Kelly Schumacher returning to basketball

[pap49cba]

LINK

 

[meyers7]

Good for her.....but I was hoping maybe she had a year of eligibility left???

 

[Phil]

I wonder what this means for her volleyball career. I thought she was taking it very seriously, with a hope for an Olympic bid. I wonder if this is part of the training and paying the bills, or if she has re-thought her volleyball goals.

 

[meyers7]

I wonder what this means for her volleyball career. I thought she was taking it very seriously, with a hope for an Olympic bid. I wonder if this is part of the training and paying the bills, or if she has re-thought her volleyball goals.

Yea, I was thinking that Olympic dream might be over.

 

[rocky rococo]

If I'm not mistaken, that Madrid team she signed with is one of the very good-paying Euro franchises.

 

[Waquoit]

If I'm not mistaken, that Madrid team she signed with is one of the very good-paying Euro franchises.

True, the only catch being she has to play wearing her volleyball uniform.

 

[JimGunther]

Great minds think alike

True, the only catch being she has to play wearing her volleyball uniform.

 

[Fiftyish]

True, the only catch being she has to play wearing her volleyball uniform.

Works for me!

 

[DobbsRover2]

True, the only catch being she has to play wearing her volleyball uniform.

I believe that was the main point of the Ackerman paper about increasing interest in the WCBB. Uniforms along the lines of the beach volleyball attire could pull in a nice percentage of the 11-30 year-old-male viewers, many of whom are cool with prominently displayed tattoos, and if the baskets are at 9-feet and the women are crushing the dunkers, all the better.

 

[Waquoit]

I believe that was the main point of the Ackerman paper about increasing interest in the WCBB. Uniforms along the lines of the beach volleyball attire could pull in a nice percentage of the 11-30 year-old-male viewers, many of whom are cool with prominently displayed tattoos, and if the baskets are at 9-feet and the women are crushing the dunkers, all the better.

My little comment was tongue-in-cheek based on my recent review of Schuey's website. Ackerman is off base with that suggestion. That uniform thing was already tried in the (very) short-lived Liberty Basketball Association. I remember seeing it on television. It was a bit of a cringe. Not all players should be expected to have a physique like Kelly or Jennie Finch.

 

[DobbsRover2]

My little comment was tongue-in-cheek based on my recent review of Schuey's website. Ackerman is off base with that suggestion. That uniform thing was already tried in the (very) short-lived Liberty Basketball Association. I remember seeing it on television. It was a bit of a cringe. Not all players should be expected to have a physique like Kelly or Jennie Finch.

Showing some cheeky cheeks is not necessarily the worst idea. Whether it's Serena's rippling biceps, or Maria's shrieks, or Kerri and Misty's longitudinal supremacy, having some pithy audio\visual images to support your talents is a good idea. I'm still thinking that for WCBB, they gotta go with either the beach get-up or do a throw-back to the UConn women's 1902 BB unis.

 

[svetbird]

love her game and so glad to have her playing again!

 

[Sonny44]

I believe that was the main point of the Ackerman paper about increasing interest in the WCBB. Uniforms along the lines of the beach volleyball attire could pull in a nice percentage of the 11-30 year-old-male viewers, many of whom are cool with prominently displayed tattoos, and if the baskets are at 9-feet and the women are crushing the dunkers, all the better.

Never change the height of the basket. WCBB should enhance it's own identity, without trying to duplicate the men's game. Nurture finesse, not brute force.

 

[DobbsRover2]

I really doubt that citing WCBB as "the finesse sport" would help its image at all, even if it was remotely possible. Stef, could you just sort of finesse that guard who's driving for a lay-up to make her miss? Basketball is always going to be a mixture of agility and brawn, but women's players average around a half foot shorter than the guys, so making the baskets proportionately equal by having the WCBB at say 9'6'' would certainly help the offense (which everyone in WCBB is suddenly screaming for) and give the average basketball viewer a familiar play to latch on to.

I know there are a lot of WCBB fans who despise the dunk and don't want to see women doing them, but personally I would love to see a guard on a breakaway throw one down and get the crowds fired up. And before anyone goes all silly and says that women need to play the same sport by the same rules as the guys, just grok on tennis's 2-sets vs. 3 sets, gymnastics, track's weight events, XC distances, lacrosse, hockey, a whole bunch of men-specific and women-specific sports, and of course the size of the ball in BB. Always a difficult question, because the banning of contact in women's hockey and lacrosse have limited their appeal greatly, and turning WCBB in the "finesse" direction would just do the same and make it seem like a lesser version of BB. So you go for that familiar brawn\finesse package, but make the dimensions more conducive to women being able do the same things as the guys. And don't worry, the women's game will still not become the guy's game, just maybe a little better than what they have now.