Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Congrats! WNBA CHAMPS!!


The Phoenix Mercury beat the 2006 defending champions the Detroit Shock in their own house, to take the 2007 Trophy.

Star player Deanna Nolan and the Shock, couldn't hold off MVP Cappie Pondexter and the Mercury in the fifth game of the finals.



Both teams are to be congratulated, but my girl Cappie was awesome!

7 comments:

Mes Deux Cents said...

Hi Jackie,

Was it just me or did it seem the media was doing everything possible to downplay Cappie until they had no choice except to acknowledge her great play.

The WNBA, although I really love it, seems to have chosen certain people to market and certain people not to market. Cappie was one they seemingly chose not to. But her play could not be ignored!

She was so amazing. She almost singlehandedly won 3 games in the post season. That one against the Silver Stars was great when she made those two free throws with 2.1 seconds left.

I can't wait for next season!

Monica Roberts said...

Ms Deaux and Jackie,
That's been a problem since the WNBA's formation. On one hand they acknowledge that 10% of the league's base ticket holders and players are GLBT. On the other hand they want to keep us at arms length in order to appear 'family friendly'.

Jackie said...

Ladies, I have been checking out women's pro b ball from back in the ABL days. I have always been pissed at the media coverage for the ladies. I agree that they pick out who they want to spotlight and even then sometimes begrudgingly. Even finals news coverage sucks, while the guys get specials and front page headlines. yeah I know it's because of smaller fan base, but the media could create interest if they wanted. They do for the men.

WNBA does have a problem acknowledging their GLBT fan base, perhaps because they are afraid to "scare" away families. OMG! I think it's an unrealistic fear.

Monica Roberts said...

Jackie,
I think that another part of the WNBA problem is that sportswriters and sportscasters are predominately male.

Some have had a dissimisve attitude against the WNBA since its inception and that attitude is reflected in the coverage the league gets.

I had to call one male fan out who posted on Chron.com that the WNBA in his opinion was a 'waste of space'.

I countered that I consider NASCAR a 'waste of space' and lack of testosterone doesn't mean that women's team sports aren't just as compelling or exciting.

Jackie said...

Monica, you are too much. That was a great response. You are right and it starts in high school and college. The girls don't get the respect and press the boys get. Then they scream that the interest is not the same and say the level of play is not as good. We know that's not true.

Mes Deux Cents said...

Jackie & Monica,

Dismissive is an understatement, male sports jounalists are rabidly against the WNBA. And it seems where they tolerate other women's sports they go out of their way to talk down the WNBA. I'm not sure why this is except maybe they predicted it wouldn't last this long and are angry it's still around. And of course just general woman hating.

And about GLBT players and fans, I remember when the league started there was a lot of talk about playing down GLBT fans, which offended alot of people. So they lost a fan base then.

I think they think that young straight woman won't or can't relate to players if they don't 'appear' straight. I wish they would just relax and promote the best players like Cappie and my favorite player Tamecka Dixon (I hope she plays another year) instead of pushing players that fit a particular criteria.

Also the NBA has a lot of influence in the WNBA, I'm not sure how many WNBA teams are owned by NBA teams, but we all know how homophobic male sports are.

Monica Roberts said...

Ms Deaux,
What I'm hearing through the Comet grapevine is that Tamecka Dixon will play next year for my Comets.
If she'd started the season with the Comets they would have made the playoffs

One of the major reasons the Utah Starzzz are now in San Antonio is because the former owner of the team refused to market the club to the GLBT community in Salt Lake City, even though they made up the bulk of the ticket holders.

The so called 'family friendly folks' in that state ween't the ones buying tickets, so why wouldn't you do the smart thing and market the tickets to the peeps who are buying them?

There were two seasons (1998-99) the Comets 'Ticket Caravan' started outside a lesbian bar in Montrose called Chances.

The Comets routinely draw over 10,000 peeps in Toyota Center