Holdsclaw retires

Rebecca Lobo was the other test rat for the WNBA.
I wonder if you went up to an average person on the street, how many current OR past WNBA players could they name? My guess would be 2.
And I bet one of these names would be of that pair:
Lisa Leslie. Rebecca Lobo. Andrea Stinson. Nancy Lieberman. Sue Bird. Diana Taurasi. Sheryl Swoopes.

 

Taurasi's a fucking bitch.

The WNBA is never going to be mainstream, and that's OK. There's nothing wrong with it. It's a niche sport with a certain group of devoted fans.

Let's face it. Most sports fans in this country are men, and men tend to only be interested in female athletes if they think they're hot. And even then, that's not enough to move a sport out of the niche area.

Parker could easily become a marketing machine and she could be plastered all over magazines and TV in ads, and that's not really gonna change how people view the WNBA. There will be assholes rooting for its demise, and it still won't appeal to most people.

 

Though I'm guessing they probably wouldn't get the correct team.

It's too bad injuries quickly took a toll on Jackie Stiles, she might have helped the league's profile.

Is Tamecka Dixon still in the league? Last I checked, she was still with the Sparks, but it's been a while.

 

You forgot Playboy-featured Lauren Jackson. HTH.

 

Does anyone think the NBA is going to let its sister league hemmorhage money for another decade?

They gave it a try. It's not working...

By comparison, the MLS has consistently made progress. Do you think anyone is saying the same thing about the WNBA?

 

Wow, why the hate for Diana? Yeah, she's a bit cocky. But she's very media friendly and has a great personality. I'll take that any day of the week.

As for Chamique, my first thought was depression too, but after reading a couple of stories in the LA papers, it doesn't seem that's the case. Whatever the reason is, I think it's sad. She had the potential to be one of the best players in the league but never really seemed into it. She'd go out every night, drop 16 and 7 and feel like she'd done her job. But it never seemed like she had the passion of a Taurasi or Sue Bird.

 

Lobo's problem was that she simply wasn't that good. She had size and some skill, but she was really slow.

 

I'll give you that. But the point is, all of these players were supposed to be dominant players and, more importantly, crossover personalities. Have any of them done so? No. We heard 10 years ago how Madison Avenue was knocking on the WNBA's door -- we got next! -- but has that happened? No.

I do not hate women's basketball or the WNBA. I just have realized, as sc pointed out, that the league never will come remotely close to being a top-tier sports league.

 

Some sports just do not look good on TV when women play them, and some sports do not look good on TV when men play them.

Basketball and soccer look better on TV when they are played by men. The game looks too slow on TV when women play it. In person, the game speed looks fine. I have no problem watching any women's sport in person.

Tennis and volleyball look much better on TV when played by women then if men are playing. The speed of volleyball is too fast when men play it. Tennis was ruined by the high tech rackets. I cannot stand serve and hit it into the net tennis. Give me a rally once in a while, boys.

Golf is pretty much the same. The men might be slightly better to watch.

This all said, the WNBA will never succeed like the men do on TV. It is built to fail no matter who is playing.

 

People won't watch women play basketball in the winter (outside areas where the team is good), and they're scarcely interested any other time of the year.

Women's basketball might become like soccer, a sport a lot of people play when they're kids, then give up when they hit a certain age (whatever that is) and never look back.

 

Nail on the head.

The WNBA's dismal and dropping attendance numbers show that there are obviously plenty female sports fans who have rejected it, not just men.

I don't personally root for the WNBA to fail, but it is clear that without the NBA's largesse, it would already be dead. The large-scale support just isn't there. And there is little reason to believe - unlike MLS, for instance - that there are events and signings on the horizon that will lead to a steady growth.

 

MLS is a good comparison, since the leagues started within a year or two of one another.