When a high-profile athlete has gone out of her way to project brashness, playing the victim is inevitably going to fall flat.
On Monday night, LSU Tigers star forward Angel Reese became emotional and adopted a tone of self-pity at a press conference following her team’s 94-87 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Tuesday on FS1’s “Speak,” sports analyst and former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho criticized Reese for her outburst, rightly insisting that if she wants to be a self-styled “villain,” then “post-game when you take a ‘L’ you just gotta take it on the chin.”
Indeed, Acho had good reason for criticizing the LSU player.
In a 66-second clip of the press conference, posted to the social media platform X, Reese used the first-person “I” 21 times while asking for sympathy.
“I just try to stand strong, like, I’ve been through so much, I’ve seen so much, I’ve been attacked so many times,” she said.
“Death threats, I’ve been sexualized, I’ve been threatened, I’ve been so many things and I’ve stood strong every single time, and I just try to stand strong for my teammates because I don’t want them to see me down and like, not be there for them,” she added.
She even dabbed her eye with a tissue.
“I’m still human,” she said. “Like, all of this has happened since I won the national championship. And I said the other day I [haven’t been] happy since then.”
She went on to say that she would change nothing and that she remains “unapologetically me.”
“I just try to stay strong… I’ve been attacked so many times. Death threats, I’ve been sexualized, I’ve been threatened… I’m still human. All this has happened since I won the national championship & I haven’t been happy since then.”
– Angel Reesepic.twitter.com/fIvQWtefnx
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 2, 2024
Acho, who played two seasons with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, has given some thought to the problems of race in the U.S. He’s even written books on it: “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man” published in 2020 (based on an online video series), and “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy: Racism, Injustice and How You Can Be a Change Maker” published in 2021.
In 2022, he published a third book, “Illogical: Saying Yes to a Life Without Limits.”
He said he had no problem with Reese’s on-court brashness or her play.
“Shout out to you,” he said. “Because you were the second-best basketball player on the court, and it was not close.”
Reese overcame a brief, in-game injury to score 17 points and grab 20 rebounds. Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark, meanwhile, dished out 12 assists and scored 41 points, including nine 3-pointers.
“Outside of Caitlin Clark, it was you — 17 and 20,” Acho said. “Dawg! Showed up. Biggest game, second biggest game of your career. Absolute dawg.”
And that should have been the story: Two of women’s college basketball’s best and most visible players performing at a high level in an epic rematch of the 2023 national championship game, which ended in a 102-85 LSU victory.
Since that championship game, Reese has maintained a high profile that included a Sports Illustrated cover and an appearance in that magazine’s legendary swimsuit issue.
On the court, she has made headlines for taunting, hair-pulling and using props to draw attention to herself.
After Monday’s loss, however, Reese abandoned her self-styled “villain” image in a quest for sympathy. And that was too much for Acho.
Do you agree with him?
“But you can’t, under any circumstance, go to the podium, and now try to ask for individuals to give you sympathy. No one has sympathy for the villain,” the former linebacker said.
“You painted the bullseye on your back. Why are you surprised when people shoot at you?” he added.
Readers may view Acho’s full comments below.
Black women have historically been the most marginalized group in America, but I’m going to give a gender neutral and racially indifferent take on Angel Reese:
“In sports, you can’t act like the big bad wolf, then cry like courage the cowardly dog.” pic.twitter.com/aUtxZ7JHk4
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) April 2, 2024
Sadly, Acho had to preface his comments with a warning that he intended a “gender-neutral, racially indifferent take.”
Reese is black, and Clark is white. In 2024, of course, that means that someone must inject skin color into the conversation.
Clay Travis of Outkick credited Acho for not being that someone.
“This is good take from Acho. A non-identity politics sports take on Angel Reese. This is what all sports analysis should be, honestly. It’s what we all grew up with in the 1980’s, 1990’s and most of the 2000’s until social media arrived,” Travis wrote in a social media post.
This is good take from Acho. A non-identity politics sports take on Angel Reese. This is what all sports analysis should be, honestly. It’s what we all grew up with in the 1980’s, 1990’s and most of the 2000’s until social media arrived: pic.twitter.com/cSGQ67D0Le
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 3, 2024
As a Mediaite noted, however, an online mob blasted Acho’s comments. Several X users — the kind of woke nincompoops that infect every facet of contemporary culture — in fact, deemed gender-neutral and racially indifferent commentary impossible.
And they call other people “sexists” and “racists.”
The bottom line is that Acho had it right.
Of course, Reese should not have to endure threats of any kind. And in light of broader concerns about mental health, no one should dismiss her confession of perpetual unhappiness.
One wonders, however, if she has thought about the connection between her unhappiness and her focus on herself.
Unfortunately, too many young people seem to think that being “unapologetically me” is a good thing.
