Why do you watch women’s basketball? | The Boneyard

Why do you watch women’s basketball?

Undercovervol

Undercovervol

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This question could be more generally posed: why do you watch the sport of basketball, however I am interested in the gender aspect.
I am a philosophy/psychology student in College, and sports in general are a rarely covered topic in either subject, even though sports play major roles in society. I can’t figure out why yet, but it could have a class dimension to it. (that’s for another day)
I am specifically interested in your gender and how it relates to why you watch women’s basketball. Does watching basketball have no relation to your gender, or does it relate? For example, if you are a woman, does watching basketball make you feel empowered as a person or woman? Or not? Or no relation? Similarly, if you are a man, why do you like to watch women play basketball? I mean nothing controversial or suggestive by this (but why would this question already seem suggestive to begin with?); I am just genuinely curious. What is important about the women’s game that gets your attention?
Please let me know in the comments down below.
I’ll do me for an example: I’m a woman that enjoys watching basketball for a variety of reasons. I like to see women having fun and displaying athletic skill and aggression on the court together. I also like the game in general, though I’m not sure why specifically. I also like the speed of the women’s game.
What about you?
 
For me I became a fan of Country Paris, one of the greatest centers to play college basketball IMO. I became a fan of Uconn when Maya Moore was a senior, after watching her heart breaking loss to ND, it made me appreciate her greatness and the Uconn program.
 
I'm a man who has been a men's college hoops junkie for as long as I can remember. I used to follow the NBA quite a bit but have almost completely lost interest in it. There was a time when there were hardly any women's basketball games on TV during the regular season, so it was difficult to follow various teams. I remained a very casual fan for years. I remember (don't shoot me for saying this!) some great Tennessee teams from the mid 90's that were entertaining to watch. After I moved to Seattle I started attending a few UW women's games. Only in recent years w/ increased coverage on the ESPN family of networks and especially the relatively new Pac 12 Network, I've been watching a lot more women's games on TV. Over probably the last 2 years I'd say my interest in men's hoops is starting to decline and is being replaced to some degree by women's hoops. The biggest reason I can think of is I'm just so tired of one and done, short term "mercenary" players in men's hoops, so much turnover from year to year, so little continuity, so little time to actually get to know the players. There are of course plenty of transfers in women's hoops, but almost all of them play 4 years of college, and we're just now seeing a few leave after playing for 3 years.
 
I'm a male and lived in CT for 20 years - including the time when Geno came to UConn, and ending with DT's last NC. I'm a big sports fan, but I didn't play basketball, so basketball is last (3rd) on my list of major team sports to watch. I followed the UConn men, and got caught up in the 1995 women's season and tournament/NC. I was hooked on the UConn women after that and went to every game I could as long as I lived there. I still follow the UConn women - closely - and try to get to a game or 2 every year when they play in my part of the country.

But, in general, I can watch good teams but find most WBB boring. This includes the WNBA, which IMO consists of more bad teams than good. I don't think gender has much to do with this. I also feel this way about the NBA - too many bad teams make the playoffs so I don't get serious about watching the playoffs until the 3rd round or so. But WCBB is unusually loaded with bad teams, and there are only a handful at the very top that I can stand to watch. HS WBB is even worse. I've gone to a few elite tournaments to see UConn signees or prospects, and find the games not involving "stars" generally painful to watch.

All that said, I do love the Huskies!
 
I'm a male who pretty much gave up on professional sports 25-30 years ago. At the time our kids were approaching their teen years and we didn't see a lot of positive role models among the professional players. At around the same time the women's team at UConn was becoming more successful and we saw good coverage of their progress in our local (Manchester) paper. So we became Husky fans in the early '90s, even before the first title. It helped when CPTV began carrying the games. Better still, the players seemed to be really good, hard-working kids, and they were fun to watch.

Nwhoopfan has commented on the relative stability of the women's college experience and that's also been a factor in our enjoyment. Seeing the athletes arrive as freshmen and then improving (hopefully) in the course of a four-year stay... for my money that's one of the things that's right in the world. We moved from Connecticut about a year ago (to the Pacific NW) and fortunately figured out how to get the games via Internet streaming. Thank you, Roku! We're still die-hard UConn fans but it's good to see the West Coast teams improving too. We take a lot of ribbing from the neighbors when our Huskies banner goes up at the beginning of the season... "Hey! Those are the wrong Huskies!"
 
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I never played basketball, only football and baseball, so I never followed the game or found it particularly interesting - basically I didn't understand any of the finer points of the game. Tried to watch the NBA, but seemed like just a bunch of huge guys stuffing the basketball through the basket.

By accident I caught the NCAA finals in 1995 and since I grew up in CT thought it was pretty cool that the UConn women's team won the whole deal. I started paying attention out of pride in the state I guess and the game seemed easier for me to follow. And of course they kept winning - this helps. And I kept trying to find ways to follow them on TV. Difficult, as I didn't live in CT anymore. But I could always get them in the NCAAs. Sue Bird, Maya Moore, DT, and so many more were so polished and fun to watch. I was hooked on UConn WBB.

The increased TV exposure, particularly streaming the past couple of years, made it possible to see virtually every game and I think I began to gain an appreciation for how UConn played the game. So selfless & team oriented. Also seemed much more easy to understand when you can watch every game. It all began to make sense. I even got to see a game in person when they came to South Carolina a couple of years ago.

The last several years it's just been fun to watch the new teams learn to play together. The 2016-2017 team is probably my all-time favorite just because they so exceeded expectations. I don't much care for the focus on undefeated seasons or national championships. I enjoy watching kids who seem to genuinely like each other and play so well together. And Geno is a hoot.
 
Undercovervol said:
This question could be more generally posed: why do you watch the sport of basketball, however I am interested in the gender aspect.
I am a philosophy/psychology student in College, and sports in general are a rarely covered topic in either subject, even though sports play major roles in society. I can’t figure out why yet, but it could have a class dimension to it. (that’s for another day)
I am specifically interested in your gender and how it relates to why you watch women’s basketball. Does watching basketball have no relation to your gender, or does it relate? For example, if you are a woman, does watching basketball make you feel empowered as a person or woman? Or not? Or no relation? Similarly, if you are a man, why do you like to watch women play basketball? I mean nothing controversial or suggestive by this (but why would this question already seem suggestive to begin with?); I am just genuinely curious. What is important about the women’s game that gets your attention?
Please let me know in the comments down below.
I’ll do me for an example: I’m a woman that enjoys watching basketball for a variety of reasons. I like to see women having fun and displaying athletic skill and aggression on the court together. I also like the game in general, though I’m not sure why specifically. I also like the speed of the women’s game.
What about you?
Expand ...

Being born in Boston many years ago, I was naturally a Celtics fan. My 2 favorite players are Bill Russell and Shaquile Oneal. In 1995 I was in a bar at Cape Cod that was frequented by "Portuguese fisherman. It was quite an interesting experience to say the least. The TV at the bar was on and it was the NCAA Women's Championship: Connecticut and Tennessee. I had heard about this Lobo girl who was supposedly great, so, I watched the game and had to deal with some jeers from the fisherman. As time went on more and more of the fishermen became interested in this great display by these young "women" athletes. Before I knew it they (about 20-25) were enthralled with the game, of course cheering for the Husky Women. You can figure out the rest. Since then I have been a huge fan of Geno and company...the rest is history.
 
I started watching in 1993 when I was in third grade and my mom took me out of school to see Sheryl Swoopes play when she came to Dallas. I think it was the Big XII (Big 8?) tournament. And I was hooked. I had been to a ton of WCBB games before at the local college because my mom did the clock (she played in college in the 70s) but had never seen it played at that level. Then I saw UConn play on TV in 1995 and they became my "team." For me, as a girl who played basketball, it was just so cool to see other girls (women) playing basketball. It seemed...right, you know? Like, I played, so I should be able to watch it on TV too, just like the guys.

I probably didn't really understand the gender aspect of it until much later, but I do know that it was a huge deal when the WNBA launched, and my entire club soccer team went to our coach's house to watch the first game. And we watched the 1999 women's World Cup team, and lots of other women's teams. It became normal to see women playing sports on TV, you know? As it should! I am so so thankful for my coaches and parents doing that for me as a kid. And not just me! My brother watched too, and can name a ton of female athletes he admires.

I hope to do the same for my daughter and son. Representation in all forms is really important for kids especially. To be able to see someone who looks like you, who might have a similar background to you, who loves sports like you do - to see that on TV and being celebrated has such an impact.

I coach now, and it's sooooo different than when I was playing 25 years ago. I was the only girl in the all-boys YMCA league. Now they have several girls' leagues in all age groups. I know basketball is declining and volleyball is on the way up, but still - girls playing sports now is the norm, not the exception.

We watch a ton of sports in our household - NBA, WCBB, MCBB, Olympic sports, baseball. The only thing I refuse to watch is football, because I cannot stand seeing grown men killing themselves while women in skimpy clothes dance on the sideline. Gross. (Yes, I know the NBA has dancers. No, it's not nearly as egregious.) I want my kids to grow up watching both men and women play sports, and have role models in both areas.
 
I like to see women compete having grown up in a more restricted era of women's athletics. My mother played six on six basketball back in the 40's when the players only played one half of the court either offense or defense.
It is quite appealing to see the improvements being made in the women's game; The big downside for me is all the knee injuries.
 
I'm a 70 year old male who coached HS wrestling in MO and CT from 1970 to 1972 and 1973 to 2002. I coached other sports , including girl's Field Hockey but Wrestling was my main sport.
I look at BB from a coaches aspect. I love the team work, hustle, selflessness, dedication, and skill the ladies bring to the game!
Men don't play BB anymore, I don't know what it is they play, but it's NOT BB!
And no one in Division I plays BB as I mention above plus as hard, the whole game through as UCONN does!
The total way UCONN runs it's program appeals to me as a coach/ex-coach! They just outwork every other program!
 
Like a lot people, probably, the '95 team hooked me. They were charismatic well spoken and successful. They had a wise ass coach who was easy to relate to and they knocked off the big dog at the time, Tennessee (twice.) Why wouldn't you want to watch that.

I'm pretty much a fan of all things UConn though. I follow MBB, WBB, football, hockey and baseball. The baseball team is on a tear by the way and is nationally ranked.
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They are an exciting team with good pitching and the ability to put a lot of runs on the board. They've played a few games at Duncan Donuts Park which is a great place to see a game. I believe games in Storrs are free.

(FWIW, Hockey is excited and really starting to take off. Well worth seeing a game at the XL. The crowds have great energy and seats are easy to come by.)
 
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Like many, I somehow learned of the undefeated journey in '95. Watching the tournament games hooked me.
I don't read poetry, but found the active manifestation thereof in beautiful, below-the-rim UConn bball.
Since then I have faithfully followed, enhanced by choosing favorites, like Tina, Tiff, Asjha and Gabby
for additional focus.
I didn't become an indiscriminate fan of wbb, but I will watch the very best non-UConn match-ups, like ND/Louisville.
Sometime I'll take in a WNBA contest, providing there are UConnites to follow.
I watch no mbb at all.
I have no other connection to UConn or the state.
 
I'm a male and grew up a fan of the Red Sox and Celtics and, because I was from Western Massachusetts, became rabidly hooked on hockey (in my case, the Springfield Indians). As time went on, added Patriots to the list, but as I grew older, found baseball to be less interesting and more scandal-ridden. Lost interest in basketball an drifted away from hockey. Paid attention the first year UConn's women made it to the final four, and really paid attention when they won the whole thing in 95. Was raising a daughter, and though it;'d be a good thing to have her see, so we started going to games. I liked the cat that it was not the usual thing, that the players seemed to be genuinely nice kids and that there was a sort of art to the game. I've occasionally seen parts of NBA games since (and admit to enjoying earl;y round men's NCAA tournament games), but nothing compares to the women's game, at least not for me.
 
I am a 50 year old male living in CT and a UConn alumni. I watch certain women's sports teams and it's jingoistic in nature. I only watch the UConn women (in any sport) and the US National teams. I do not watch or care about the WNBA, even if the game involves former UConn players. For me it's all about the name on the front of the shirt.
 
I am a 76 year old Uconn grad who has followed Uconn Basketball since I was 10 years old. I played basketball and was asked to be a walk-on at Uconn in 1960. I Love the game of basketball. After the Larry Bird/Magic Johnson era I became disenchanted with professional basketball. Over the years my disenchantment with the men's game infected men's college basketball. The men's game is no longer team basketball in my eyes. It's selfish and has become a non-team sports. Women's basketball, especially at Uconn is a TEAM SPORT. It is what basketball was meant to be. My wife and friends always say, "how can you watch a game when a team is up by 40 points," and my answer is that it isn't about the outcome of the game which I am enjoying its beautiful team basketball whether you up 40 or dead even. This year I even stopped watching my beloved Uconn Men, they were not playing team basketball, SAD. Therefore, I love basketball so I love the women's game because IT IS BASKETBALL.
 
I have three daughters who all played soccer, which I think is the main reason I've gravitated towards women's sports (although I watch plenty of both). I don't find that the fact that men are faster and stronger makes their games any more appealing. If the games are competitive I'd just as soon watch women's sports. I think one thing that differentiates the two to me is the culture of chest thumping and trash talking that's more prevalent in men's sports. Women seem to me, in general, to be more respectful of opponents and exhibit better sportsmanship (sportswomanship?)
 
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I’ve always loved ball. Played all the time as a kid. Started watching the NBA. Since I liked b-ball so much, I started watching college men’s b-ball. Then Rebecca Lobo put Uconn on the map. That’s how I started watching women’s bball. I enjoy watching women’s ball more than men’s now. Too selfish, not enough team ball.
 
I am female and I started watching the Uconn women around 1993. It coincided with the end of my starter marriage (no kids, no house, no assets). It was a great distraction from some otherwise very difficult times. That first winter, I watched any college game (men or women) that was on TV. By the time the 1995 championship came, I was hooked on the Uconn women and followed only them. As to the 'why'....it is beautiful to watch.
 
Female - grew up playing all different sports at an early age, and I come from a "sports" family. Played through college. Basketball was a favorite, as was VBall. The attraction to sports for me was/is the shared enthusiasm, camaraderie, and school history, but watching great athletes compete at a high level is above all, the best. As a past-athlete, I am still in awe at the change of pace in the game and how advanced high school recruits have become. The evolution of basketball as a whole is changing as we speak, which seems to keep us always entertained.
 
I'm a male and life-long basketball fan. I continue to appreciate and enjoy the college and pro game of both genders, but tend to focus the majority of my attention on my "Home Teams". I guess the interest the woman's game began with UConn in the 1990 NCAA tourney. After UConn got knocked out I followed the rest of the tournament and Jen Azzi's Stanford team to the championship. The next year UConn got to the final 4 and I was hooked on UConn women's basketball.

Probably due to Lobo on the Liberty, I sort of followed the early WNBA, but when the Sun moved to Uncasville I adopted the WNBA habit and had a real home team 20 minutes from my house. The WNBA gave me incentive to be interested in NCAA women's programs other than UConn because of draft implications. Now I get to bleed green (Celts), blue (Huskies) and orange (Sun). :)

So as a man, why do I like to watch woman play basketball? #1 - It's basketball. #2 - UConn's success drew me in. #3 The CT Sun allows me the luxury of seeing the best female players in the world compete just 20 minutes from my house. #4 Approachability - I have no reasonable hope of ever speaking to Brad Stevens or Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum or Jalen Brown. I have had the opportunity to chat with Curt Miller, Jonquel Jones, Shekinna Stricklen, Shenise Johnson, Jas Thomas and other WNBA players. These opportunities were at, or in connection with, Sun-sponsored events (I'm not the kind of person who would buttonhole one of these guys otherwise). The more you know these players, the more invested you become in the sport.
 
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I began playing basketball in the late '30's, stopping in the mid '50's when the knees completely went. I guess I don't watch women's basketball as much as I watch games where UConn and/or a Geno coached team is playing. Right now, it is the purest form of the basketball skills and approach I was introduced to and practiced - it was then almost totally a team game with little standing around and a great deal more passing than dribbling. Yes, there was and is less athleticism than played by men (from high school on) now. I still remember my first coach explaining that there were five basic skills I needed to develop - how to shoot, dribble, pass, rebound and play defense - and then reinforcing that defense accounted for about half of the time in a game and if I wanted to be on the floor rather than the bench, I had better learn, practice and focus on defense totally when the other team had the ball.
Don't know if this addresses anything in what you are wanting to compile - but have at it.
 
I'm a 50-something male. I had a close friend in college who played women's hoops at our D3 school and went to a few games a year. The play generally involved the players looking at the ball when they dribbled.

I was amazed a few years later when I was in graduate school at UVa, when the local station started broadcasting WBB games. Even before Dawn Staley they had some girls with some size and skill. Then Dawn and Tammi Reiss showed up and were an incredibly skilled back court. A few years after I left C'ville, UConn had the '95 game with Tennessee, and my father was hooked. Any time I went home during the season, we'd watch a game or two.

I was a jock growing up, and watched a lot of sports when I was a kid. The only men's sport I still watch is MLB, although it's not much, pretty much the Red Sox when they play the O's or they're nationally televised playing the Yankees. I watched a lot of ACC men's hoops in the 80's, then got kind of disillusioned when Len Bias died.

I watch WBB and some women's soccer because they're still comparatively unspoiled. The "scholar-athletes" really are. Allisha Gray didn't graduate in four years, but she forewent the overseas season in order to go back to school to get her degree. The vast majority of women at elite BB schools get their degrees. Same for soccer players. I think Saniya Chong was more proud of getting her degree (I think she may have been the first in her family) than she was of playing in the WNBA. That's what college sports should be about. The sports should enhance the academics, they're not instead of the academics.
 
I was born and raised in the DEEP South, where I was an avid, multi-sport fan and an eager , if not particularly talented, multi-sport participant. I had little-to-zero interest in organized female athletics of any kind. Truth to tell, in my era, Southern girls did not, in fact, sweat...they would merely gently perspire (a word, down there, that contained three syllables - work with me here). Later in life, when circumstances allowed my wife and me to adopt a lifestyle that included dividing time between residences down South and in Connecticut, all of that changed, mainly as a result of one episode: Driving around, and acquainting ourselves with our newly-adopted Connecticut town, we passed by an extensive outdoor sports complex adjacent to a lovely shoreline. A group of about ten very attractive high school aged girls, I surmised probably school teammates, were scrimmaging one another on one of the full-court venues. Over my wife's predictable objections, I pulled over to observe for a bit. What I saw was unlike anything in my prior experience. These girls may indeed have been cute, but the game they were playing was cutthroat. They were hustling fiercely up and down the court, at times fouling the **** out of one another, in short, playing a game of which any group of sixteen or seventeen-year-old guys would be proud. I found out that these girls did, in fact, play for a local high school team and were big fans of, and largely inspired by, the example set by UConn women's basketball. I was hooked, and have never turned back. In more recent years, female athletics have much more fully evolved in my old Southern stomping grounds, a fact of which I heartily approve. Now that men's basketball has become a game played, to my dismay, almost entirely above the rim, the women's game, and the hugely competitive way it is played at the highest levels, is a source of great appeal!
 
Man...I am a fan of women’s B.B. because uconn ,N D , Louisville, etc. play the game as it was meant to be played. It is a beautiful thing to watch.
 
I feel a bit compelled to stick up for men's college bball at this point. As far as the: no teamwork, one on one, all above the rim type of comments....did anyone watch Villanova's championship run this year? That was beautiful basketball. Great ball movement, working it around for an open shot and a ton of 3's, most of which they made. Seems like they had different players step up almost every game. Didn't matter to them who scored, as long as they were winning. And a bunch of upperclassmen, no one and doners on the whole team.
 
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