Amid Caitlin Clark’s extended injury absence from the Indiana Fever, at least one media pundit has suggested the team is better without the superstar.

ESPN’s Carolyn Peck said on the network on Thursday that Indiana is a “more dangerous” team without Clark on the floor.

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“I think that Indiana is even more dangerous when Caitlin Clark doesn’t play, because she’s a ball-dominant guard,” she said. “The ball’s in her hands a lot, so you know what you need to try to take away. But when you look at Indiana now, they’ve got so many weapons.” 

Peck gave specific praise to Fever players Kelsey Mitchell, Aari McDonald and Aliyah Boston. Peck did not appear to give praise to Fever stars Sophie Cunningham or Lexie Hull.

“When you have a point guard like Kelsey Mitchell, and Aari McDonald making plays on the perimeter, and a post like Aliyah Boston, I’m gonna tell you: Indiana, they are a threat. And it’s specifically on the defensive end,” Peck said.

Peck’s comments went viral on social media, inciting the wrath of Clark’s loyal supporters.

Barstool founder Dave Portnoy reposted the clip of Peck’s comments on X, writing, “I knew this was gonna happen.”

The popular sports commentary X account “BricksCenter” also shared the clip, writing, “Their hatred toward CC needs to be studied.”

Hundreds of smaller accounts made their criticisms of Peck’s analysis known.

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Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) plays against the Dallas Wings in the second half of a WNBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024.  (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

“ESPN would be a lot more ‘dangerous’ without Carolyn Peck,” one user wrote.

Another user wrote, “All of Peck’s takes on CC last year ended being wrong and I don’t expect anything different from this season.”

One user even went so far as to say, “ESPN analyst Carolyn Peck is a hater and a fool.”

Peck was the women’s basketball head coach at Purdue when current Fever head coach Stephanie White was a player there. Together, they won the NCAA title in 1999.

Clark has missed the team’s last four games with a groin injury and will miss a fifth on Saturday against the LA Sparks. She previously missed five games with a quad injury.

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From left, Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell (0), guard Lexie Hull, guard Sophie Cunningham and forward Aliyah Boston (7) huddle during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Seattle Storm, Tuesday, June 24, 2025, in Seattle.  (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

With Clark, Indiana is 5–4, averaging an 85.0 offensive rating.

Without Clark, the team is 5–4 with an average 80.2 offensive rating.

In games she has played, Clark is averaging 18.2 points, 8.9 assists and 5.9 turnovers.

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A group of Indiana Fever faithful are taking action against a shared annoyance.

Fever fan Josh McNattin started a petition asking the team to address a “distinct and persistent voice” that bleeds into television broadcasts of the team’s home games. “During every Fever home game, a distinct and persistent voice, believed to be from a fan seated close to the scorer’s table, can be heard loudly and frequently throughout the entire game,” McNattin writes on the petition’s webpage. “While we celebrate the passion of all fans, this particular sound consistently overpowers other audio elements, including the commentary and ambient crowd noise. As a result, it can detract from the viewing experience for many fans watching from home or streaming online.”

At the time of writing, over 200 fans have signed the petition. According to a report by Dana Hunsinger Benbow in the Indianapolis Star, Pacers Sports & Entertainment, the Fever’s owner, did not respond to a request for comment about the matter.

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Overeager fans making their way onto live sports broadcasts are nothing new, but considering the Fever’s popularity it seems like something the team, or league, should address. 41 of 44 Fever games this season will be nationally broadcast thanks to the team’s ascendance under Caitlin Clark. If viewers continue to tune in and hear this “distinct and persistent voice” during every broadcast, it could lead to certain fans tuning out.

A solution should be rather simple. Either move some microphones away from the fan in question, or tell him/her to stop.

McNattin hopes the solution comes from a rejiggering of the audio equipment. He lists several potential remedies in his petition including “adjusting microphone placement or polar patterns near the scorer’s table to limit crowd bleed, using directional mics or acoustic baffles to reduce unwanted vocal pickup, employing EQ filters or ducking algorithms during broadcasts to minimize overpowering frequencies, [and/or] adding more balanced ambient crowd mics from multiple zones of the arena.”

Hopefully, for the sake of Fever fans everywhere, something is done to address this matter.