This Week's Sports Hero & Zero: Caitlin Clark and a ... Dead Moose?

by Julian Spivey

Hero

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Who else could be the sports hero of the week besides University of Iowa women’s basketball superstar Caitlin Clark? Not only is Clark the sports hero of the week but she’s arguably the biggest story in every sport at the moment. On Sunday, March 3, Clark surpassed college basketball legend Pete Maravich for the most points scored in NCAA Division I history by a male or female player when she surpassed “Pistol Pete” and his 3,667 points on senior day at Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. Just a few weeks ago, Clark surpassed University of Connecticut legend and current WNBA star Kelsey Plum for the most points scored in women’s Division I basketball history. Next year Clark will join Plum in the WNBA having announced her intention to declare for the draft and could likely be the No. 1 overall pick by the Indiana Fever. I know there are some key differences between Clark and Maravich’s paths to the all-time leading scorer in college basketball history with Clark playing in more games and Maravich having played before the creation of the three-point line in college basketball. Still, I’m already tired of folks acting like Clark’s feat isn’t incredible. We shouldn’t fault athletes for the eras they play in. Clark has done wonders for women’s basketball. Sunday’s game in which she passed Maravich on the all-time list was the most-watched regular season women’s college basketball game since 1999. Here’s hoping Clark can do for the WNBA what she’s done for college basketball. 

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Zero

Well, Moose you done fucked up. And now you’re dead. I don’t mean to make light of the death of one of the North’s most majestic creatures and the injury to a sled dog in the Iditarod sled dog race in Alaska but the news of five-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey having to shoot and kill a moose before having to stop his competition to gut the moose due to race rules made me realize this has to be one of the wackiest rules of any sporting event on the face of the earth. The incident took place about 100 miles from the race’s start in Willow, Alaska.
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Iditarod race officials announced on Monday, March 4, that Seavey was forced to shoot and kill a moose to protect himself and his dogs when said moose became entangled with the racer and his dogs during the race – this is something that has happened multiple times over the years at the event. So, much so that what to do upon the killing of a moose is covered in the event’s rules. Rule 34 addresses the potential killing of “edible big game animals,” including moose, caribou and buffalo, in the course of the race. The rule states: “Following teams must help gut the animal when possible. No teams may pass until the animal has been gutted and the musher killing the animal has proceeded.”

Race marshal Warren Pelfrey said in a statement on Monday, “We are making sure that every attempt is made to utilize and salvage the moose meat.”

Seavey was able to continue with the event following the gutting of the moose, however, one of his dogs, Faloo, was injured in the moose encounter and had to be flown to Anchorage where he was reported to be in critical condition on Tuesday, March 5, after undergoing surgery.

For not only losing his life but also severely injuring a dog, causing a delay in Seavey’s trek and exposing me to the wackiest sporting event rule I’ll probably ever hear of this random dead Alaskan moose is my sports zero of the week.