How long have you been a UConn WBB fan? (poll)

[ThisJustIn]

Totally ignorant about women's basketball until 1997 (not sure where I was during the Atlanta games - probably in grad school or stage managing (and no cable). A friend dragged me to the Garden in '97 and paid for my ticket to the NY Liberty. I feel good and hard. Couple of years of wondering "where do these folks come from?" got me a writing gig - first an unpaid column, then paid articles for Women's Basketball Magazine.

First piece I wrote for them was on Shea Ralph. Didn't want to be an uniformed idiot, so I researched the hell out of her - which led me to the Boneyard. Then I realized I could get CPTV in Queens via my rabbit ears. Returning home at night was agony, hoping I'd gotten just the right angle and tinfoil combo. I can't tell you how many snowy transmissions I watched. Life was so amazing when CPTV started streaming!

 

[Tenspro2002]

As soon as I was old enough to follow it, which happened to be around 93-94. I definitely have a program (and an autograph by Geno!) from that year.

 

[Suebird10fan]

I've e posted most of this before, but I became a follower when Lobo arrrived and an unabashed fan when I moved to northeastern CT in anticipation of the being near my then-wife's family with the birth of our first kid. I'll never forget Maya's freshman season and have received bounty after bounty since: Maya, Tina, Stef, Bria, Kelly,KML, and of course the recruiting class of 2012. Three of the sport's five longest winning streaks have happened here since I moved to CT. It's been a gift that's kept on giving, in my good health and poor.

I forgot about your health issues Alex. I hope you're doing ok and if not I pray things turn around soon!

 

[mntncougar]

I live (and lived then) in Coventry, about 5 miles from the campus. In the late 80's I was doing a lot of work in my basement, woodworking, hobbies and other projects. To pass the time I wanted to listen to the radio and I had one that worked ok upstairs, but the reception was not very good. In the cellar there was nothing. Except 1 FM station, WHUS. I didn't even know what it was when I first found it, but it had music and some interesting programs and it was the only game in town anyway, so I listened. And then I started hearing these silly sports broadcasts, UCONN women's basketball. I've always been a UCONN fan, but women's basketball?
I listened anyway, just because it was on and started to realize, "These guys are pretty good!" The only way I had of deciding that was the pro-UCONN announcers of the games and the fact that they seemed to be winning a lot. And I kind of got hooked.
But at the time I was running a photo processing business in Manchester, and one day a tall slim woman walked in with a slide she wanted made into a 20 x 24 (I think) print. When I looked at it I saw that it was a woman in a UCONN uniform playing basketball, shooting or rebounding or some such. And of course I realized it was one of the players whose games I'd been listening to, and so I asked a few questions. And got quite a lot of answers from the very enthusiastic woman. The player, I learned, was someone named Kerry Bascom, and I was told that she was the star of the team and how well the team was doing with her. I already knew they won more than they lost, but now I had some perspective on it and I started listening a little closer.
I did what I could to make the print, and never had any idea who my customer was. I didn't find out until CPTV started broadcasting the games. She was sitting or standing right next to the young looking head coach, Geno. Of course it was CD.

 

[JordyG]

I am pleased to say that I have been a Connecticut Women's Basketball fan from day one of the program.By the way,this is caramel,I had to redo the whole computer because of corrupted files and lost all access,so now I am Water boy.Living 20 minutes from Storrs,and working there,I enjoyed seeing many of the players from both men's and women's teams.One thing I can attest to.....you have no idea how tall really is until you stand next to a guy 6'11"and you are only 5'11".

You're my new hero.

 

[tomcat]

It was 1995. I'd heard about the team's recent success and started paying attention. As a newly-divorced dad, I was constantly looking at things to do with my daughter, and the women's games were just the ticket. Speaking of ticket, you could hardly get tickets anywhere, but whenever I could, we did. I'd moved to Massachusetts by then and remember a game against BC where (I think it was) Lobo gave a demo for kids who wanted to upgrade their skills. Things like dribbling two balls at once.....

We went to Storrs for lots of games, Hartford for a few, Providence a couple of times and once to Kingston, RI for the first round of the NCAAs one year. Other, more distant trips as well, but that was the start. My daughter, who is now 33 with kids of her own, says he really never got into basketball that much, but loved the adventures with her father that each trip entailed. Meanwhile, I became completely addicted and am now married to a woman who is not as much of a fanatic, but is willing to be my trusty sidekick.

Anyway, start to finish, it's been a great ride, and it continues......

 

[HuskyFan1125]

91-92

 

[Fairfield Fan]

1997

 

[UCweCONN]

Since Kerry Bascom (87-91). The first great Lady Husky. I've been a men's fan since maybe 1981.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I refereed games in the Hugh Greer field house for Coach Sandra Hamm in 1975 when I moved to CT and for Wanda Flora from 1975 to 1981 and one year for Jean Balthaser in 1982. Those were all AIAW games and the NCAA took over womens sports in 1982 and there were TWO FINAL FOURS in spring of 1983 and Tennessee won the NCAA and La Tech won the AIAW. The AIAW went out of business in 1983 after a year long law suit with the NCAA. The AIAW had tried for years to get the NCAA to take over womens sports but the answer was allways NO !! Until title IX passed and then the NCAA saw $$$$$$$ signs and went for the 4 big womens sports. My knees and hips wore out about then so I quit Refereeing. Pat Summitt was a big supporter of the AIAW and I served on some comittees with her in the 70's. Southern Ct State went to a final four in the late 60's or early 70's when I started refeering. I started going to UCONN games as a fan in 1985 and have been going ever since. Went to FF in 1981 in New Orleans and been to 9 since then. Going to Dallas in 2017 and then to Tampa Bay in 2018. Have HC season tickets. BN

Just a couple of corrections. The year there was / were 2 tournaments was in the spring of 1982. Rutgers - with Chris Daily on the team - won the AIAW championship, defeating Texas in the championship game (only Texas, Rutgers and Villanova (who hosted) were considered top teams in the AIAW affair). La Tech won the NCAA championship. Tennessee did not win a national Championship till 1987 (87/89/91/96/97/98/07/08).

 

[cswhb]

I replied "since forever" which means since 1991.

 

[Alaska Husky]

Howdy

A number things occurred in the late nineties and early aughts. Alaskan Jessica Moore (2000-2004) became a Husky, I took my tweenage daughter to the local University of Alaska Seawolves WBB games and probably most crucially we got cable TV service. ESPN introduced me to Connecticut, Notre Dame, Stanford, Tennessee. I was hooked.

The Boneyard has become an obsession, both for the quality of its contents (God bless you Nan) and for the comeraderie of my peer group, not just in demographics but culture (raised in Westchester, schooled at Boston U - yay Marisa)

I introduced my 90 year old aunt who lives in Bridgeport to the cult of Huskies and last spring my wife and adult children had the thrill of a lifetime in seeing the first two playoff games at Gampel and my aunt and Fairfield cousins joined us at Webster. Thank you Tony C. We're on for this year God willing

 

[blaqtech]

First UCONN women's game was the Championship game 1995. Everybody jockeying Pat Summitt. How great she was and the guy at the other school doesn't have a chance to win.... Really?????

lollipops...

 

[geneticrex]

Been a women's b-ball fan since the early 70s, but started following the Huskies when they went to their 1st Final 4.

 

[f1f1ferrari]

I was a casual fan of the men's team in the early nineties (Tate George, Chris Smith, etc.). Found out CPTV was going to air a few games starting in '94. So I started watching, and I loved the purity of the way they played. Emphasis on the fundamentals, no showboating like you see in the men's game. Absolutely loved Jen Rizzotti's scrappy, fiery play - she's still my favorite player. I've been obsessed ever since.

 

[chuck.r]

Started taking an interest in women's basketball as a result of (my alma mater) Auburn University's great run of 3 consecutive FF's from '88-'90. They actually reached the championship game all 3 years, but, like Moses and the Buffalo Bills, could not cross over to the promised land, suffering heart-breaking losses to La Tech, Tennessee, and Stanford respectively. (I think my dislike of Coach Summitt and the Lady Vols began with those Auburn teams.) Became thoroughly enamored of the women's game with the Sheryl Swoopes-led Texas Tech championship game from '93 (won by 2 pts over Jim Foster's Ohio State squad). Living in New England at the time, UConn's memorable '95 championship over the disliked Lady Vols and Calhoun's thrilling men's championship over equally-disliked Duke in '99 cemented my interest and admiration for UConn basketball ever since.

 

[Waquoit]

I replied "since forever" which means since 1991.

Exactly. The men had their Dream Season in 1990. They followed it with a nice run in 91 when they beat Shaq and won their next game before losing in the Sweet Sixteen. The built-up hoop excitement was still there when we realized the women's team was still playing. After watching them, it was easy to transfer that energy to the their team. Especially when they got absolutely jobbed in the Final 4.

 

[diggerfoot]

Perhaps I'm being too literal, but did not know which category I fit under and voted "Other." I've been a UConn Men's BB fan since the early sixties. I am a UConn alum who actually tried out for the JV when they still had it (did not make it beyond the second round of cuts). UConn and basketball are both passions of mine. Yet in the eighties I became involved with other schools and my permanent residence in Norfolk, CT does not lend itself to catching games in person.

Hence, the first time I became aware of the women's team was when they were televised during their first Final Four run. Of course I watched with interest. Yet I would not exactly call myself a fan then because they were still mostly "out of sight, out of mind" for my situation. Once they became regularly televised (thank you CPTV) I became a regular fan. So I'm guess I'm somewhere between "forever" and "1995."

 

[UcMiami]

I grew up a Celtics fanatic during the great run in the sixties and basketball was my favorite sport though I never played more than pick-up games. Stayed a fan of the mens game through the Bird Magic period but began to lose interest toward the end and had stopped seeking out games - the college game never interested me much except for the brief period when Princeton (the family school) won the NIT. My dad had started following the Uconn women in 1990 (he was a prof at Uconn) and so I would watch with him when I was visiting and I started really following after the in season TN win in 1995 - but I was living mostly outside the country so it was impossible to get much viewing and the internet news was pretty sparse. Dad was excited with the signing of TASSK but he died the summer they arrived on campus, so watching games whenever I was within the CPTV broadcast area or when ESPN showed them became a sharing with his spirit kind of experience. I continued living abroad and or well outside of the NE but made frequent visits to Storrs through the early 2000s and was thrilled with the advent of CPTVs streaming which opened up the whole season to me. Staying up super late in London or getting up super early to catch games became a standard. I have since moved back to Storrs and enjoy unfettered access now.

 

[Nuyoika]

I became a UConn fan as a junior in high school this was the 03-04 season. I was flipping through tv and saw a women's game on. It just so happened to be a UConn vs Tennessee game (mind you at the time I knew nothing of the rivalry) and I saw Diana Taurasi play for the first time. Right then and there I became a UConn WBB fan. Could you imagine if I had decided to be a Tennessee fan that day? Crazy.

 

[mag 7]

Moved to CT to work at UConn 1993. Started following both men & women then. Only lived there 3 years before moving back to Midwest but Women's basketball has stayed the course. But one other factor really helped... I found that my wife would watch the Huskies with me. She never watched FB or men's bb but she has fallen in love with UConn WBB. Since we could see so many games on ESPN3 we began watching all the games and after I had watched WBB a while I basically discarded men's games (except Iowa, where I went to school - and how I long for a coach like Geno there and a mindset as Geno & CD instill into their players... oh, and I do watch a lot of March madness). Honestly I don't watch many WBB games except UConn but whether live or recorded we watch most all of their games.

 

[Nuyoika]

Moved to CT to work at UConn 1993. Started following both men & women then. Only lived there 3 years before moving back to Midwest but Women's basketball has stayed the course. But one other factor really helped... I found that my wife would watch the Huskies with me. She never watched FB or men's bb but she has fallen in love with UConn WBB. Since we could see so many games on ESPN3 we began watching all the games and after I had watched WBB a while I basically discarded men's games (except Iowa, where I went to school - and how I long for a coach like Geno there and a mindset as Geno & CD instill into their players... oh, and I do watch a lot of March madness). Honestly I don't watch many WBB games except UConn but whether live or recorded we watch most all of their games.

Mine as well. That and WNT soccer are the only sports I can get her to watch with me.

 

[magic]

1991 .

 

[UConnDan97]

1993 for me.

I remember seeing a large poster of Bascom in the Sugar Shack my freshman year and thinking that was cool. I went to see a few games and I was hooked.

My mother, father, and grandmother became fans shortly thereafter. My grandmother was particularly excited when she saw names like Auriemma, Rizzotti, etc. She thought she made it back to the motherland. And of course, her favorite all time player is Taurasi. She's probably mine too...

 

[B BLOCK]

Since Saniya Chong's first game!!!!!