The WNBA: Another voice backs the league

I logged online Saturday morning to see what The Times had written about the Sparks' first playoff game the night before. Not only was there a game story, there was an accompanying free-lance "commentary" piece on the entire league -- namely, explaining why she isn't a fan of the WNBA.

The young lady, a recent graduate of Palisades High School, not only denigrated the whole league, its players and its game, but she also took a shot at gay people. The piece was entirely disappointing, to say the least.

My first reaction was puzzlement. The Times has not covered women's basketball well, whether college or professional. Yet the staff randomly attacks the sport in print once or twice a year, for no apparent reason. I don't like the NBA or hockey, but I don't feel the need to continually tell others that or explain why.

So the Times' women's basketball story choices are odd.

One clue as to why the column was written lies in the writer's closing lines, which begin with, "If the WNBA hopes to survive." Perhaps Times sports staffers think the 12-year-old

league is about to fold. If so, I would think that a news organization of its caliber would seek out some facts. A bit of research would have revealed that WNBA attendance increased in 2008 for the second year in a row, and there were three times the number of sellout games this season than last. WNBA ratings and viewership on national television were up 19% this year. League merchandise sales were up 36%, and WNBA jersey sales, 46%. Page views on wnba.com saw a 20% increase. And personally, I haven’t heard rumors of a league collapse for eight years.

The column writer was trying to make a case for how supposedly unpopular the WNBA is and

to do this, she went back to Palisades and interviewed 12 girls who "hope" to make the basketball team there this year. Because only one girl said she watched the WNBA regularly, the columnist assumed that all girls in the Los Angeles area feel the same way about the league.

The Times would have done better to take a larger survey to get a more accurate representation, as there are about 700,000 students in hundreds of high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District alone.

WNBA research has found that of girls aged 15-17, 22% watch WNBA games on TV occasionally, and 7% watch frequently. When they asked female basketball players of the same age, 40% reported watching occasionally and 14% frequently. This coincides with my experiences as a coach and teacher.

I have never had trouble giving away WNBA game tickets to female basketball players at my school. When I go to Sparks games, I see numerous players from other high schools there as well. And I can talk to several of my students of both genders about games, because they watch them on TV. This matches up with league statistics.

The WNBA reports that while 53% of its TV viewers are males, 58% of its attendees are females. Of those females, the 18-34 age group attends most, followed by the 12-17 age group, and then ages 35-54. It's too bad they don't include the under-12 age group, because I see a lot of young kids at games too.

The column writer stated that the WNBA is “virtually absent from the media,” and in this she is not entirely wrong. Coverage of the league in the L.A. Times is usually relegated to small articles on the bottoms of pages buried far back inside the sports section.

But the San Antonio Express-News has its own page for the Silver Stars; the Seattle Times assigns a reporter to travel with the Storm and cover games, and she also writes a daily blog about the team. The Sacramento Bee, the Hartford Courant, the New York Daily News and New York Post, among other newspapers, also regularly cover their respective WNBA teams. Nationally, WNBA coverage can be found often in USA Today, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.

Strangely enough, while the writer alleges that the WNBA is missing in the media, she mocks the attention Sparks forward Candace Parker got for her two dunks in June. The day after the first dunk, there were 95,000 downloads of the video of the event from wnba.com. Yet the writer downplays it, asking, “Could you imagine if each player in the NBA received that kind of attention after a dunk debut?”

Since neither the young lady nor I were alive in 1945, when that first dunk took place, we don’t know how excited everyone got. But since the dunk was banned in the NBA from 1967-1976, it is safe to assume that it generated a lot of excitement. What the writer really reveals here is her true motive in writing the piece, and that is to compare the women’s game to the men’s game so she can degrade female ballplayers.

The writer said she is attracted to the physicality of the men's game, and to their abilities to jump higher and run faster than female players. That is a fair enough statement in that everyone has preferences. Obviously males are faster in every sport. But to expect the women’s game to be the men’s game is unrealistic; it’s never going to happen.

The Los Angeles Sparks held a basketball camp in August for middle- and high school-aged girls. In a question-and-answer session with head Coach Michael Cooper, he told parents and coaches that girls were far more aggressive than boys.

"On men’s teams, maybe three of them will be aggressive," Cooper told the room. "Think about the Lakers. The strategy is to get the ball into Kobe's hands, and then everyone stands around watching Kobe.

"With women you have a lot more teamwork and fundamentals. They make better passes than the men, have better offensive sets than the men, and they play defense."

Cooper said people are beginning to recognize that about the women's game, including some former NBA greats. He is right; Bill Russell used to come to Seattle Storm games often, and he commented that "this is the way we used to play the game."

The WNBA isn’t for everyone, and clearly the NBA has higher viewership and attendance. It has, after all, been around far longer than the women’s league. But a far greater percentage of fans than The Times wants to admit will watch both men’s and women’s games (see the 2002 NCAA study, “The State of the Game). They’re my favorite kinds of fans; they say, “basketball is basketball.” It’s unfortunate that The Times columnist and her friends can’t join so many others in that perspective.

If the weak arguments of the writer’s friends as to why they don’t watch the WNBA (“I can’t find the game schedule on the Internet” and “my male friends don’t watch it”) weren’t bad enough, the end of the column was. Though none of the interviewees mentioned it, the writer asserts that “some” heterosexual players are afraid of being mistaken for being gay if they watch WNBA games.
What? Characterizing an entire sports league as gay is a stretch. Implying that watching any sport dictates a person's sexuality is equally outrageous. The net effect was offensive.

The thing that struck me most when reading about the views of the columnist and the ballplayers was that we still have a lot of work to do as parents, teachers and a society to help raise the self-esteem of young women. Perhaps then, more young ladies wouldn’t feel the need to attack one another. And I wish the columnist had studied the WNBA instead of the NBA, as she said she did. If she had, maybe she would still be playing ball, having fun, and even going to a Sparks game once in a while.

-- Sue Favor

Sue Favor is a Los Angeles Unified School District high school teacher, coach, avid basketball fan, athlete and writer of  a women's basketball blog.

Photo: Candace Parker dunks against the Indiana Fever in June. Credit: Gus Ruelas / AP

Comments

[Jean]

You don't like hockey? Now I know why you are writing on a Times blog. What the heck do your feelings about the NHL have to do with a piece on women's basketball. And for the record, I am not a huge hockey or basketball fan but I would much rather watch the skill required to skate and play in the NHL and do things I can only dream of vs. the plodding, poor quality basketball I have witnessed in the WBNA any day of the week.

[Margie]

Jean, you totally missed her point. She's saying just because she doesn't like hockey, she doesn't feel the need throw those feelings in other people's faces. (It sounds like your dreams also include throwing down your gloves and having your fists meet an opponent's teeth. That's all I think about when I see or hear about hockey.) Obviously, you also haven't attended a WNBA game in years, as the play has improved by leaps and bounds. I don't understand why people have to be such haters. It's only entertainment.

[tinheart]

Wow, talk about Jean literally going out of her (his?) way to miss the point. Yeah, Sue Favor doesn't like the NHL. I don't care much for it either. But

a) I don't begrudge anyone for watching the NHL - I have a lot of friends who like the NHL and I understand why they like the sport,
b) I don't predict every year in the press that the NHL is on the verge of imminent collapse despite facts clearly showing otherwise,
c) I don't go out of my way to bash the NHL every chance I get in print, and
d) I don't claim that anyone who watches or enjoys the NHL is a bunch of homosexuals. ("Boy, you sure seem to like watching a bunch of sweaty *guys*, mister. Are you a little light in the loafers?")

You have a right not to like the WNBA. No one is begrudging your right to dislike a sport. But just because *you* dislike something doesn't mean that everyone else has to hate it, too. Or maybe I should just start irrationally hating the NHL, if that makes you happy.

[Helen]

Sue -

Thanks for deconstructing Rohlin's poorly thought out and misguided piece. Bring back Mike Terry!!!

[Veronica]

This is a very well written piece and certainly alot more insightful and factual on the WNBA than what was originally written in the Times.

[ladyvols11]

Obviously "Jean" missed Ms. Favor's point of the article. "...the staff randomly attacks the sport in print once or twice a year, for no apparent reason. I don't like the NBA or hockey, but I don't feel the need to continually tell others that or explain why."

I also outraged that the LA Times, a large newspaper in a town with a great WNBA team would find it neccessary to print such negative comments. The point that the author of the original author stated, "she didn't like the WNBA" was responded to by Ms. Favor that, "she didn't care for NBA or hockey," was a compairson statement Jean. Ms. Favor's point, if you don't like it don't go out of your way to write about it! If you have to write about it you better get your facts straight.

I live across the country from the LA Sparks and it is often very difficult to find out information about this team from the LA Times. If they don't want to cover their home team in a positive manner then they should not write, or publishing negative writing about them. Thank goodness for the internet, ESPN, and many other sports outlets on the internet who do support the WNBA. They don't have as much coverage as I would like, but at least I can follow my favorite team.

Ms. Favor, thank you so much for the the well researched response. I also am a teacher, and all the way over here in Tennessee we follow the WNBA. My students and I discuss the games. I pass student's I don't even have in my classes stop me in the halls and chat up the game they watched or read about. I have even talke to a group of the highschool girls basketball team who got together one evening and watched the game on the computer, because it wasn't on television. (I would research other schools in the area, but we only have one high school.) LOL

I will keep the faith and maybe, when the WNBA has been around as long as the NBA, the league will get positive coverage. It took a long time for the NBA to gain it's popularity.

Finallly, believe it or not I bet there are some gay men and women who actually go NBA and hockey games. I bet everyone in this world associates with gay people on a daily basis and don't even know it. The homophobic remarks coming from the author of the original article are unacceptable. I am not gay but I spend a great deal of time teaching "tolerance" for all type of people and reverence for life in genteral.

Jean open your eyes and revisit the game. It gets better and better every year.

[Kel Taylor]

The original Rohlin article was written so poorly, I actually thought it was a plant. There would no way an editor of a major market newspaper would allow garbage to be published.

I wouldn't put it past this paper to publish the inflammatory material just to get hits on this website. Well, message to the editors...I will not support your advertisers... publish that.

[Sue Favor]

I'm going to respond to my own piece here, but only to add something.

One of the parting shots of the original column last week was when the young lady said "For now, by discussing our lack of interest in the WNBA, we are at least bringing it some attention."

I can think of about 20 other ways, just off the top of my head, that the Times could bring the WNBA some attention, and all are constructive and positive instead of what was offered last week:

1. Most players in the WNBA go overseas to play in the winter to earn extra money, as they do not get those NBA salaries. They go to Israel, all parts of Europe, Korea, Russia, and many other places. How about contacting some of the Sparks during their stays in those countries and interviewing them on their experiences? Why not get some of them to write a blog? I have always wondered what it's like to play over there, what their lives and schedule are like, and what they learn about the country they're in. So have other fans. How about it?

2. The WNBA has its players doing charity work and appearances all season long. Everything from helping to build houses to conducting clinics to appearing at grand openings. Why not cover those events? I bet NBA players don't do this type of work.

3. Along those lines, the gym floor at Lisa Leslie's old high school, Morningside High School in Inglewood, was refurbished over the summer just because she suggested it. Was that covered in the Times, along with the grand opening featuring Leslie and Candace Parker? I didn't see it.

4. How about doing a column or two on some of the humorous, non-charitable appearances the Sparks do during the season? (I have been to them all, believe me). One that stands out is when the Sparks took over the Long Beach Trader Joe's in July. They arrived via bus, went into the back and all emerged wearing Hawaiian shirts and personalized name tags. For the next hour they all took turns bagging, serving samples in the back and signing autographs. Even Coach Michael Cooper showed up and hammed it up, hustling people to the samples table. It was a complete riot, and the Long Beach Gazette covered it. The Times could have done that too.

5. The Sparks new owners, Kathy Goodman and Carla Christofferson, are two interesting women. First of all, how many women do you know who could each pony up five million to buy a team? What is it about Kathy Goodman that she was able to retire in her 30's, yet chooses to be a high school teacher? But unsurprisingly, these two women are completely down to earth, and 100 percent kind. They have changed the entire atmosphere at Sparks games, building relationships with fans and between the Sparks staff and their fans. I would love to see the Times do an interview with them.

Those are just a few ideas I have.

PS - Kel Taylor: I thought it was a plant at first, too, because of the poor quality of writing.

[WNBAFan]

Rohilin wasn't good enough to play in the WNBA so she slams it along, and we are not even allowed to comment on her drivel. I doubt she has watched enough of the WNBA to make any real contribution to her article, so she makes stuff up as she goes along. She hasn't got enough talent to make the WNBA, and it sounds as if she didn't even go to college; I guess the college recruiter not only didn't find her talented enough for college ball, but didn't find her smart enough for college at all.

Thanks Sue Favor for a more intelligent review of the sport that many of us love.

[itsGR82Batnlv]

Sue-

FANTASTIC job proving to Ms. Rohlin that she knows nothing of which she speaks!! You are right- you'd think a writer would do just a smidge of research before opening their mouth and making a fool of themselves! Thank you for taking the time to write such a spot-on retort!

It is unfair that the W must be compared to the NBA and expected to be a carbon copy of it. I believe if people watched (or at least watched w/ an open mind) the W and saw the fundamental TEAM game the women played it might just change their mind. But if you know you don't like it- DON'T WATCH IT! How hard is it?

I was also disgusted by the original tween writer with her blanketing the whole W league as homosexual and/or gay. Grow up and get a life!! Live and let live. Love and let love.

Thanks again, Sue! Great job!!