Inferior product?
But have you ever wondered why it is an inferior product? I know sports are Brian's area of expertize and I know Brian just did a blog on the WNBA vs High School Boys however I'd like to step out and ask this question...about women's sports...why not?
I've scratched my head over this for a while now and one main theme keeps coming up...loyalty. I truly believe that loyalty is the one and only reason the majority of America doesn't watch women's sports. Since the WNBA seems to be the most successful of the female sports I will choose to focus on it. I know there are many others but if women want their sports to get a foothold into mainstream media they'll have to break the ice somewhere and the WNBA is their best shot right now.
This season marks the 15th year of the WNBA. The NBA began in 1946 (thankfully for me the math is simple, 50 years). Men had a 50 year head start on women in the game of basketball. When sports fans talk about who the greatest basketball player of all time is Wilt is automatically not allowed to be in the discussion...why is this? Because Wilt played from 1959 to 1973 against no competition or as Cody would say “a bunch of 5 foot white guys.” This would mean that the NBA was still an inferior product after 15 seasons. So should we expect the WNBA to be as elite as the NBA or should we expect sub par athletes at this stage? “But women's sports are purely fundamental” wasn't the NBA the same way when it first started?
“But men's sports are more aggressive/competitive” This falls back on loyalty. Why are these games more competitive? Because as generations pass their passion to the next they also pass along rivalries and bias towards their team. Do you think the Red Sox look at the Yankees on their schedule and think “hmm just another game” or do you think they are going to play competitive because of all that is at stake for their fans and their team. The same goes for Ohio State v Michigan (the greatest sports rivalry) what do all high stakes competitive games have in common? Loyalty. WNBA hasn't even been around for one generation how can we expect them to be competitive when they have no 3rd generation fans painting their faces and screaming at the top of their lungs?
If people only watched sports because they are competitive and more than fundamentals then why are there clippers fans in L.A.? Wouldn't everyone be Lakers fans? So what separates a clipper from a laker? Loyalty. “But men are better than women at sports” if your argument is that you want to watch only the best of the best then why do the Cavaliers exist? Why do the Browns exist? Why do the Indians exist? If we only watch men's sports over women's because they are 'better' then shouldn't there only be two teams for every sport? The best of the AFC v the best of the NFC and the same goes for the NL and the AL or the West v East. Why are their more than just two teams in professional sports? Loyalty. Fans will go to Cavs games even though they suck...why? Because they are loyal. Every Saturday in the fall the Hiram bleachers have people in them....why? Loyalty.
If we paid the same money and respect to women would their skill increase also? What incentive do women have to become athletes? Nothing in comparison to men.
Are women's sports not on the front page of ESPN because they aren't as popular? Or Are they not as popular because they aren't on the front page of ESPN? Do women not care about sports because it isn't interesting? Or Because they can't relate because they see none of their gender in sports?
People don't follow women's sports because they haven't been around long enough to have loyal fans. And men have already been dominating the sport for half a century before women even entered. To help put into perspective how far behind women are in comparison to men: Billy Graham was two years old when the nineteenth amendment was ratified and it was 6 years before Joe Paterno was born. In other words there are still people alive on earth who were around before women could even vote!
I believe that future generations will look back at the early years of the WNBA and they will think of it the same way our generation thinks of Jackie Robinson. A lot of people were against Jackie playing pro ball but now it is laughable to think of excluding Jackie. Don't you think there will come a time in the future when our grandchildren will think it laughable to not have women's sports? You have a choice right now you can either continue to mock the WNBA or you can help a group of people continue to progress and strive for equality in this country. And that starts with a loyal fan base. I don't know about you guys but I'm going to give the WNBA a fair show this season. As I have mentioned before the period of time between the NBA finals and College Football kick off is the worst time of the year for sports. So consider this my official announcement that I will follow and become a fan of a WNBA team.
Now since the Columbus Quest no longer exists nor do the Cleveland Rockers I guess that leaves me no choice but to become an Indiana Fever fan.So starting from this post on I am officially a Fever fan.
I hope Brian decides to follow also and picks a team from the west so that we can begin to debate and hopefully help this sport in its early stages take flight and be among the ranks of men's sports.Besides lets face it during the summer months we all know any sport is better than baseball.
women's bball is grossssssss
ReplyDelete-the missing d in mdk
I will join you in this fight, and will become a fan of the Los Angeles Sparks so that I may root for the one and only Candice Parker. You have heard me argue for the merits of Parker's ability before, and now I will root for her to bring the Sparks their 4th WNBA championship, and the first since 2002.
ReplyDeleteIf you want a debate about men and women playing sports while looking at the length of time it's been around, consider researching baseball. Women were playing ball back when men started to, in their 30 lbs dresses and there are records of women dominating against men's teams. Still, no one would fund a professional women's baseball league until the men went off to WWII and even then people were afraid that women would lose their femininity by playing so they had ridiculous rules like, they always had to have fresh make up on while they played.
ReplyDeleteAnd today, softball is the one female college sport you can't avoid around the College World Series time. Other than that, you're hard pressed to find anything on tv.
You wanna know why people prefer male sports to female sports? The same reason why black men could vote before white women. Society is more comfortable with men in dominating and "masculine" positions than women.