Women's Fastbreak On SI

Dave Portnoy Cooks ESPN Analyst for Fever 'More Dangerous' Without Caitlin Clark Take

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy roasted ESPN's Carolyn Peck with four words after the Indiana Fever's July 5 loss.
Grant Young|
Barstool Sports founder and pizza influencer Dave Portnoy went on a four-shop tour of RI pizza places Thursday and stopped at Francesco's on Hope St. after owner Frank Schiavone got Portnoy's attention with some confident signage.
Barstool Sports founder and pizza influencer Dave Portnoy went on a four-shop tour of RI pizza places Thursday and stopped at Francesco's on Hope St. after owner Frank Schiavone got Portnoy's attention with some confident signage. | Eric Rueb/Providence Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Indiana Fever played two fantastic games of basketball on July 1 and July 3, respectively, when they blew out the Minnesota Lynx and then did the same against the Las Vegas Aces. What was perhaps most impressive about this is that they did so without star guard Caitlin Clark, as Clark is still working her way back to the court with a groin injury.

And this stretch of good play prompted ESPN analyst Carolyn Peck to make a very bold claim, which she said on a July 3 episode of SportsCenter.

"I think that Indiana is even more dangerous when Caitlin Clark doesn't play," Peck said. "Because she's a ball-dominant guard. The ball is in her hands a lot, so you know what you need to try to take away. But when you look at Indiana now, they've got so many weapons.

"When you have a point guard like Kelsey Mitchell, and Aari McDonald making plays on the perimeter, and a post like Aliyah Boston, I'm gonna tell you: Indiana, they are a threat. And it's specifically on the defensive end," Peck added.

This caused a lot of backlash from Clark's fans and the women's basketball community as a whole. And after the Fever lost to the Sparks by a score of 89-87 on July 5 (with no Clark on the court), Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy (who is an unabashed Clark fan) called Peck out for her comment.

"Aging like spoiled milk," Portnoy wrote in a reply to an X post that clipped Peck's comment.

Peck is probably wishing she could take that take back right about now.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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