I hate articles like this...

[sarals24]

LINK

Guy starts off not caring about women's basketball, guy gets shamed into actually watching women's basketball, guy compares women's basketball to men's basketball and finds it "different", guy finds out women's basketball isn't half-bad, guy remarks on how sweet and family-friendly women's basketball players seem to be, guy never writes about women's basketball again.

How about some actual coverage of the league on your site, Grantland? Instead of these once-in-a-blue-moon articles about how WOW, it actually is a sport! Maybe league updates, player updates, etc? The only one they did recently was the article on Candace Parker and how she is GASP also a mother! I like seeing coverage, obviously, and I thought that article was pretty good, but these kind are so ridiculous. The WNBA has been around for 15 years now. Maybe cover it as an actual league instead of some sideshow attraction?

The only sport I can think of that actually gets good coverage and isn't constantly compared to men's is tennis. And a lot of that has to do with how some players look. But still, tournament coverage is usually pretty good, and there are always good articles about the top players, storylines, etc.

 

[Kibitzer]

His opening statement was: "I'm going to start by telling a story that makes me sound like an a."

He certainly succeeded. Having read it I am convinced his self-evaluation was spot-on.

 

[Icebear]

The only sport I can think of that actually gets good coverage and isn't constantly compared to men's is tennis.

There was a time when that was true of women's golf, as well.

 

[Tidepool]

At World Cup and Olympic times, women's pro soccer also gets good coverage without their game being compared to the men. The same is true for gymnastics and figure skating in connection with the Olympics. (I'd like to say it's also true about Olympic track events, but I suspect my perception is colored by the fact that I love watching but most people are indifferent.)

 

[vtcwbuff]

There was a time when that was true of women's golf, as well.

When? I've been an LPGA fan since the early 70's. Much of the coverage in the intervening years focused on the player's looks or their sexual orientation. Exceptions were rare, the Nancy Lopez phenom stage being one. Now coverage focuses on - nada. There is no LPGA coverage.

 

[Icebear]

You hit exactly the era I was thinking of. The era of Nancy Lopez, JoAnn Carner, Pat Bradley, Betsy King, Jane Blalock, Patty Shehanand others received substantial coverage and little of it focused on them as cute or for sex appeal but rather simply provided golf coverage. There were probably 12-15 tournaments a year covered on the regular networks.

 

[sarals24]

Olympic coverage is different, in my opinion, because those sports rarely get coverage outside of a four-year sporting event (or maybe a World Championship).

Women's pro soccer doesn't get much coverage at all, IMO. Other than major tournaments, we very rarely see regular coverage of the NWSL or players on overseas teams.

I guess what is frustrating is that it seems that every few years someone comes along and writes a piece about how they "discovered" women's basketball after being shamed into it. Rick Reilly wrote a story about a tryout with a WNBA team. There is a clip online of Sue Bird beating a reporter in HORSE who basically couldn't be bothered to attend a game. These stories are condescending and do a disservice to the game. Even Steve Rushin met Rebecca Lobo in a bar after she berated him for writing something stupid about the WNBA. What is it about women's basketball that makes men write about it like it's some circus event? I have never seen a piece where some writer thinks he can hang with the women's national team in soccer and then writes a cutesy story about how women play soccer too! How adorable.

Grantland (which is a site run by ESPN and I usually respect) also had a Bill Simmons story about the Lakers that same day, where he ridiculed the Lakers coach by saying that in two years he would either be coaching the Pepperdine Waves or the Minnesota Lynx. Um, what?

If, instead of devoting page space to some idiot who went to one WNBA game, they actually did a few pieces on teams, players and all-star updates, much like they do with the NBA, readers might actually take it seriously as a sport.