Stacey Dales provides much-needed logic to ESPN's Caitlin Clark coverage, dismantles race-baiter on set

On this episode of Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich, we expose ESPN’s broken, narrative-driven coverage of Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark as the fading network hypocritically sabotages the WNBA's most popular asset.

On Thursday, we explained how ESPN has failed to represent more than one side of the Caitlin Clark discourse, acting as if its coverage is indicative of the consensus opinion. Since Clark's debut in the WNBA in 2024, ESPN has often prioritized discussions about identity politics over the product on the court.

That was evident when the network chose David Dennis Jr. to fill in for Stephen A. Smith this week on "First Take." Dennis claimed with a straight face that Clark isn't even "one of" the top guards in the WNBA and that players punching her in the throat are simply playing basketball.

For background, ESPN hired Dennis in 2021, marketing him in part as the son of a civil rights activist. As an ESPN employee, his greatest hits include calling Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle ad "mortifying" and a form of "eugenics." He argued that White people have a "moral obligation" to defend Black people, even when Black people wrong them. He also wrote a hit piece the day Hulk Hogan died, urging Americans to remember him "only as a racist." He, of course, offered no such moral accounting when writing about Kobe Bryant's legacy.

ESPN'S COVERAGE OF CAITLIN CLARK IS A RACIALLY CHARGED, DISHONEST, AND EMBARRASSING MESS | BOBBY BURACK

As revealing as it is that ESPN employs someone like Dennis, it's just as telling that the network has rarely offered viewers an informed counterweight when discussing Clark.

To its credit, the network finally did on Friday.

NFL sideline reporter Stacey Dales stands on the field after an NFL