Women's Basketball 24.7

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I Blame The Media…

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April 7, 2016

Two nights ago UCONN women’s basketball team won their fourth consecutive National Championship! Their 11th in program history, making head coach Geno Auriemma the coach with the most National Championships in NCAA basketball history. In winning his 11th National Championship, coach Auriemma passed the notable John Wooden who won 10 National Championships with his UCLA Bruins in a 12-year period. However, coach Wooden won a record seven in a row. It is yet to be known if coach Auriemma will be able to top that record. With the departure of Breanna Stewart, who was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player for the fourth year in a row, becoming  the 1st player in Division I history, men’s or women’s to accomplish this feat, it will be difficult for the women of UCONN to capture three more titles in the next three years but with UCONN you should never count those girls out. They never run out of players, they just reload.

The sad part in this all is that if you’re not a women’s basketball fan you would have no idea that 1. UCONN were playing for their 11th National Championship in program history. 2. UCONN were also playing for their fourth consecutive National Championship. 3. Syracuse and Washington were both participating in their first final four in their programs history. And 4. If you’re local to the DMV, which I am, Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman, a native of Suitland, Md coached at Newport Preparatory School in Maryland where he was voted the Montgomery County Gazette’s Girls Varsity Private School Coach of the Year. In addition to many other storylines, you would not have known any of these things if you didn’t go out of your way to find them out. And I blame the media!

The night before the Women’s National Championship game I was sitting at home watching the local news as I do every evening. Of course the sports segment came on and for the entire however many minutes it lasted the only thing they talked about were the men! They talked about opening day in baseball and the Men’s National Championship game. Let me rewind to the day of the games between Syracuse and Washington and UCONN and Oregon State. There was NO mention that these games even took place. Disappointed in the lack of coverage, now I’m talking about local news, which I think is very important in bringing in fans who don’t necessarily watch sports channels like ESPN, Fox Sports, or some other sports based channel, there was nothing. So they failed to mention that Syracuse and UCONN had advanced the night before but I just knew there would be some mention of the upcoming National Title game, I mean come on, its the National Championship game! Men or women, its the biggest game, on the biggest stage in college basketball. You’re not going to believe this but the local news did not mention that one, Syracuse and UCONN had advanced in the first games of the Final Four, and two that they would be playing for the title the next night! I sat there in shock, I just knew I must have missed it because its is incomprehensible that they would not even mention the upcoming National Championship game! Being that I didn’t move from the sofa while watching the entire news cast I couldn’t have missed it. They just didn’t bother to let their viewers know that there were actually a Women’s Final Four going on…

How? How do you not mention the biggest game in college basketball. As a producer of a show, which are the ones that write and/or decide what anchors will cover, how can you not see it fit or find the time to mention anything about women’s basketball. At this point it’s just blatant disrespect. You didn’t think the title game was worth mentioning? You don’t think that the many women who are at home from work watching the news would like to see what other women are doing in sport? I’m not asking for an entire segment, which I think is deserved, I’m simply looking for you to acknowledge  that a game had been played and another one was on the way. It take three seconds to say “And tomorrow night UCONN women’s basketball will take on the Orange from Syracuse in the National Title Game!” Is that too much to ask for? Seriously, so yes I blame the media for ignoring women’s sports. I mean if I heard one more time that the guys from Villanova and UNC were brothers! If I heard one more time that Villanova were in pursuit of their first NCAA basketball championship in 31 years. The media sure does know how to wear out a story in the men’s game but don’t even bother to mention anything about women! Who are these producers? Who are these anchors? What is their issue with women’s sports? How would they even know if casual fans were interested if they don’t even cover the stories?

Those responsible for the content of sports shows need to demand that women’s sports are covered and this includes local newscasts. No questions asked. Women are interested in what other women are doing in sports. Men are too. There is excitement in the successes of women in all sports and it should be celebrated not ignored. Women who play sports are not trying to mimic men, they are simply doing what they love and working hard to accomplish goals just like anyone else. We need to take a stand and demand that the media takes responsibility for their lack of coverage. It’s disrespectful, it’s rude and quite frankly it’s shameful! This is not only for the men involved in production. There are plenty of women in positions that can advocate for more exposure for women’s sports and they should be at the forefront. What if your daughter or sister, niece, or cousin wants to play sports? Don’t you want her to see people who look like her on television being successful? Don’t you want her to have positive role models to look up to? Give women the coverage they deserve and let society decide if they’re interested or not. Stop leaving it up to the old news producers in the back who still don’t know the WNBA is entering its 20th season!

Check out my blogpost as well to comment: http://sb.gg/131Id

Monique

Should Women’s Basketball Lower The Rim?

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March 22, 2016

“But when [you] look at other sports like volleyball, their net’s lower. Golf, their tees are closer. It goes on and on. Tennis, they play [fewer] sets. Why not lower our rim and let every single player in the league play above the rim like the NBA can?”

The WNBA’s 2015 league MVP Elena Delle Donne recently made a strong case for lowering the rim in women’s basketball. In an interview with New York Magazine that touched on the rampant sexism that female athletes face in today’s society, Delle Donne was quoted as saying “I just can’t wait for the day where people want to talk about your skills on the court and not your looks.” One of her ideas to thwart these misogynistic views of female athletes is to bring more attention to the sport. And a change that could potentially place more eyes on women’s basketball, and no it’s not tighter uniforms, but lower rims.

The standard height of both men and women basketball goals are 10 feet. The only differences between men’s and women’s professional basketball are that women play with a smaller ball and shorter quarters. The men play 12 minute quarters, the women 10, and the women’s ball is about 1 inch smaller than the men. The average height of a WNBA player is around 6’0″ tall and the average height of an NBA player is 6’7”. However, men and women basketball players are playing on the same height rim. In volleyball, the proper height of the net for men is 8 feet tall and for women it’s 7 Feet 4 Inches. In golf, women generally don’t hit the ball as far as men. To make up for this power discrepancy, golf courses are usually designed with different tee boxes so that the difference in the distance women and men hit the golf ball is accounted for. So why isn’t there any difference in the height of the goal for men and women? Clearly, male basketball players are on average seven whole inches taller than their female counterparts so in turn are vertically closer to the rim which allows them to play the game “above the rim.” Although many praise the women’s game for its fundamentals and team play instead of focusing mainly on athleticism, it is clear that many fans want to see more women basketball players dunk the ball.

The most common question I get after being asked how tall I am is “Can you dunk!?” Everyone wants to know if you can dunk or not, as if that validates you as a basketball player. However, it’s what fans like to see. It brings more excitement to the game, it gives onlookers more to talk about and it would bring a new facet to the women’s game. There are a few players that currently play that can dunk the ball, however no one does it consistently. Don’t hold me to this, but I believe the only player to dunk in a game in the 2015 WNBA season was Brittney Griner. When you watch a men’s basketball game there is usually a dunk almost every other play and fans love it! They want to see players defy gravity. Fans want to see athletes do the impossible, do something that they most likely cannot do themselves and that is dunk the ball! Think about it, almost every time Griner dunks in a game it makes headline sports news. Other than that, the WNBA gets a ticker at the bottom of the screen with scores.

I’m pretty sure the majority of women’s basketball fans would be against lowering the rim. They probably think the integrity of the game would be lost. But would it really? Would fans even notice that the rims were lower? I had no idea that volleyball nets were different heights for men and women. Did you? When you’re watching a volleyball match on television are you sitting there thinking “o that wasn’t that great of a spike because the net is lower!” I don’t think so. So if you were watching a WNBA game and Angel McCoughtry came down the middle of the lane and slam dunks I think you would jump out of your seat in excitement rather than sit back and frown and say, “well the rim isn’t at ten feet.” The women’s game is ever evolving, and you must not forget that professional sports is a business first. If a rule change could bring more excitement to the league which in turn should turn into more fans and more ticket sales and sponsorships, it’s something the the governing body should seriously consider. My only wish is that this could have happened when I was in my 20’s. At least that way I could have had a chance at a break-away dunk. At this point in my career, the only thing that could possibly get me to dunk the ball is a trampoline sitting at the bottom of the net. Let me know what you all think about lowering the rim.

Monique