Yep...hard to believe it has been almost 8 years! For those of you that don't like/watch the WNBA. Think of it this way. There are a lot of girls that do like it. Maybe your wife, daughter or niece. Think about them. One day they might want to participate in sports and it would be nice to have a women's sport they can participate/watch; soccer, bball, softball, gymnastic...etc... It's not fair to compare it to the NBA. It's just different. Just like Women's NCAA Baskbetall is differnt than Men's NCAA Basketbal. As GATOR said, any team sport can look beautiful when it's run properly. I watch it because I support the Comets and because I'm a basketball junkie. ----- WNBA.COM Media Guide: On April 24, 1996, women's basketball announced "We Got Next" as the NBA Board of Governors approved the concept of a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) to begin play in June 1997. Since that day in 1996 there have been many firsts for the WNBA: Val Ackerman the first president of the WNBA; Sheryl Swoopes the first player signed to the WNBA; Cynthia Cooper the league first Most Valuable Player; the Houston Comets the first WNBA Champions; Lisa Leslie the first WNBA player to dunk. However, the very first for the league was a to-do list. With less than 15 months to tipoff, a league of its own began to unfold for the WNBA as each task was completed. The history of the WNBA follows: On the Air . . . Before a player was signed or a staff member was in place, the league announced its broadcast partnerships with NBC, ESPN and Lifetime Television. It was decided that the WNBA season would be played in the summer when the sports calendar was less crowded and the games could be televised live. During a successful inaugural season, more than 50 million viewers watched WNBA games on the three networks. ESPN2 joined NBC and ESPN to televise WNBA games beginning in 2001 and carried live coverage of the WNBA Draft. Lifetime, which had carried games during the first four seasons, continued as a partner through 2002, presenting Players Journal, a weekly half-hour magazine show highlighting the on and off-court lives of the leagues players and coaches. Oxygen Media signed on to televise WNBA games in 2002, and ABC Sports became a new partner through a six-year agreement that extended the WNBAs national television coverage through 2008, its 12th season. Telemundo, the fastest growing Spanish language television network in the U.S., and NBA TV, the leagues 24-hour television network, also joined ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and Oxygen in carrying WNBA games beginning with the 2003 season. WNBA games and programming reached the largest global audience since the leagues inception in 2003, with WNBA content broadcast to 183 countries in 26 languages. The league delivers an audience unique in sports. In-arena, gender breakdown is approximately 80-20 female-male. The TV audience is about 50-50 female-male, with a strong percentage of non-adult viewers. The Players and the Teams . . . The first of the player signings was announced on October 23, 1996, with Sheryl Swoopes and Rebecca Lobo joining the league. The duo was soon followed by Lisa Leslie, Ruthie Bolton, Cynthia Cooper, Michele Timms (the first international player) and many more WNBA hopefuls. Eight teams were announced for the leagues inaugural season. The Eastern Conference consisted of the Charlotte Sting, Cleveland Rockers, Houston Comets and New York Liberty while the Western Conference was comprised of the Los Angeles Sparks, Phoenix Mercury, Sacramento Monarchs and Utah Starzz. http://www.wnba.com/media/comets/04mediaguide_78-80.pdf (PDF file; not html).
they could pick the 12 worst players in the nba, not just the worst team, and it would be a slaughter. they could pick virtually any D1 college team and it would be horrible (i'm sure some of the 317 D1 teams have some really terrible players). and you could definitely pick some good high school teams and beat them (think about the willowridge team with tj, ewing, and that other famous guy who i now forget). i don't think people understand the true disparity in talent and physical abilities we're talking about here. lisa leslie is a huge star and one of the tallest women in the wnba and she's 6'5. cuttino isn't even a tall shooting guard and he's just as tall. anyone know any D1 teams w/o a 6'5 guy? even a team without 2 or 3 6'5 guys? and of course these 6'5 guys would be more coordinated because they would be relatively shorter (relative to their sex at least), they would be stronger, and they would have more athleticism. i know someone like DavidS doesn't really appreciate athleticism but when the women can't get any shots off because they can't create any separation and they're shorter and they're weaker, it would become apparent how great the disparity really is (it's the same for tennis when people wonder if the williams sisters could hang with any respectably ranked man). and this doesn't even get into aspects such as women being inferior ball handlers (i'm not talking AND1 stuff here, just being able to competently make moves off the dribble), not shooting as well, and not being able to post up as well. now could they beat the average weekend warrior? hell yes, but then the best in the world at something should beat the average weekend warrior. i like the comets, watched them quite a bit during the 4 titles (it's still basketball and i watch basketball when it comes on), and still will watch a little if i come across a game now, but it's silly to compare them to men at all.
Sure, athleticism is necessary! As long as that player has some sense of intelligence. This is what makes great players, great. They have BOTH athleticism and BB IQ. I don't know how many times I've told you this. But you continue to forget. I think it's because it would force you to admit that Francis is lacking in the IQ department "just a bit." He'd still be on this team, if he had that part down. So, athleticism at the expense of intelligence, is not acceptable.
francis 4 prez, if you ever get the chance. Go to West Side Tennis Club. Talk to some of the men players; NVE, Mobley, Cassell, Damon Jones, Norris, Wilks, Ellie, etc... Ask them about the pickup games they had vs the Comets. Sure, they beat them most of the time (although, sometime they have co-ed teams). But ask them about guarding Swoops and Thomson. They are not pushovers. Yes, there is a big disparity in speed, quickness and strength between Mobley and Swoops. But, my position is that these women are better than you might think. But don't take my word for it. Ask the men players. Or better yet, join them in a game for 48 minutes.
sorry, cant do that. i cant stand the WNBA. i find it inferior in all aspects and quite possibly the worst thing on television. there. i said it.
Man. I followed Laren Jackson's game since she was 16. How on earth can she pose nude pictures ? Unbelievable. Now I pretty much only watch Jackson vs Lisa Leslie games. Be it Seattle vs LA (can also watch Sue Bird) or Australia vs US.
I don't watch, but it just doesn't interest me...It should, but for some reason, I can't get into it...
