$710.96... The price of freedom.
Posted on 07/02/2004 1:12:39 PM PDT by Cracker72
I'll probably never hear the end of this, but I'm going to say it anyway.
I went to a WNBA game and had a great time.
There. It's out in the open. Now let me explain.
Going to a professional women's game is far different from watching the Blazers play.
The tickets start at $8 and you can sit courtside for $32, far less than the $1,800 for a seat to watch the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
The crowd is friendly.
If you've been to an NBA game recently, you know what I'm talking about. People reach their seats for the first time a couple minutes before halftime and spend the rest of the game chatting loudly on their cell phones.
If you would have offered me my choice of comped WNBA tickets or a free pair of electric nose hair clippers a couple weeks ago, I would have spent Sunday night trimming my nostril hairs. But my opinion has changed since covering Sunday's WNBA game in Sacramento.
The typical WNBA fan fits into one of four general categories.
One, the younger fan. Children love the game. They can sit close, yell and scream and jump around for free t-shirts being tossed into the crowd. They love the Monarchs' mascot, which for some unknown reason is a roller skating alien/hippopotamus.
Two, the parent. Each of those kids is at the game with mom or dad, or a friend's parent. They are the ones who shell out six bucks for a bag of peanuts or eight for one of those oversized "we're number one" foam fingers.
Three, the same-sex couple. While I'd always heard the WNBA was huge with the lesbian crowd it wasn't confirmed until I sat in my seat during halftime and watched.
At a Blazers game, the crowd greets each other with a nod or a handshake. The WNBA crowd hugs and blows kisses. A little distracting at first, but I got used to it quickly.
Last is the general fan. They cheer after a good play and aren't afraid to get after the refs. They have tickets to see the Kings and the Monarchs play.
The WNBA is struggling right now. Attendance is down in most cities, but there is hope.
In Sacramento, the Kings owners, the Maloof family, also own the Monarchs.
They require all Kings employees to stick around for the WNBA season, which is a good thing.
The result is a fun atmosphere at WNBA games with plenty of things going on to keep fans busy through the dead period during timeouts and commercials.
The Portland Fire folded because the team didn't have enough fan support. Now I know why.
Instead of running the league with WNBA people, the teams need to follow the Kings lead and give games the feel of the NBA.
The Monarchs did several interesting things, starting with having Ruthie Bolton and Nikki McCray, players from the competing teams, combine to harmonize on the national anthem.
Wouldn't it have been fun to hear Rasheed Wallace and Isaiah Rider team up for the anthem, or maybe more fittingly, their own karaoke version of "Because I Got High."
The WNBA uses a smaller orange and white striped ball. The NBA should take note and use their red, white and blue ball a couple times a year too.
Kayte Christensen, who graduated from Modoc High School in Alturas, is holding her own with the Phoenix Mercury.
She plays hard on the court and works full-time when not on the hardwood.
I believe young girls need more role models and the WNBA is a great place where they can be found.
Just don't be afraid to go to a game. You might end up going back, and that's just what the league needs right now.
The WNBA would have been out of business after the first game if not for massive millions in donations (thats what they really are) from the NBA.
Shouldn't that read between timeouts and commercials?
The Utah Starzz are gone and nobody misses them. More than once I heard comments on the radio to the effect that parents were horrified when they discovered the stands full of lesbians acting out, and they would never go to one of those events again.
Is anything worse than the WNBA?
No.
Yeah. Young girls surrounded by carpet-munching wimmin watching carpet- munching wimmin playing B-Ball. That's the role models I'm sure all moms and dads want for their daughters. This reporter's beeber is stuned.
FMCDH(BITS)
Ya know ... it used to be an every man's fantasy sort of thing. But I went to one of these games up in Charlotte and my fantasy was ruined. There were a whole lot of crop haired t-shirt and blue jeans wearing gals (term used loosely) running around up there with biker boots or cowboy boots and gold chains. They were sort of, how should I say it ... ultra Butch? Is that okay? Anyways ... someone is exactly right, the WNBA plays good sound fudemental basketball but it really does appear to be a league dedicated to lesbians. They will survive because they have the financial backing from advertisers and the nice TV contracts - and they play good basketball quite frankly. Plus they play on the local stars. If you'll notice they draft within their regions for the most part keeping the homegrown talent at home. Very savvy of them.
I think the women are talking about going on strike next year.
Promise? Let 'em
"Is anything worse than the WNBA?"
Synchronized swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, and maybe root canals.
I attended several games of the San Jose Lasers, led by Stanford All-American Jennifer Azzi. I met with one of the VPs of the league about a promotion idea that I had, but when the league started leaking cash (greatly due to the fact that the first WNBA season was looming), the person who took that VP's place wanted extras I couldn't deliver.
As long as the game is competitive, and there isn't a vast difference in the level of play between the two teams involved, I am not bored. The quality of play is the level of a fair-to-good boys' high school league (more bricks than you would like to see, more dribbles off the foot, no elevation whatsoever) but they don't charge much for the games, and the ladies play hard. For example: a guard named Debbie Black (5'3") once had a quadruple double -- double-figures in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. I don't believe a male pro has ever done that.
There were indeed a lot of lesbians at the games, but they weren't mostly "lipstick lesbians" -- they were the obese "earth mother" types, with the short, graying hair, t-shirts, and Birkenstocks.
$710.96... The price of freedom.
"At least the WNBA seems to play some pretty fundamental basketball. "
I agree, and I'd like to see more of that in the NBA and NCAA. But I don't believe that just playing good fundamentals makes a team entertaining or competetive. Am I alone in the belief that the WNBA is probably on par with a decent HS boys program?
"I think the women are talking about going on strike next year."
And if they do, what are the odds that no one notices?
Probably like watching a bad mens college game.
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