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Caitlin Clark’s honeymoon was never going to last.Any athlete this hyped and this adored always gets a comeuppance. It’s happened to LeBron James. It’s happened to Tiger Woods. It’s happened to Peyton Manning.But Clark’s own actions are accelerating hers. The flopping that even a C-list actor would find cringey. The histrionics over calls and the disrespect toward the refs. The indignation over reasonable questions about the health of a player who missed most of last season with a series of injuries.It’s made Clark into the WNBA’s own Rorschach test. Either you think she can do no wrong or you think she’s an entitled brat, and the number of people who don’t hold an opinion seems to be dwindling in what is only her third season.Trash talk is fine. Tantrums are not.Clark is a transcendent player. No one disputes that. Her logo 3s remain worth the price of admission, and her ability to flip a game in an instant makes the Indiana Fever a must-watch whenever they play. If you want to teach a kid how to be a menace to opponents, have them watch a highlight reel of Clark’s passes.This also isn’t a criticism of Clark’s trash talking or pearl clutching because women athletes dare to have the same competitive fire as male athletes. Player beefs, like Clark’s with Tiffany Hayes of the Golden State Valkyries, are part of what make sports so entertaining.It’s the petulance that is turning people off.There’s at least one instance every game that Clark acts as if she’s been shot after pushing off someone else or she drops to the court without ever being touched.Take Thursday night's game at Golden State. Clark was guarding Valkyries forward Cecilia Zandalasini as Zandalasini was dribbling toward the basket. If there was any contact, it was minimal, yet Clark fell backward s if she'd been shoved by one of The Avengers.There’s also at least one instance every game of Clark berating a referee over a call she didn’t get or one she didn't think she deserved to get. She doesn’t even need to be playing to get worked up.Hating on WNBA referees — or officials in any sport, for that matter — might be our national pastime, but there’s a way to do it without oozing condescension. Which is what it is when Clark claps at a ref and tells him or her to open their eyes.Clark also got annoyed earlier this week with questions about being a late scratch with a back injury. Besides it being possible the Fever skirted WNBA rules, Clark’s health is fair game after she missed all but 13 games last season with injuries that were supposedly fine until they weren’t.Fans can be fickle with starsClark is hardly the first superstar to see their shine wear off the more fans get to know them. James has been nicknamed “LeFlop,” and there’s a whole file of memes devoted to the times he’s hunted fouls. There’s a growing chorus of grumbling about the amount of time two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander spends sprawled on the court.Even Victor Wembanyama, who is beloved by pretty much everybody, caught flak for skipping his mandatory media obligations after Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.But Clark carries a burden those other athletes don’t have. She is the face of the WNBA and, to a degree, women’s sports. What she does, how she acts, has an impact both on the current league and the players who will be its future. The last thing anyone needs is for kids learning the game these days to think flopping and whining is the way to go.Especially because Clark so often is in the wrong.Contrary to what the most irrational base of Clark’s fandom believes, she is not being attacked. Opposing players are not going after her because they’re jealous of her. The W is, and always has been, a physical league, and Clark is guarded harder and tighter because she so often has the ball in her hands and because there is no place on the court where she’s not a threat.Besides, Clark is getting calls, more than most players. She's averaging 6.0 free throw attempts a game this season, ninth-highest in the league, according to teamrankings.com. No one else on the Fever is averaging more than 4.9 attempts per game.Not every player has to be liked by everybody. But Clark won over the entire country with the way she played. Now she’s at risk of turning people off for the very same reason. Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
