dismissed as just part of the game and something men do all the time.

In attendance at the game in Dallas was U.S. First Lady Jill Biden, who was so moved by her first NCAA women's final that she later declared she would like to have Iowa's team also come to the White House in what is historically just a visit for the winning team. This is not only