The WNBA is going into their 20th season. With some help from the NBA, and a lot of political correctness, the league has reached a milestone that a male league with the same popularity would be very lucky to come close to. I remember the league's first game. It had been preceded by an ambitious promotional campaign. We were having a cookout on that day. We started off watching the game. There were about 4 or 5 of us, and after the others went out, I was the last one there actually watching the game. We had some excitement about it before the game started, but that was gone before halftime. The New York Liberty beat the Los Angeles Sparks that day, and the WNBA was off, and running, or maybe crawling.
The more I watched the WNBA the more it became obvious just how much different the women's game is from the men's. It goes well beyond the fact that they don't dunk, at least not very often. The game is played slow motion compared to the men's game. The passing, running, and dribbling are all done so slowly. They don't jump nearly as high. That makes the rebounding, layups, and blocked shots far entertaining. That doesn't even get to the dunking. Brittney Griner gets so much hype for doing dunks that would be shitty if an NBA player that height performed them. There is also this idea that women's players are better fundamentally, but how true is that? They shoot comparable percentages from the line, but with a smaller ball on the same size basket. They turn the ball over at a higher rate. The stats aren't that way, because the defense is better. Of course female tennis players aren't as good as the men, but at least they are stars, and they draw. The WNBA can't make the same argument. The league gets low ratings on television, their players aren't stars, and interest in the league in general is very low. Still the league gets major league treatment. They are on ESPN a whole lot. WNBA highlights are regularly shown on Sportscenter, and they play in big arenas.
I've had an idea for a big game. What about the U.S. Oympic Women's basketball team play the winning team of the boys McDonald's high school All American game. The idea would never work, but whatever. The boys team would win if it did happen.
