As the college basketball season has come to an end, many are still trying to process the history made on the women’s side as far as interest, television ratings and what it could mean for the sport moving forward. Holly Rowe saw all of it up close and personal working for ESPN and she talked about that experience on her new podcast with her son, Call Your Mom.
Speaking to her son and co-host McKylin, Rowe said, “Our ratings were insane. Women’s March Madness outrated men’s March Madness. Like this is one of the most historical things ever. 18.9 million people watched the women’s NCAA championship game with South Carolina and Iowa. 14 something million watched the men’s game with Purdue and Connecticut. I just never thought I would see this day. I have been covering women’s college basketball for 30 years.”
Holly and McKylin talked about whether or not McKylin’s friends, around 30 years old, were talking about the women’s tournament. He said he knows a topic has become important when people start asking him what his mom thinks about a particular subject and said he has had friends asking what Holly thinks about Caitlin Clark.
“It’s kind of become a national phenomenon, I think,” said Holly. “My very first person I kind of fell in love with as a player was Dawn Staley. When I got out of college, I went to New York City and did an internship at CBS Sports. One of my first jobs was I would have to watch the games back and check off the advertising elements…I started watching Virginia basketball in 1991 or 1992 and I was like ‘I had never seen a woman play like this before’…she blew me away.
“I think I have followed every step in Dawn Staley’s career…so to be able to be there and being the one getting to present the trophy to her. Sometimes it’s all I can do to not get all choked up on the stage. It’s the journey of my basketball loving life and I get to be the one giving her the trophy. It’s just really cool.”
Mother and son also talked about when Staley asked to say something after the trophy presentation and gave a shoutout to Caitlin Clark for the attention she brought to the sport. Holly said she was about to “ugly cry” when that moment happened.
“It was just this really beautiful moment of women who are competing against each other supporting each other in this really beautiful way so that was cool, so cool.”
