“But sometimes you just want to live a normal life.” Angel Reese was quite clear on her wish after having known the dark side of popularity. It might be their rookie year in the W, but the Sky No. 5 and Caitlin Clark have already established what their historic rivalry can do. Their stats speak for themselves and fans love comparing them to each other. It’s a fact that both players have brought more attention than ever before to women’s basketball. But at the same time, while the players are not directly involved, fans on each side throwing vitriol at each other has caused harm. But a gymnastics star from Reese’s alma mater has a possible solution.
In a recent conversation on ‘Best of Both Worlds with Flau’jae’, Olivia Dunne addressed how she deals with online and offline haters. As Johnson iterated how hard it is for student-athletes to handle studies, sports, and endorsements at the same time, Dunne agreed. “With people and trolls online, even the art of like trying to stay silent during certain things, saying one wrong thing can ruin the business,” the gymnast said.
Dunne continues, “Just being able to keep your cool and composure, that’s an art. That’s something we need to do because we’re representing LSU and that’s hard.” Johnson agreed soundly, “You know how many times I wanna crash out on the internet, or I done typing something in my drafts and had to delete.”
Especially as NIL earners, brand endorsements bring in more attention to athletes, which sometimes takes away from what they’re trying to promote at the primary level: the joy of sports. On a podcast episode from about two weeks ago, Angel Reese had explicitly spoken about receiving extreme hate comments. While the Fever rookie is adept at staying silent and not giving more power to the rumors, the Sky star has addressed some of the unwarranted hate and anger thrown her way.
“My Twitter fingers are crazy. But I can’t press send…sometimes you need to learn to just zip it,” Dunne finishes her statement. Well, if trolls can easily say something, anything, from behind their screens, so can the people their comments are directed at. But given the large stage they stand on, as Dunne asserts, the “art” of staying silent comes in.
While neither Johnson nor Dunne specifically mentions the Reese/ Clark rivalry, the LSU players’ advice could be taken by the pros as well. Interestingly, at one point in time, Flau’Jae Johnson and Angel Reese used to combat this criticism together as LSU teammates. But not anymore.
“We aren’t as close…”: Flau’Jae Johnson speaks on Angel Reese relationship
They say college friends last a lifetime, but it’s not always true. Certainly the case of Angel Reese and Flau’Jae Johnson is proof, two women who used to be teammates on the LSU Tigers once upon a time. “Yeah, me and Angel, we aren’t as close as we used to be,”Johnson told The Post. “But I still support her 1000 percent. I was proud of her, just being in the W[NBA] and breaking records.”
Reese has a similar sentiment, who said on her podcast, “I still support Flau’jae. We aren’t as close as we used to be. And there’s no hard feelings or anything, but we aren’t as close as we used to be….You don’t have the best relationships with everybody and don’t always continue relationships with people. So I wish her the best always, and I’m always gonna support her… but yeah, there’s no love lost.”
The Chicago Sky forward clarified that there is ‘no love lost’ between the two, and Reese even sent good wishes to Johnson when it was announced that she would perform at the ESPYs this year. It might not be long before Johnson joins her former teammate as a pro in the W, or she might choose her singing career over basketball. Either way, though they may not talk to each other every day, Reese and Johnson will be supporting each other from afar! As for the fans, maybe not getting too involved in the rivalry of it all but supporting the sport would be the best thing.
