Lebron vs. The WNBA

[EGarrett]

In this story from ESPN Page 2, Michelle Pressman basically admits what the majority of the sportsworld seems to be thinking. The WNBA isn't succeeding because women's basketball is boring.

With the exception of claiming that Kareem's sky hook was an "amazing physical feat"...I think her article makes a lot of good points. There are many women's sports that are as entertaining as their male counterparts...some even more so (women's tennis). In the case of basketball though, athleticism and size play such a big part in the spectacle of the game that for the average viewer, women just can't provide an entertaining product. Interestingly enough, even the speed of the game is greatly decreased. Great ballhandling, crossovers, and other such ground-based trickery seem to be non-existent also. With the exception of Chamique Holdsclaw and a few other players, the game really is just pass, pass, and a set-shot or layup.

Granted of course, there will always be basketball purists who claim that the women's game is entertaining because it's the way basketball is supposed to be played. That includes more than a few people on this board. But, I really doubt that even those people who say that would subject themselves to the pain of attending a WNBA game. I personally have watched a few games, but only because there was no other basketball on. I'd have switched to a boy's high school game in a second.

So, does everyone pretty much agree with this article's assessment? Elitism and grandstanding aside...does anyone actually, really, truly enjoying sitting through entire women's basketball games?

And while I'm on a roll...let me ask another question. I remember hearing once that the WNBA teams...the best women's basketball players in the world...are only on about the level of a top high school boys team? So who would in a game...the Los Angeles Sparks or Lebron James' St. Vincent St. Mary's team from this past year? Talk to me people.

[air gordon]

i can't even sit through wnba 'highlights', if thats what you call them, on ESPN.

but i would watch the final 2 minutes of the women's NCAA final if the game was close

the only women's sporting event i would actually sit entirely through is a tennis match involving the williams sisters, capriati, hingis, and/or that hottie from russia with mediocre tennis skills.

volleyball and swimming i could watch for a little bit. any other sporting event would be watched only if some hottie was in it (yeah so what if i'm a perv lol, you all prolly would watch nude cayaking)

i don't watch enough wnnnnnba or Ljames team play enough to make a fair assessment

[rUsTy]

yeah tell em to nude it up during games and they'll get more people interested

[EGarrett]

Anyone read to the end? What about St. Vincent-St. Mary vs. The Los Angeles Sparks? Personally I think it would SV-SM 80, Sparks 66

[Andrew]

It's hard to respond to the topic without sounding like a chauvanist. I'll give it a shot though.

As much as fundamentally sound players are important to team success and should be coveted by coaches and GMs alike, fans are excited by incredible feats - slam dunks, fancy passes, impossible shots - we consider these highlights, and we expect to be entertained as much as we expect a good game of basketball to be played.

Back at the 1998 All-Star game, the first year of 2-Ball and the first year since 1984 that the All-Star Weekend didn't feature the dunk contest, the commentators were all plugging 2-Ball and talking up the problems with the dunk contest, that it didn't showcase true basketball skill, that it was boring. Cheryl Miller confidently announced "Forget the dunk contest, 2-Ball is here to stay!"

So here it is, the year 2003, 2-Ball is gone and the dunk contest is back. This year's contest was one of the best in recent years, and arguably one of the best in history, brief as it was. 2-Ball showed the fundamentals of basketball: passing, shooting, rebounding missed shots. The problem is, that won't translate into a sideshow; you can see all of that in a regular game of basketball.

The dunk contest takes away all of the other elements of basketball, relaxes rules on dribbling violations, and shows a player's creativity and athletic ability. Perhaps it's not a showcase of players who are fundamentally sound, but it's fun to watch.

Even when you put everything else back into the game, and the slam dunk exists as part of the game of basketball instead of its own sideshow, it's still an exciting display. Dunks are extremely rare (to say the least) in the WNBA - as far as I know, Lisa Leslie is the only WNBA player to dunk in a game. With the highlight reels the NBA produces, it's difficult to sell basketball fans on WNBA highlights. Poor form, worshipping flair over fundamentals? Maybe, maybe not, but definitely the way things are.

On a more basic level, it's difficult for men to enjoy or truly appreciate women's sports. The sports-crazed father wants his sports-crazed son to grow up to be the next Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant or Tim Duncan, not the next Lisa Leslie. Since professional athletes are always going to become role models, boys are going to look to male athletes as role models.

I also pretty much agree with the article. I've never sat through an entire women's hoops game, be it WNBA or Australia's WNBL. Not because I'm sexist, simply because I don't find them as entertaining. I'm a fan of basketball, but one who has been raised on dunks. Dunks have become an icon of the game - in pretty much every non-basketball TV show or movie that makes reference to or features basketball in some way, nearly all of them identify the dunk as a part of basketball.

So I disagree with the notion of sexism playing a major role here - simply, people are free to choose what they like about sports. Most people prefer the style of the men's game, that's all. No chauvanistic feelings, just difference in taste.

[Nel]

Poor Will Never Be Accepted. Unless TYRA BANKS play in the WNBA.

[airtsinelas]

Unless TYRA BANKS play in the WNBA.

hahahah lol probably you'll see C-Webb whinning again regarding that.

Yeah, i think the WNBA helps Womens hoops but it is really boring to watch. I didnt even mind watching the All-Star Game, well except some games of the Finals.

[alexboom]

just to say that even if women don't dunk and don't jump as high as men, when I see WNBA highlights I say whaw they WANT the ball doing everything to give the ball to their team, running through the 4 sides of the floor. they don't hesitate to throw themselves on the ball, I think they play even harder than men (they give more on the court)

And I like the way women shoot. not sexual content, but women shots have got a little special thing, all the more as if you leave one alone, it's swish and I like to see actions finishing by a shoot on open spot.

[Rens]

hehe alex, you watch WNBA highlights?

[bballer22]

i think that womens basketball is maybe 40 years behind mens... if u look closly u see that they play the same type of ball men did bak in the 50's. as u all said pass, screen, husle ets. i gues its kinda same if u ask urself if TV broke an the light went out would u read a book??

if there is a high flying mens game, with power, speed and more, y even bother to watch women??
on the news i saw this woman playing in mens PGA tour! y the F!@#K they let her play. so what if she's fishes above 11 other men. if u want eqal let men play in the womes tornement, (not as thoug any men would want to)
but as Lesly proofd that their game is evolving, she was the first to dunk, in a few years there will me more.

and as far as smal dunk contest goes, for once in the nba forget the fundementals and team work, dunk, travel, double dtibble, foul with no call have fun with the basketball!!!!!
P.S i u think the WNBA is bad, watch first 5 min on WNBL, and WNBA will seem like a dream!

[Colin]

but as Lesly proofd that their game is evolving, she was the first to dunk, in a few years there will me more.

A year, or maybe two years, ago there was a women in college that dunked. And it was a much better dunk than Leslie's, a two hander down in the post. I think her name was Michelle Snow, and she plays for a team with orange jerseys, probably tenesse (sp?)