[Editor’s note: The following article is from Athlon Sports’ commemorative Caitlin Clark WNBA Rookie of the Year magazine. Order your copy today online or buy it at retail stores and newsstands everywhere.]

It was a beautiful year. Go back to Oct. 15, 2023. The Iowa women’s basketball team hosted DePaul at Kinnick Stadium — a football stadium. It was an exhibition, but what it really was, was the kickoff of a year sports fans don’t see very often. A total of 55,646 fans showed up to see Caitlin Clark at the start of her final year as a Hawkeye. Any normality in Clark’s life was just about over.

The past twelve months, for us as sports fans, is now a bit of a blur. Clark broke too many records to list here, including the all-time major college scoring record — first passing Kelsey Plum, then Pete Maravich. Oh hey, there’s Jason Sudekis at another home game. Look, there’s a NIKE billboard in Iowa City. There’s Clark on the Manningcast. Another award … another buzzer-beater on national TV.

Then on to the NCAA Tournament. Probably the only time in my life that the buzz leading into the women’s tourney was much bigger than the men’s. The biggie, the much-anticipated rematch vs LSU. I was there, in the random location of Albany, N.Y. It felt like a heavyweight title fight. The place was beyond packed. No tickets available. Iowa fans lining the streets. It lived up the hype.

Next up, the WNBA Draft, which quadrupled the ratings of any previous WNBA Draft telecast. You know the rest. The “slow” start with the Indiana Fever — 0-5. The fangs of criticism that came out in May have gone almost silent with the performance of Clark and the Fever since the Olympic break. Rookie of the Year to cap the season and now, a long break. A deserved break. Clark put on one hell of a show the past year, and the three years before that. Speaking for myself and a lot of other sports fans, we got spoiled over the past 12 months. Now it’s on hold for a while.

While I’m sure Clark will be busy with sponsor obligations, appearances, family and friends, we as fans won’t see her on the court until next spring. Which feels odd. She’s been omnipresent the past calendar year, from Iowa to Indy. You didn’t have to search hard for her games or for coverage of her. If you own a phone and have any type of social media, Caitlin coverage was likely delivered to you daily.

All right, now to the not-so-good stuff. You know where I’m going. The coverage of Clark has gone off the rails in some ways. Many sports media outlets have seen the numbers and engagement that any post around Clark gets on social media. I’ve talked to people who work at some of these media outlets, and the directive is clear — you can’t do enough posts on Clark, and mix in Angel Reese for double the engagement. Some outlets have basically concocted stories that aren’t there. Anything to keep the regular social posts coming. Check Facebook, check Twitter; it’s hard to miss.

The byproduct of this is unfair for Clark and other WNBA players. If you look at the responses on these shaky social posts, it’s a lot of the same: They say, “I’m so sick of her,” “Cover someone else,” and so on. These “fans” are getting turned off to Clark and the WNBA. But here’s the thing: It’s the forced coverage they are sick of, not the actual athletes. This has happened to other breakout stars like LeBron James. It happens to teams as well; look at the over-coverage of the Dallas Cowboys or L.A. Lakers. The analytics-based over-coverage makes you dislike the subject — the athlete — instead of the outlet that is delivering it to you.

OK, stepping off my soapbox now. This is the super-positive part. If you are a girl dad, you may know where I’m going. I have two daughters. They started playing organized basketball the same year Clark started at Iowa. Their interest in the sport coincides with her rise as a college star. I can’t tell you how many Iowa games my daughters and I watched in the past four years, and it continued with the Fever. As a dad of a 13- and 15-year-old, they start finding more reasons to NOT hang out with their parents. Basketball, Iowa, Clark and the WNBA have filled a ton of that void. And it’s not just Clark; they love JuJu Watkins … Hannah Hidalgo … they know most of the WNBA players now. Their interest is not limited to one player, it’s growing — but their initial passion for Clark at Iowa set all this in motion.

The best day of the past year, hands down, was driving three hours home in the dark from Albany after taking my daughters to see LSU-Iowa in the NCAA Tourney. This game more than lived up to the gigantic hype, and we were there together to see it. They were out of their minds during the game and dead asleep in the back of my truck on the way home. I, however, was smiling like a goofball in the driver’s seat. You don’t get a ton of days like that with your kids. The entire past year as a sports fan has been a lot of such moments. I’ve been doing this sports thing for a lot of years now, and you think you’ve seen it all. The past year proves that I, we, haven’t … and there’s a lot more on the way.

Paul Pabst is the executive producer of “The Dan Patrick Show,” a nationally syndicated sports talk radio show. He has also worked as a producer at ESPN and CBS News.