Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark has been showing more of her personality as the WNBA season progresses, and she recently shared where she gets a lot of her jokes: trick-or-treating.
"When you trick or treat in Des Moines, Iowa, you have to tell a joke to earn your candy," Clark explained after Sunday's 110-109 win over the Wings. "I guess no other place really does that in the country.
"You have to tell a joke. You have to knock on the door and you have to tell a joke to get the candy. I know my mom is a stickler about it. If you don't tell a joke, you don't get any candy. Those poor kids, they know better. So you better have a good joke at Halloween time."
Clark said her mom writes down the jokes kids tell when they knock on her door, and then she shares the list with Clark and her brothers.
"That's where I get most of my jokes," Clark said. "Other than that, I'm just a very sarcastic person."
A question about the origin of CC’s jokes turned into a discussion about how in Des Moines, you have to tell a joke at trick or treat, how she “dominated trick or treat,” the costumes she wore, and how she says “costume:” pic.twitter.com/gHKsllM2xZ
— Chloe Peterson (@chloepeterson67) September 15, 2024
The tradition of telling jokes during trick-or-treating is not very common, and Clark said even her friends at Iowa City thought it was weird. However, she argues that Halloween traditions are weird overall.
"I think it's weird you just knock on somebody's door, in general, and ask them for candy," Clark said. "That's a little strange, but you gotta earn it somehow. I don't know -- that was always a fun part of halloween for myself because you and your friends come up with a list of funny jokes."
Quite on brand for her, Clark also shared how competitive she was when trick-or-treating.
"I didn't really care about the joke. I was too worried getting the full size candy bars and being the first to knock on the door," Clark said. "I know that is super surprising, but I was in a full sweat at trick or treat. I'd come home and I would have to go straight to the shower before I counted my candy because that's all that matters, that I got first.
"I got first every year. The amount of candy I had, I was first at the door, I had the best costume, I had the best joke. I dominated trick or treat."
As for costumes, she said she never dressed up as a basketball player, but some of her best ones included a clown and a blue M&M. However the best costume was one she chose not to share.
"I had a really good costume but I'm going to keep that one to myself," Clark said. "The real people know about my trick-or-treating days, know my one really, really good costume. It would never surprise any of you but, I can't tell you all that."
Other than teaching the world about the Des Moines tradition, Clark made history yet again Sunday as she broke the WNBA's rookie scoring record. She tallied a career-high 35 points to help the Fever clinch the No. 6 seed in the WNBA playoffs. The win against the Wings also helped Indiana register a 20-win season for the first time since 2015.