Gregg Doyel, a longtime sportswriter with the Indy Star, has been suspended for two weeks and will not cover any Indiana Fever games this season after his press conference incident with Caitlin Clark, according to a report from Bob Kravitz.
Kravitz, a former writer at the Indy Star himself, broke the news on his Substack on Tuesday. Doyel has not published a column since April 29, despite the Pacers being in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Doyel would not comment on the incident or related suspension when reached by Kravitz for comment. He is expected to return to work on Monday, May 13.
Doyel’s discipline stems from Clark’s introductory press conference with the Fever on April 17. During the press conference, he began a question by giving Clark her patented heart gesture. When Clark asked if Doyel liked her well-known hand signal, Doyel replied with “Start doing it with me and we’ll get along just fine,” which led to an uncomfortable look by Clark.
Reporter: đŤś
Caitlin Clark: “You like that?”
Reporter: “I like that you’re here.”
Caitlin: “Yeah, I do that at my family after every game.â
Reporter: “Start doing it to me and we’ll get along just fine.”
Doyel was widely criticized in the media for his strange encounter with Clark, so it should come as no surprise that he has been disciplined for his antics.
Getting to the foul line is a key part of Caitlin Clark's offensive bag, which sometimes leads to the rookie superstar embellishing contact from defenders in order to secure a foul call from officials.
Clark was awarded a foul during Monday's tilt between the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun after officials deemed that DiJonai Carrington reached in while trying to steal the ball.
Carrington clearly did not agree with the assessment from the referees, and she made clear that she felt Clark had flopped on the play. After hearing the whistle sound and the official call her number for a foul, Carrington comically mimed Clark's flopping antics.
Carrington appeared to bump Clark while she tried to drive to the basket, which is what prompted the whistle from the referee. That didn't sit well with Carrington, who indicated to the official that Clark had sold the contact with a flop.
Ultimately, it was Carrington and the Sun who got the last laugh. They picked up an 89â72 victory on their home court, marking the third time this season they've beaten Indiana. Clark was a game-worst -30 and had just 10 points on the night while Carrington led all scorers with 22 points.
1. You rarely see Stephen A. Smith left speechless, but that was the case on Monday morningâs episode of First Take thanks to panelist Monica McNutt.
After a discussion on Chennedy Carterâs cheap shot foul on Caitlin Clark that was the talk of the sports world over the weekend, Smith tried to take credit for his show giving extensive coverage to the WNBA.
McNutt, however, was not having it.
âWho talks about the WNBA, who talks about womenâs sports more than First Take,â asked Stephen A.
McNutt was not having the revisionist history.
âStephen A., respectfully, with your platform you couldâve been doing this three years ago if you wanted to,â replied McNutt.
This left Smith stunned and all he could muster was a pair of back-to-back âwows.â
A little back-and-forth followed:
McNutt: âYou know youâre my guyâŚâ
Smith: âWho does more than us?â
McNutt: âStephen A., Iâm talking to you. Donât do that. Iâm talking to you about the power than you have.â
Smith: âOK, OK. I got it. Youâre my girl, but you missed a lot episodes of First Take. You missed a lot.â
McNutt: âStephen A., three years ago you would not talk about the WNBA at this level. Donât do that.â
Itâs one thing for McNutt to disagree with Stephen A., but after he challenged her, she doubled down and didnât back down. That was impressive.
Sadly, moderator Molly Qerim cut off the discussion, which couldâve been riveting television of McNutt and Smith continued to argue over First Takeâs coverage of the WNBA.
I donât want to paint the media with one brush, but as someone who covers this stuff, Iâd say 99% of sprots media, including First Take, did not cover the WNBA the way theyâre covering it now. And even now, theyâre not covering the WNBA.
Theyâre covering Caitlin Clark.
2. I donât follow the WNBA, so I donât know what the unwritten rules are or what protocol is for something like this. However, if Iâm just comparing it to the NBA game, what I donât understand about the foul that Chennedy Carter committed against Caitlin Clark is how none of Clarkâs Fever teammates went after Carter and just let her get away with the cheap shot.
It's also good to see the refs in the WNBA are just as incompetent as the refs in all the other sports by calling this a common foul. (It got changed to a Flagrant-1 the following day.)
3. Since there has been a massive amount of coverage regarding the future of Inside the NBA over the past few weeks (especially in this column), I thought this nugget was worth sharing.
Last Thursday, more people watched Inside the NBA on TNT (2.8 million) after the Mavericks eliminated the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals than Game 5 of the Panthers-Rangers Eastern Conference Finals game on ESPN (2.1 million).
Mavericks/Timberwolves game 5: 6.3 million (6.148m on TNT, 114K on truTV)
Inside the NBA (11:01-11:53P): 2.8m
Panthers/Rangers on ESPN: 2.1m
College Softball World Series on ESPN2:
Oklahoma St/Florida: 783K Stanford/Texas: 697K
â Sports TV Ratings (@SportsTVRatings) May 31, 2024
4. As proven here by Clemson, all of baseball needs more attempts at the hidden ball trick.
5. It has to be demoralizing for a hometown team when the fans in the stands are rooting for the opponent. Look at what took place in the San Francisco Giantsâ ballpark on Sunday when New York Yankees slugger Juan Soto hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the 9th.
Look at all the Yankee fans stand up when Juan Soto made contact.
â Joe Randazzo đđđ (@LibrarianJoe_) June 3, 2024
6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with Charles Barkley.
The Inside the NBA host discusses the possibility of TNT losing the NBA in the current television rights negotiations, his frustration with the lack of communication from Warner Brothers Discovery about the negotiations, whether the show could continue on another network, reaction from fans to the possible end of Inside the NBA, the awkwardness of still having to work next season for TNT if it loses the NBA beginning in the 2025â26 season, and the lack of loyalty from the NBA and what would make him decide between ESPN, NBC and Amazon if he became a free agent.
Barkley also goes off on CNN for never telling him that his show with Gayle King, King Charles, was canceled, he explains what could make him be the subject of a comedy roast, who the two nicest GOATS are in sports, the Lakers saying that LeBron James doesn't have a say in their coaching search and the reaction to his recent Caitlin Clark rant.
Following Barkley, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins me for the weekly âTraina Thoughtsâ segment. This week's topics include the passing of Bill Walton, Ăngel HernĂĄndez's retirement from Major League Baseball, the mystery behind the Dov Kleiman Twitter account and the latest story about a restaurant charging for a ridiculous service.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Since hard fouls against Caitlin Clark are all the rage these days, letâs take a look at some of the hardest fouls in NBA history.
Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark's omission from the Team USA basketball roster for the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris left fans outraged and many questioning the reason why she was snubbed.
According to a report from Christine Brennan of USA TODAY, there were concerns within Team USA of how Clark's millions of fans would "react to what would likely be limited playing time on a stacked roster."
The Team USA roster is loaded without a doubt, but Clark's presence, even on the end of the bench, would certainly drive marketing around the premier worldwide sporting event,
Instead, Clark will be at home this summer, enjoying a mid-season Olympic break from the WNBA to rest up and root for the players who did make the roster.
Clark tied a career-high with 30 points in Friday night's victory over the win-less Washington Mystics. In her first WNBA season, she is averaging 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists on 37.3% shooting from the floor.
The Fever take the court again on Monday against the Connecticut Sun, looking to capture their fourth win of the season.
