Posted on 06/21/2011 7:14:45 AM PDT by flowerplough
The WNBA is marking a milestone this week: It will have been in business for 15 years. The league that started in 1997 as a showcase of women's talent in basketball is still making it happen, almost 15 years to the day when the inaugural game happened between the Los Angeles Sparks and The New York Liberty.
Tuesday night the same matchup will occur on the anniversary of the first game between the two teams. Contrary to many predictions, the WNBA outlasted an early rival, endured a struggling economy and overcome many setbacks including low attendance.
The Associated Press reports, "It's a good sound to hear -- 15 years -- because when we first started not too many believed it would remain," said Weatherspoon, who teamed with Rebecca Lobo to lead the Liberty to a 67-57 win over Leslie, Toler and the Sparks in that first game. "Only we did as the athletes. And to hear 15 years is amazing."
Many of the players, including Lisa Leslie, weren't expecting much, thinking it would be a summer league of some sort. They did not know that they would play in the same arenas as male players, using locker rooms used by Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Michael Cooper and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in the case of the Los Angeles Sparks.
(Excerpt) Read more at theroot.com ...
NBA subsidizes the league. If it had to subsist on its own, it would die in a year.
Yes, 15 years and I have yet to watch a game.
The WNBA is a lot like Holland.
The WNBA - Giving lesbians something to do for the last 15 years.
They should make the WNBA teams play top boys’ high school teams using a regulation size basketball. The results would be hilarious.
Attendance peaked in 2002.
Actually it breaks even or is damn near close to.
Care to explain this?
I don’t even watch the NBA - had to check and see what the letters WNBA stood for first.....
The WNBA is best described by the metaphor of the dancing bear—the circus bear that shuffles clumsily for the amusement of the audience.
Such bears, don’t dance well, as everyone at the circus can see. What amazes the crowd is that the bear dances at all.
The WNBA - Giving lesbians something to do for the last 15 years.
No sh*t. We took our (then elementary-aged) girls to a WNBA game and the fans cruising the AT&T Center in San Antonio were just downright scary. One time was all it took.
Can anybody explain to me why one of the sought-after dyke looks is fat, short, hispanic women with droopy drawers, high-and-tight haircuts and gangsta hats? This is apparently attractive to some segment of society?
I’ve noticed that too.
Some, not all, but some, lesbians like that look. It sure seems that many lesbians go out of their way to have a mannish appearance. They are so proud of being women who simply love other women. However, they want to appear to be men.
At first glance, I have made the mistake of thinking that a person was a man, then realized it was simply a mannish appearing female. I guess that makes me a bigot in today’s world. I have to go to re-education camp.
I’ve never even heard anyone talk about a WNBA game.
I once called a Diesel Dyke "Sir." She gave me a bad look as if insulted.
I then told her that since she was trying to look like a man, she had done pretty well and should not be insulted.
She stomped off with nothing to say.
Well its also known as the national lesbian employment act !
Have you ever lived in a town which hosted the women’s college national championship ?
Actually, one of our Olympic teams scrimmaged with a mens team during their training; the team included a former NBA (mens) star. The wimmin lost, but they did well - despite losing nearly every rebound battle.
One guy couldn’t believe that Katrina could fight him out of position. Some of those “girls” are quite strong.
Just for info - - about two years ago, our under-16 national girls team won every one of their international games by an average of 50+ points (I think it was actually 70). This years won everything by a lesser point spread.
Thankfully, no.
Yes, and that inconvenient fact is something the league prefers not to talk about. In its early days, the WNBA was marketed as a “family-friendly” event, with ticket prices well below those of NBA contests. That lasted until families began to complain about all the lesbian “couples” at WNBA games and their public displays of affection.
Traditional families now avoid the league like the plague, and that has created additional problems for the NBA: attendance for the women’s league peaked almost a decade ago (as another poster observed), and the WNBA lacks marketable stars who can boost TV ratings or merchandise sales. And, there’s a very good reason you hear almost nothing about the private lives of WNBA players. Most are lesbians and the NBA knows that’s a huge turn-off for many basketball fans.
Privately, you’ll find a lot of NBA people who wish the league had never started the WNBA. They would have been better off marketing/televising games from the summer developmental league. Viewers might actually tune in for players on the cusp of making it in the NBA, and the league wouldn’t have to worry about a stray camera shot of some lesbian couple making out in the stands.
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