Because, you see, much as I try to present myself as otherwise, I’m a sap. All year I’ve been reading about how the WNBA’s players are discriminated against because they don’t get anywhere near the money that their male counterparts do, that pro women’s basketball was surging in popularity, that finally it was sinking in that women were just as good at the game and fun to watch as the NBA’s freaks, and that social justice had arrived at last.
Nah. The WNBA lost 40 million dollars this past season, and that with its player earning what they skills were worth based on the demand to see them. Feminists and social justice trolls have been trying the same scam as they worked with some success in soccer, claiming that the higher men’s compensation was based on discrimination. No, it was based on reality: supply and demand, popularity, and biology.
The men are better basketball players. Their game is better, their skills are better, they are better. The WNBA’s version is inferior, and always will be. It will never have the kind of appeal to male basketball fans that some other women’s sports have because, well, look at the photo.
I was not aware that the National Basketball Association subsidizes the female pros, owning 60% of the league. It’s an investment, we are told, but some owners are annoyed that the investment isn’t paying off. I think it is a DEI league, a nice sinecure for lesbian basketball players, but nonetheless an inferior product. It might have a legitimate audience, just as some people would rather watch women’s softball than the Red Sox, but I think the NBA fell for hype in the midst of one of its woke attacks, which have been depressingly frequent in recent years.
And, as I think about, I should have realized that all the hype following the unicorn (white, heterosexual) rookie star Caitlin Clark was designed to deceive sports fans like me. You know. Saps.
Ethics Alarms 
I’ve been to two WNBA games in my life. Both times, the crowds were small and consisted almost entirely of men, and almost every conversation that I overheard was some variation on the theme of “Do you think they could beat a good boys’ high school team?”
I’ve been to about two WBNA games as well, but I live in the heart of Women’s Basketball in Connecticut. The 10,000 arena was sold out and packed, and the crowd watched intently. It helped that both teams had major UConm alumni.
Well, those kind of conversations are kind of like the ones about whether the Alabama football team could beat the worst NFL team. The answer to that is no. While Alabama might have a few professional caliber football players, the Lions or Eagles or whoever was then the NFL doormat had 50 NFL caliber players. They might be the worst of the NFL overall, but they’d still wipe the floor with a college team.
So no, no women’s basketball team is going to be competitive with a comparable men’s team. The men just have all the physical advantages, higher, faster, stronger. A good WNBA team might be better than a boy’s high school team, but it would be because their skills overcame their inherent disadvantages, and a high school team is just not going to be that high a level.
It’s not putting down the women, it’s simply a fact of life. Someone with a rifle will tend to win against someone with a tomahawk.
All that said, I’ve been a long time fan of women’s basketball, at least at the college level (I’m dating myself, but this goes back before there was a WNBA). The best teams have some women with amazing talent, but what actually appeals to me is that women’s basketball has tended to be played much more as a team sport than the men. By which I mean that there is less emphasis on just one-on-one competition and more on playing together as a team.
I’ve never really watched the WNBA, but I suspect this is much less true in that league, since it will tend to be full of the biggest stars from college, and I imagine they model their play more on the NBA style.
That said, I don’t think there is any question that the arrival of Caitlyn Clark brough a lot more interest in the game and the league. I don’t think the league handled that very well, and a lot of folks seemed to be unhappy that one of their biggest stars was white. Hopefully they’ll get over that — a good number of their earlier stars (e.g. Bird, Taurasi) happened to be white as well, and I don’t recall it mattering so much back then.
Good luck with that. After a player tried to gouge her eyes out and there was no foul, it is rumored that she is going to play in Europe. She should. She is going to be permanently injured in the WNBA. They are trying to get her out of the league and they are using violence.
When watching WNBA players and coaches in interviews, their attitude is that they are perfect. Their league is perfect. They bristle at any suggestion to improve the league and make it more attractive to fans. They have the entitled discrimination complex that the only reason they aren’t more popular is discrimination and the world just needs to watch them and give them money. If you don’t like them, you are a racist, sexist, homophobic bully. So, when people start to watch Clark, this makes them mad. It shows that the critics may have a point. So, the only way they can deal with it is to remove Clark. They would rather lose $60 million without Clark than lose $40 million with Clark.
Something else that is seldom mentioned:
The primary difference between men’s and women’s basketball games starts with the ball itself. In the NBA, professional men’s basketball players use basketballs that measure 29.5 inches. On the contrary, the basketballs that women players use in the WNBA measure 28.5 inches.
Wikipedia: The regulation WNBA ball is a minimum 28.5 inches (72.4 cm) in circumference, which is one inch (2.54 cm) smaller than the NBA ball.
Jeepers Edward, unless you want to ruin EVERYTHING, please don’t mention the shot-put, golf tee-to-hole-distances, and any other discrepancies which won’t support…um…gender equity….or is it equality…?
And don’t let’s start on the Pink Tax…
PWS
One of those Babylon Bee headlines that made me laugh and then be slightly ashamed of myself said during what’s-her-face’s incarceration in Russia “Russia leaves key to Griner’s cell in cell with her, but hangs it 10 ft off the floor.”
It might also be worth noting that the final game of the championship series was played last night between the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty. The league commissioner showed up in a (particularly ugly) dress featuring the New York skyline, and the league’s media folks sent out a tweet (or whatever they’re called now) that the trophy is now “where it belongs” after New York won in overtime.
The reason the game even went to overtime was that NY’s Breanna Stewart got away with an obvious travel, then–according to the officials–drew a foul that no objective source would have called, with less than 4 seconds remaining. The bogus call was then “confirmed” by replay. Stewart made the two free throws to tie the score, and NY won in overtime.
Curiously enough, Minnesota players, coaches, and fans seem to think the league really wanted the Liberty to win, and were willing to put a finger on the scales to make that happen.
Not a good look.
“Not a good look.”
The 1972 Olympics Basketball Gold Medal Match comes to mind.
PWS
Ugh. That game is engrained on my mind permanently. I recently watched some videos showing the end of that game, and it was very nearly as bad as I remembered it.
They’ll need a permanent vault to store the silver medals from that Olympics, because they will never be claimed.
Sheesh. The New York skyline? Can we do just a little subtle, folks? Well, these are basketball players, subtle is probably not their forte.
Listening to the coach, it sounds like it was a lot more than just one botched call. I wonder if she’ll get fined for those remarks.
Like I said, I’ve never been a WNBA fan, just the college game. Doesn’t sound likely that that will change any time soon.
some were upset:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5859561/2024/10/21/wnba-finals-officiating-lynx-liberty/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebookhq&source=fbhq&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0nkM0BsEPJMrYMXhT0X9h-_9TL8Fxlr0ULcBOZ88xNTtGF3hfr3Lk7ilA_aem_dlz-GaY0Q9LsO7Jm1Kjchg
-Jut