A superstar can elevate a sport.

Like Tiger Woods did to the game of golf nearly 30 years ago.

Or what  Hall of Famers like Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus did before him.

Michael Jordan always comes to mind when you are talking about the Greatest of All Time (GOAT).

A true superstar is usually good for a sport.

A case in point is the newly invigorated interest in women’s basketball after the career Caitlin Clark had at Iowa, and is beginning in the WNBA.

But some of the video clips I’ve seen and some of the stuff I’ve read about her treatment in the pro league is astonishing to say the least.

In a recent game between Clark’s Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky, Chicago’s Chennedy Carter knocked Clark down and completely out of bounds while the ball was not even in play. It was a flagrant foul away from the ball and the foul was committed with malice, since the ball was not even in bounds.

No technical foul was called. No free shots. Nothing.

This all came after Clark was called a dirty word as well.

When Carter went back to her bench she was hugged and praised for knocking the rookie phenom to the floor.

She was hugged by Angel Reese who later planted an elbow into Clark while uttering a slur. She celebrated the Carter cheap shot.

Carter was not ejected for the incident that was later upgraded to a Flagrant 1.

That is the latest in a string of incidents with opposing players apparently trying to injure the new league darling.

Somewhere the rule of law needs to  be enforced in the WNBA or someone could get hurt – and not in the course of a game, but intentionally and with animosity and hate.