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What We Talk About When We Talk About Brittney Griner

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Double Down, Mar 19, 2013.

  1. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    No, but I don't work with Colin Cowherd and I'm not the person who started that thread and I'm not the one who glided through everything everyone said here and dismissively chalked it up to "reflexive defensiveness."

    You aren't reading the critiques of the story and you aren't reading the comparables. If anyone in any arena has ever done anything as vile as taunt Steve Kerr about his dad, I have certainly yet to hear it.

    The basis of the story is incredibly weak. Incredibly.
     
  2. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    So online commenters say mean things, people on Twitter say mean things, and fans of opposing teams say mean things during the games?

    That is not "what we talk about when we talk about Brittney Griner." That is what dipshits do to anyone when given an anonymous voice. It has little to nothing to do with how average sports fans react to Griner.
     
  3. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Started prowling around for something else and ended up watching Griner... IJAG is right, she does sound like a man and does nothing to persuade otherwise. Yet, there's no way a Griner goes through four years as the most visible player in WBK as anything but a W...
    She also strikes me as talented but uninspired.
     
  4. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    Double Down and Kate Fagan are trying to make this into a sexist thing, then using examples that prove it's not. It's a Brittney Griner thing. And Griner is a unique case. She's not the next step in the evolution of the women's game. She's not ahead of her time. She's a unique player and person very much of her time, a player who will dominate the game. It's not as though basketball needs more exposure or opportunities, as it did in the Wilt Chamberlain era. Tall girls everywhere, all over the world, are playing basketball. Brittney Griner is taller and more athletic and stronger and better than them.

    No one calls Sylvia Fowles, perhaps the most dominant professional post player in the world, these names. They don't because she's not masculine, at least not in the same way Griner is. She's 6-6 and extremely strong, but she doesn't have the masculine swagger that Griner brings to the table. Griner looks and acts and plays like a man to many of her critics. Why? She's a freak. That's what makes her so good, so dominant. And it's what makes her stand out.

    We don't expect our female stars to be pretty. Lindsay Davenport was beloved compared to her better-looking rivals. Diana Taurasi doesn't exactly bring sexuality but is one of the most popular players in the women's game. Maya Moore is not beautiful in the traditional sense. Griner is at another level, though, in every way. It's what makes her so remarkable on the court.
     
  5. Norrin Radd

    Norrin Radd New Member

    There is a certain amount of irony in this post.

    Or just a lack of self-awareness.
     
  6. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    The whole "we get scared" line is absurd. Scared of what?

    She's a chick who looks and sounds like a dude and can dunk.

    As a male sports fan who appreciates women's sports I'm afraid of what now?

    She'll be the next RGIII in a Subway commercial and who knows how many other commercials.

    Anyway, I'm not even sure what Kate tried to achieve. I'll think about it for a few more minutes while staring at

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  7. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Women's world class track and field, especially the sprinters, is incredible to watch. And nobody lectures me if i miss a meet.
     
  8. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Griner, per the NYT.

    www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/sports/ncaabasketball/brittney-griners-final-season-draws-applause-and-crowds.html?hpw
     
  9. heyabbott

    heyabbott Well-Known Member

    Women's basketball reeks, not because it's a sport played by women, but because the type, style and skill level exhibited.

    I really enjoy watching women's lacrosse and will actually watch it on ESPN when it shows up. Although I'm not a big soccer fan, I find the women's game to be enjoyable. Women's Track & Field is also interesting to watch, volleyball too and not just beach volleyball. Although the the top 10 women's tennis players easily out class the 2nd 10, I'll watch women's tennis.

    Women's basketball is like watching turtles fuck. And it's not just the knowledge that the Connecticut State High School Boys champs could spot Geno's crew 12 points and cover, at the half; Serena couldn't get a set off of any male player in the top 500. The game isn't fun to watch unless you are a friend or family member of a player.

    I don't know why women's basketball is the cause celeb among certain journalists, pick another couple of sports that women play, well, and promote those.
     
  10. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    That's not true. A St. John men's player punched a Notre Dame men's player the other night every bit as viciously. No one noticed.

    I get that Griner's punch is elevated because the Stanford player was looking away when it landed, but I don't think Griner thought that was the case when she wound up.
     
  11. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    I don't know if I "promote" women's basketball but I enjoy watching it.

    Maybe it goes back to me being 6 years old in the '70s and always watching women's games when they were on TV. Maybe it goes back to my teenage days rooting for Cindy Brown and Penny Toler to lead hometown Long Beach State into the Final 4.

    Maybe I just like basketball, men's and women's version.

    I don't see how the women's game is "less than" the men's game. Are the women lesser athletes? Or is the men's game so much faster and high-flying'er that anything less is a letdown in our eyes? How can we possibly expect women ballers to live up to the men's standard?

    Watch an entire women's basketball game. I think you'd be surprised by how fundamentally sound a good number of players are, and then you'll be able to appreciate the UConns and Notre Dames and Baylors a little more. I've watched large chunks of WNBA games the last 5 years, and the last thing I think is "boy, this is shitty" because the action most times is entertaining.

    Still hoping to marry a point guard. Is Diana Taurasi still available?
     
  12. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Hey DD how about a Britney Griner Sports Night parody like you did for Sarah Heath Palin:

     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
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