I've been a Storm fan since moving here from yooper land. While the other teams, with the exception of the Mariners, have left me a little cold, I've had no problem being an unabashed follower of the Storm.
Yet any in the sports world are apathetic towards women's sports that don't feature bikinis (I'm talking to you, beach volleyball fans.) I find this a bit hypocritical.
In general, people have told me they don't like the WNBA because the talent level is lower than the NBA. That it's not real basketball. For a while, I accepted this. Then I stopped to think about it.
Lauren Jackson and Diana Taurasi aren't any less talented than any good NBAer. They just can't be as athletic( I may be using this term loosely) as top level male athletes. This would still be a reason not to watch the WNBA over the NBA. Then the same people who said they didn't like the WNBA were telling me they liked high school sports, because they were 'pure'.
Now, I'm pretty sure that even the Chicago Sky could beat the best men's high school basketball team in the country. I also think that most of the time, high school basketball games can be kind of painful to watch, if you're only interested in the height of athletic prowess. But it made me think that there may be more to it than just a lack of athleticism.
As for purity of the sport, Lauren Jackson is the only athlete I can think of that said they wouldn't play in another city if their team got moved. That's so pure, it's For Love of the Game like.
No, I think that the reason is much more sad. Keep in mind that I'm talking in generalities here, but in general, your average male sports fan uses professional sports as the last refuge of his 'maleness'. I mean that in the 1950's kind of way. Someone doesn't play well, say they play like a girl, or better yet, call them gay. It's really just as easy to get behind a WNBA team as it is any other local team. But that would be womanly or gay.
It might, might, be time to grow up.
Hi.
I love you.
Posted by: Kisa | September 08, 2006 at 08:46 PM