The Narrative Around LSU vs UCLA
posted by Trevor Lloyd | April 8, 2024 | In SportsIf you are a fan of women’s college basketball, you were in for a treat with University of California-Los Angeles’s match up against last year’s champions Louisiana State University. The winner would get the honor to advance to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament while the loser has to pack up and try again next year.
The matchup was everything you could want in a basketball game with LSU coming away with a 78-69 win thanks to Flau’jae Johnson and Angel Reese’s strong offensive showings. The game went down to the wire between the two amazing programs. Both teams should be beyond proud of the game they played.
However, the focus instead of being on the game has been put on an article that came out before the game. The article in question is called “UCLA-LSU is America Sweethearts vs it’s Basketball Villains” by Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times, who has come under quite a bit of fire from basketball fans, LSU’s head coach Kim Mulkey and her players. The article was called out by many for what many felt were racist and sexist undertones, and inappropriate language directed at LSU. In the article, Bolch asks who the reader would prefer to win between Milk and Cookies (UCLA) or Louisiana Hot Sauce (LSU). More controversy came from Bolch calling UCLA “America’s sweethearts” while referring to LSU as “dirty debutants.”
These along with jabs at Mulkey and Reese were also in the article saying the way the two conduct themselves are dividing the game.
Coach Mulkey took offense to her players being talked about in that light and made it known in her post-game interview saying “They called us dirty debutants. Take your phone out right now and Google dirty debutantes and tell me what it says. And if you don’t think that sexism then you’re in denial.”
After the backlash, the LA Times came out and removed parts of the article that contained offensive language and added a disclaimer.
The disclaimer says that: “The original version of this commentary did not meet Times editorial standards. It has been edited to remove language that was inappropriate and offensive. We apologize to the LSU basketball program.” Bolch has also printed an apology under the newly edited article.
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