The Reese/Clark stuff is what it is. Clark doesn't seem bothered by it, so that should probably end the matter. Except that those actions were very much in public and shown on the biggest stage women's basketball has, so it's totally fair to talk about it.
I don't like trash talk - never have - and don't really understand why people do it. But that's just me. I still play tons of basketball with college students and it happens every time I'm on the court, so I get that it's part of the culture for some reason. What's hilarious is that trash talk doesn't really happen elsewhere. Imagine going to work as a bank teller and talking crap to the teller next to you that you're doing a better job than they are. LOL. Anyway, whatever.
I think the interesting question isn't so much about trash talk - it's how far can it go before it actually becomes very unsportsmanlike and, frankly, unacceptable.
A player trash talking during a game is widely considered to be normal and acceptable as part of the game. You make a shot over me, you get to tell me about it. You post me up and dunk over me, you have the right to tell me I'm too small or flex your muscles. You block my shot, you can wag your finger at me.
When the game is over, now we enter different territory. Obviously IMMEDIATELY after the game, it's still kind of in game mode, right? You beat me in a game, and after the last shot goes in, you can yell at me to get off the court. Ok that's fine. But let's say after that, we all head to the water fountain to get a drink. I have to sit and wait a couple of games, while you'll be getting right back on the court to play. We walk over to the fountain, and as I take a drink, you start up with the smack talking again. Now it's no longer in the flow of the game and it's actually like WTF dude, the game is over. Maybe it's still ok because it's "close enough" to the game to be ok? I don't know. Borderline.
But let's say that hoops ends and I run across you on campus later, and you start up again with the smack talking. Then it's like, whoa, wait a minute. What are you doing? At SOME point, it goes from normal, standard, in-the-game stuff that everyone accepts as ok, to being totally unacceptable, right?
Where is that line?
If Reese followed Clark down the tunnel doing that, I think we'd all agree that would be way over the line and wrong under any conditions. Now she didn't do that - that's just a hypothetical. She did do it after the game was over though, right, and purposefully walked over to Clark to put that in her face. If Clark wasn't bothered by it, that's good, but it's still worthwhile to talk about because it could be offensive to many other people. Not that this is the same thing, but using a derogatory or racist term may actually not offend the person you're directing it at, but that doesn't make it okay, and others within earshot may be gravely offended. There were more people "involved" than just Reese and Clark.
So this isn't me saying Reese was wrong, or that she was right. But even within a sports culture that accepts trash talking, there's SOME place where a person could cross the line and move into unacceptable territory. I'm just wondering where it is.
By the way, what's annoying to me is that I didn't get to see the game - I was on the road at the time - so I didn't see how amazing LSU played. Looking at the box score, and seeing some highlights, it looks like they shot the lights out, and they should be commended for their superlative run. I wish I could have seen the game. But the two things I've heard most about the game are the terrible reffing job and the Reese thing. Which is unfortunate, because the focus should be on the game itself.
But since I didn't see the game and THIS is what I've heard most about, it's what I'm commenting on. But congrats to LSU for an amazing championship run. Not a huge Mulkey fan, but she did an amazing job and the players crushed it all tournament long. They were awesome.