Women’s basketball & social media

[HuskyNan]

Interesting take and as admin of the Boneyard, I’ve gotta agree

 

[cancontent]

Interesting take and as admin of the Boneyard, I’ve gotta agree

Pablo's series is something I enjoy checking out. This is a great point which I've discussed with other friends who are WBB fans.

 

[Bigboote]

I like her comment about being welcoming. I'm a women's basketball fan, and I welcome the attention Caitlin Clark is bringing to the game. My big concern is that the folks who tuned in to watch her will tune out next year. They certainly will if the clique of longtime fans poopoos them as noobs. I have a close friend who's an Iowa grad; he's been watching for a couple of years, and I think he's hooked. I'll take every opportunity to talk up the game with him and talk about how Clark is doing in (presumably) Indiana.

 

[Puppy Love]

This is true, but there is another truth. So many of the newly minted social media ‘fans’ are the same people who commented that ‘no one cares’ or worse when there was big news in women’s sports. It smacks of hypocrisy that they are suddenly using the very thing they disdained to now drive clicks to their channels. And all of this has to fit in the larger discussion of true equality for women. I don’t think I appreciate women’s basketball being the flavor of the month.

 

[cancontent]

I like her comment about being welcoming. I'm a women's basketball fan, and I welcome the attention Caitlin Clark is bringing to the game. My big concern is that the folks who tuned in to watch her will tune out next year. They certainly will if the clique of longtime fans poopoos them as noobs. I have a close friend who's an Iowa grad; he's been watching for a couple of years, and I think he's hooked. I'll take every opportunity to talk up the game with him and talk about how Clark is doing in (presumably) Indiana.

I agree, but at the same time her point about not learning about the history is valid too. Sometimes I think the frustration seen on social media is due to that, because fans don't want the legends they grew up with to be forgotten. Question is, how far back do people expect new fans to go? Some will dive deep, others will skim and others will not even try.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with my boss this week about March Madness. He's a huge basketball fan but is more familiar with NBA than NCAAM/NCAAW. When he mentioned he found Coach Hurley to be arrogant, I chuckled and asked him if he knew the Hurley family story. When I explained it, everything made more sense to him and he had a better appreciation for where Coach Hurley's passion and persona comes from.

Fans of the game need to be patient and help educate in my opinion. Shouting new fans down won't help things. I've found that approach to be more effective with casual fans when I've taken that approach in my conversations with them.

 

[UcMiami]

Nan - thanks for posting this.
I do think there are three kinds of new 'fans':
1. A fan who has suddenly been drawn into actually watching and enjoying a 'new' sport and if they can find a handle on someone/thing other than Clark to keep them engaged will grow into a lifetime fan.

2. A 'nerd' who having been exposed and hooked will actual research and read and learn the history.

3. Someone following the next great social craze who will maybe watch a couple WNBA games but when Clark isn't the story, moves on to whatever (and not whoever) is NEXT.

Both 1 and 2 are great, and give hope for a continued expansion of the audience for WCBB from this surge. The third group which I fear may be the majority of the current noise, will disappear again. As they have with previous moments - Rebecca, Diana, Candace, Maya, Sabrina, Pat v Geno, etc. We often have posters here on the boneyard that attribute their interest in the sport to a specific player or moment, and the amount of participation here has grown significantly since 1995 and the first NC, as the participation on other fan sites has grown based on a 'home team' finding a national profile or a 'star'.

And this isn't unique to WCBB, we see it everywhere in sports, and in every aspect of our life. Business are always looking for whats is NEXT in their field and who is NEXT to promote it.

The difference with WCBB is these moments are more noticeable because the baseline is relatively small. The KC Chiefs had a surge of new fans driven by a pop star, but we will not note their eventual disappearance because they are a minor blip in the total fan base. The surge in interest in the NHL around the Great One, was much more noticeable, but it too has faded.

 

[Velocity80]

I have been an active sports fan for over 40 years, and almost no women I know are even casual fans of the WNBA or women's basketball. Yet the tenor of the national media is such that women are scoldingly looking in the direction of men and saying contemptuously: "Be better! For us! Because we told you so." (Even though the NBA subsidizes the WNBA). In a sane world, women would've long ago galvanized their support for wbb and grown the league to a comparable phenomenon. Female dollars spend the same as men's.

Then out of nowhere comes this truly oddball freak of nature who wears #22. She has a skill set and swagger and yes, a still conspicuous femininity, that appeals to fans of all stripes. She wins and she's entertaining, and seemingly always rises to the occasion for good TV. She builds interest with her buzzer beaters, her 20/20 court vision, her shooting, her fire, her record breaking, etc. But those talking heads, still looking in the direction of men--and not the bazillions of women who didn't care either--say things like: "I can't believe you didn't watch Shaneequa Holdsclaw in the '90s."

 

[cancontent]

I have been an active sports fan for over 40 years, and almost no women I know are even casual fans of the WNBA or women's basketball. Yet the tenor of the national media is such that women are scoldingly looking in the direction of men and saying contemptuously: "Be better! For us! Because we told you so." (Even though the NBA subsidizes the WNBA). In a sane world, women would've long ago galvanized their support for wbb and grown the league to a comparable phenomenon. Female dollars spend the same as men's.

Then out of nowhere comes this truly oddball freak of nature who wears #22. She has a skill set and swagger and yes, a still conspicuous femininity, that appeals to fans of all stripes. She wins and she's entertaining, and seemingly always rises to the occasion for good TV. She builds interest with her buzzer beaters, her 20/20 court vision, her shooting, her fire, her record breaking, etc. But those talking heads, still looking in the direction of men--and not the bazillions of women who didn't care either--say things like: "I can't believe you didn't watch Shaneequa Holdsclaw in the '90s."

Interesting as that hasn't been my experience. Been a sports fan for about the same amount of time. Some were people I would have assumed weren't interested in the sport either. Guess it varies based on who one comes into contact with over the course of their lives.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Interesting as that hasn't been my experience. Been a sports fan for about the same amount of time. Some were people I would have assumed weren't interested in the sport either. Guess it varies based on who one comes into contact with over the course of their lives.

I'll take an odd middle ground, I'm not sure I can claim we are big fans of the WNBA per se, although we were season ticket holders for more than 10 years at the start (NY Liberty) and had a partial package for the Mercury when we moved out here. We just follow so much that the energy flags during the WNBA season, we watch a few scattered TV games. But we are "pro" the WNBA.

My take - no, I don't run into a lot of random WNBA fans, and I think some carryover exposure from Clark will help. But it depends on your friends. When we were doing Rutgers Women's Basketball, whereby fandom was always divided between "women's basketball fans who happen to be fans of Rutgers" and "Rutgers fans who do women's basketball as part of that" - the women's basketball fans were divided between "WNBA fans" and "not so much WNBA fans". But there were a number of them within that group. We were able to put together a Rutgers fan bus trip to see Cappie play, but sans the connection, it would have been tough to get enough folks.

I think the future is bright, and no, I don't care if these folks don't know the history (as long as they don't deliberately disrespect it).