My wife is not into watching sports on television. I know this because I watch it constantly and when I look over to the other end of the couch, no one is there except my beagles and one of my cats who thinks he’s a beagle. Last night was different. When I looked over during the LSU/Iowa March Madness game, there was my wife. It was appointment viewing for her and she watched the entire game. She’s part of a trend, one that sports fans can feel and that’s backed up by the numbers. Women’s sports are finally starting to get their due. You can hear it on local sports talk radio shows. You can watch it on lead stories on Sportscenter. And you can see it in an increasing number of television commercials. Monday night’s March Madness games felt like they represented yet another surge of interest in women’s sports, and they lived up to the hype. The women’s NCAA Tournament had center stage. The stars, and the games, delivered in a big way. “There were plenty of people at a movie theater in central Iowa on Monday night, though very few of them were watching an actual movie. They were there to see Caitlin Clark. And they weren’t alone. Not even close. Millions of people … tuned in across America to watch a doubleheader of women’s basketball that captivated fans like perhaps never before. Clark and Iowa, in a national-title-game rematch against Angel Reese and LSU in one game; Paige Bueckers and perennial power UConn against freshman sensation JuJu Watkins and Southern California in the other.”

+ With the increased visibility comes some of the darker aspects of sports fanaticism. Sports is a microcosm of society, and sometimes that’s not good thing. ‘Attacked, death threats, sexualized’: Angel Reese speaks out on pressure of fame.