My friend and colleague Matt — a Cal man — teaches a chess class with another instructor who thinks he knows basketball. That guy says — irrelevant to the chess class — “Who’s the best player in basketball today?”.
He was talking about the NBA, and Matt doesn’t follow the NBA. But he does listen to me go on about the college women’s game, and he blurts: “Caitlin Clark!”
Every kid in the room knew who Caitlin Clark is. If you’ve worked with a large group of children, you know it’s remarkable to get complete name recognition about *anyone*.
A week goes by, and now that guy wants to show off his chess knowledge. He says: “Who’s the current women’s world chess champion?”. (While Matt tells me this story, I say: “Shit, I don’t even know that one.”)
In that chess class, a boy says: “Caitlin Clark!”.