WNBA/Training Camps/ Pro LVs

[sisaq]

If there were lots of rich folk lining up to own WNBA teams, the commissioner would no doubt be all over it. People often sound like they think the commish is dragging her feet and/or is somehow resistant to the idea of expansion. I imagine she’d be thrilled if the league doubled in size if there were actually entities wanting to spend their money on having a team.

Well, the commissioner needs to make it happen by finding a way to bring in rich ppl

 

[glv98]

As far as the WNBA in general, my feeling, sadly, is that young girls may need to fundamentally re-think their dreams as far as what their lives could be if only they work hard enough to get drafted into the WNBA. I have a feeling that a major shift in reality has occurred, and that, going forward, the W will be far less "the dream" it once was. This change has been steadily building over the last 5-8 years, but this year it seems to have taken full hold.

The WNBA is at a major crossroads. Unfortunately, its main roadblock to success is literally thousands of years of fully-ingrained sexism and the desire of too many women to take on the attitudes of their men in order to be attractive partners. This, IMO, is more the reason more women don't better support women's sports than anything else, and so that's why this whole damn thing is so depressing. Same dynamic usually prevails in politics.

That and the absolute FACT that the overwhelming, by FAR, majority of the media figures making daily decisions about what is and isn't worthy of coverage/attention is about 80/20 run by men -- and many of THOSE are, unfortunately, inherently sexist. I speak from nearly a half-century of experience in this field.

So what we have is not as easy as easy to pinpoint as "nobody cares about the WNBA," but is, in reality, more that "the men typically running the show have their unspoken rules as to what they do and do not see as important/watchable" based on their personal desires to remain true and respected and relevant among their majority-male peer groups, and that every decision regarding coverage, every printed/posted commentary, every conversation both public and private, is a result of that unspoken, inherently awful and sexist bias. There is bias amid even those who truly want NOT to be biased, but thousands of years of ingrained bias is not easily overcome.

IMO, women's sports viewership suffers predominantly from lack of connection to fans who bother to get to know the players as people, and also that (heterosexual) female viewers are often tacitly discouraged from supporting women's sports by their male partners who are the typical "neckbeards" or are (usually unbeknownst to themselves) often incredibly so insecure in their own masculinity that they go way overboard in diminishing female athletic pursuits.

These are often the trolls who show up in threads only to proudly state that "nobody cares," or ""women's basketball sucks," or some such. *yawn*

B!tch, please. Just figure out your masculinity issues without having to be publicly performative for approval/affirmation. Thanks so much.

If there were fewer dominant males strongly influencing what is, and isn't, appropriate for women to enjoy/support, women's sports would have a bigger piece of the cultural pie. Even more pressing, if more women weren't so effing hellbent on capitulating to the attitudes if their insecure men the entire PLANET would be better off!

Just sayin'.

Whew. This comes across as quite an insult to women who watch sports. The sports loving women in my life would strongly disagree that their choices are dictated or even influenced by what the men in their lives approve of. Maybe a long time ago, but not now. Even moreso for media. They do not capitulate for approval.

I'm sure the answer will be we're all just speaking our 1000 yr old ingrained bias, which of course, is a sweeping generalization no one could argue with.

I can't explain it culturally except I must be a horrible, irretrievably biased caveman. But I just don't enjoy the W the way I enjoy women's college bball. I suspect it has to do with exactly not getting to know or care about players individually. There's probably something about having them under the unifying banner of a University we care about that makes all the difference. I feel the same way about the NBA and former Vols playing there btw. Care enough to casually keep up and watch if convenient, but not faithfully.

The summer season for the W is a huge problem for me. I'm traveling and outdoors as much as humanly (caveman humanly) possible in the summer. Since the tv coverage is so spotty and hard to find, recording games and watching later isn't appealing either. Yet I sure don't want the W season moved to compete w college ball. That would make the W dead to me. It's one of several seemingly intractable problems the W has like the terrible chicken and egg dilemia of expansion to keep fan faves fm college on rosters. Everyone would love that, but impossible to do without the money and fan support which is currently woefully lacking.

I'm going to try again to overcome my inborn awfulness and give the W another go this summer. But honestly, I'm not optimistic.

 

[glv98]

Alexis Morris, like some of her teammates at LSU, is just a loose cannon unfortunately aimed in her own direction. The WNBA vets and coaches are understandably not happy with her trail of droppings. Also licking their chops at what's likely to happen to her overseas in the leagues she seems to think she'll waltz over and dominate. Others cut at the same time, like Diamond Battles and Traylor fm Va Tech have made a point of being gracious and appreciative. Vowed to keep working hard, acknowledged the vets have been thru the same struggles, and were grateful for the opportunity.

Morris knew from the first practice (probably before) she wasn't likely to make it, which is why she immediately blasted Mulkey for not getting her ready. She has shown herself to be entitled, unwilling to take responsibility, and not mature enough for the situation. Which is ironic, also a self own, since Morris was one of the oldest college players at 23. Instead of taking a 5th yr at her 4th school, perhaps she should have moved on and given some HS recruit a chance.

Most of all, Diamond Deshields had it right. At draft time, she advised all draftees to PUT DOWN THE PHONE and not consult Coach Twitter at all. Jordan Horston got the message. Ole Big Time Luther did not.

 

[lvocd]

Whew. This comes across as quite an insult to women who watch sports.

It does, and it's not untrue. It's less to do with "women's sports" than it is to do with patriarchal society and competition among women for male approval and support. Progress has been made, sure. But not enough.

 

[lvocd]

The summer season for the W is a huge problem for me.

It's the Leftovers League. The season happens when there would be arenas available and not regularly needed for use by men.

 

[knoxvol52]

As far as the WNBA in general, my feeling, sadly, is that young girls may need to fundamentally re-think their dreams as far as what their lives could be if only they work hard enough to get drafted into the WNBA. I have a feeling that a major shift in reality has occurred, and that, going forward, the W will be far less "the dream" it once was. This change has been steadily building over the last 5-8 years, but this year it seems to have taken full hold.

The WNBA is at a major crossroads. Unfortunately, its main roadblock to success is literally thousands of years of fully-ingrained sexism and the desire of too many women to take on the attitudes of their men in order to be attractive partners. This, IMO, is more the reason more women don't better support women's sports than anything else, and so that's why this whole damn thing is so depressing. Same dynamic usually prevails in politics.

That and the absolute FACT that the overwhelming, by FAR, majority of the media figures making daily decisions about what is and isn't worthy of coverage/attention is about 80/20 run by men -- and many of THOSE are, unfortunately, inherently sexist. I speak from nearly a half-century of experience in this field.

So what we have is not as easy as easy to pinpoint as "nobody cares about the WNBA," but is, in reality, more that "the men typically running the show have their unspoken rules as to what they do and do not see as important/watchable" based on their personal desires to remain true and respected and relevant among their majority-male peer groups, and that every decision regarding coverage, every printed/posted commentary, every conversation both public and private, is a result of that unspoken, inherently awful and sexist bias. There is bias amid even those who truly want NOT to be biased, but thousands of years of ingrained bias is not easily overcome.

IMO, women's sports viewership suffers predominantly from lack of connection to fans who bother to get to know the players as people, and also that (heterosexual) female viewers are often tacitly discouraged from supporting women's sports by their male partners who are the typical "neckbeards" or are (usually unbeknownst to themselves) often incredibly so insecure in their own masculinity that they go way overboard in diminishing female athletic pursuits.

These are often the trolls who show up in threads only to proudly state that "nobody cares," or ""women's basketball sucks," or some such. *yawn*

B!tch, please. Just figure out your masculinity issues without having to be publicly performative for approval/affirmation. Thanks so much.

If there were fewer dominant males strongly influencing what is, and isn't, appropriate for women to enjoy/support, women's sports would have a bigger piece of the cultural pie. Even more pressing, if more women weren't so effing hellbent on capitulating to the attitudes if their insecure men the entire PLANET would be better off!

Just sayin'.

Last time I checked women have their own minds and they definitely don't listen to men on what to watch or what sport to be a fan of this isn't the 50's and 60's the days of Joan Cleaver are gone but that was a nice paragraph lol

 

[knoxvol52]

It does, and it's not untrue. It's less to do with "women's sports" than it is to do with patriarchal society and competition among women for male approval and support. Progress has been made, sure. But not enough.

Sounds like your a Physchology major

 

[glv98]

Oh no now it's Izzy H out w knee problems. Dang.

 

[madtownvol]

As noted in prior comment from another poster,more women watch NBA than WNBA and if product is so good why doesn't they have a set TV deal with a major network.ESPN has them because they have to show something during summer oh yes it's on ION this year that channel is watched a lot

1. ABC and the ESPN bundle is a major network. The NHL has the same deal dude.
2. Lots of sports are getting into streaming. Cable is dying. The ION deal looks great for the WNBA from an exposure and revenue standpoint.
WNBA's new TV deal, explained: 3 reasons why the partnership with Ion is a win for the league

3. The NBA audience is generally much larger so yeah, it probably draws more women. But so what? What the WNBA care about is that the last 2 seasons have seen significant increases in viewership and attendance, which again opposite of your initial point that you think the league is gonna fold because honestly people watch golf in the Summer blah, blah. I am not sure why you are so personally vested in the idea that the WNBA is a failure but you can keep moving those goalposts but it does not change the facts.

 

[knoxvol52]

1. ABC and the ESPN bundle is a major network. The NHL has the same deal dude.
2. Lots of sports are getting into streaming. Cable is dying. The ION deal looks great for the WNBA from an exposure and revenue standpoint.
WNBA's new TV deal, explained: 3 reasons why the partnership with Ion is a win for the league

3. The NBA audience is generally much larger so yeah, it probably draws more women. But so what? What the WNBA care about is that the last 2 seasons have seen significant increases in viewership and attendance, which again opposite of your initial point that you think the league is gonna fold because honestly people watch golf in the Summer blah, blah. I am not sure why you are so personally vested in the idea that the WNBA is a failure but you can keep moving those goalposts but it does not change the facts.

Thanks for your advice I will keep it in mind

 

[madtownvol]

As far as the WNBA in general, my feeling, sadly, is that young girls may need to fundamentally re-think their dreams as far as what their lives could be if only they work hard enough to get drafted into the WNBA. I have a feeling that a major shift in reality has occurred, and that, going forward, the W will be far less "the dream" it once was. This change has been steadily building over the last 5-8 years, but this year it seems to have taken full hold.

The WNBA is at a major crossroads. Unfortunately, its main roadblock to success is literally thousands of years of fully-ingrained sexism and the desire of too many women to take on the attitudes of their men in order to be attractive partners. This, IMO, is more the reason more women don't better support women's sports than anything else, and so that's why this whole damn thing is so depressing. Same dynamic usually prevails in politics.

That and the absolute FACT that the overwhelming, by FAR, majority of the media figures making daily decisions about what is and isn't worthy of coverage/attention is about 80/20 run by men -- and many of THOSE are, unfortunately, inherently sexist. I speak from nearly a half-century of experience in this field.

So what we have is not as easy as easy to pinpoint as "nobody cares about the WNBA," but is, in reality, more that "the men typically running the show have their unspoken rules as to what they do and do not see as important/watchable" based on their personal desires to remain true and respected and relevant among their majority-male peer groups, and that every decision regarding coverage, every printed/posted commentary, every conversation both public and private, is a result of that unspoken, inherently awful and sexist bias. There is bias amid even those who truly want NOT to be biased, but thousands of years of ingrained bias is not easily overcome.

IMO, women's sports viewership suffers predominantly from lack of connection to fans who bother to get to know the players as people, and also that (heterosexual) female viewers are often tacitly discouraged from supporting women's sports by their male partners who are the typical "neckbeards" or are (usually unbeknownst to themselves) often incredibly so insecure in their own masculinity that they go way overboard in diminishing female athletic pursuits.

These are often the trolls who show up in threads only to proudly state that "nobody cares," or ""women's basketball sucks," or some such. *yawn*

B!tch, please. Just figure out your masculinity issues without having to be publicly performative for approval/affirmation. Thanks so much.

If there were fewer dominant males strongly influencing what is, and isn't, appropriate for women to enjoy/support, women's sports would have a bigger piece of the cultural pie. Even more pressing, if more women weren't so effing hellbent on capitulating to the attitudes of their insecure men the entire PLANET would be better off!

Just sayin'.

I am not sure why all the angst. WNBA Roster cuts are an annual event. Nothing has changed. It is unfortunate that some LVs were casualties but there are only a 144 roster spots in the WNBA. The league is looking to expand by 2025 or 2026 so there will be 12 to 24 more slots open.

On the brighter side the new WNBA bargaining agreement has improved players salaries and travel conditions. Ratings and attendance are up. The league has cut a new streaming deal which will greatly expand its audience reach. And the WNBA has finally become a more established entity in the sports media conversation. Yes, things could be better but the league is currently in the best place it has ever been.

 

[madtownvol]

Thanks for your advice I will keep it in mind

Glad to help.

 

[knoxvol52]

Glad to help.

Lol

 

[knoxvol52]

I am not sure why all the angst. WNBA Roster cuts are an annual event. Nothing has changed. It is unfortunate that some LVs were casualties but there are only a 144 roster spots in the WNBA. The league is looking to expand by 2025 or 2026 so there will be 12 to 24 more slots open.

On the brighter side the new WNBA bargaining agreement has improved players salaries and travel conditions. Ratings and attendance are up. The league has cut a new streaming deal which will greatly expand its audience reach. And the WNBA has finally become a more established entity in the sports media conversation. Yes, things could be better but the league is currently in the best place it has ever been.

WNBA season kicks off tomorrow night primetime on ESPN2,let's see what the ratings are after tomorrow night.They are competing with Regionals of softball,TheVols playing S.C. tomorrow evening,The PGA championship replay for those who worked,Heat-Celtics game and Hockey playoffs oh and the abundance of MLB games where you think they finish in the pecking order serious question

 

[glv98]

I am not sure why all the angst. WNBA Roster cuts are an annual event. Nothing has changed. It is unfortunate that some LVs were casualties but there are only a 144 roster spots in the WNBA. The league is looking to expand by 2025 or 2026 so there will be 12 to 24 more slots open.

On the brighter side the new WNBA bargaining agreement has improved players salaries and travel conditions. Ratings and attendance are up. The league has cut a new streaming deal which will greatly expand its audience reach. And the WNBA has finally become a more established entity in the sports media conversation. Yes, things could be better but the league is currently in the best place it has ever been.

LV fans are very use to painful W cuts. The angst is coming mostly from 2 SEC schools whose fans have become the lethal combo of totally entitled and perpetually victimized. The prez of LSU took to Twitter to agree with the painfully immature Morris and her frankly dumb, career ending tweets. Helicopter So Car fans gonna totally boycott over Beal.

I don't agree that the W's outlook is quite so rosy so the argument of the entitled that team expansion is the easy answer doesn't seem so obvious to me. Possibly roster expansions to 14, but even that seems a stretch. The league is at the mercy of rich people willing to make a very shaky investment. Not a great place to be.

 

[chuckiepoo]

LV fans are very use to painful W cuts. The angst is coming from mostly from 2 SEC schools whose fans have become the lethal combo of totally entitled and perpetually victimized. The prez of LSU took to Twitter to agree with the painfully immature Morris and her frankly dumb, career ending tweets. Helicopter So Car fans gonna totally boycott over Beal.

I don't agree that the W's outlook is quite so rosy so the argument of the entitled that team expansion is the easy answer doesn't seem so obvious to me. Possibly roster expansions to 14, but even that seems a stretch. The league is at the mercy of rich people willing to make a very shaky investment. Not a great place to be.

Consider the Comets. Strong organization. Strong management. Strong coach. Strong roster. After winning the first four straight championships since the league began, they fell off slightly with the retirement of Cynthia Cooper, in 2001. They remained competitive, reaching the playoffs with the exception of 2004 until Les Alexander sold the team in January 2007. Van Chancellor left to coach LSU and Carroll Dawson left as GM. The strong organization was no more. The team was dissolved in 2008.
Houston Comets - Wikipedia
I still root for Candace and LVFLs when they play but rarely seeking out game times or schedules. As posted earlier, lots of sports entertainment options out there this time of year.

 

[knoxvol52]

LV fans are very use to painful W cuts. The angst is coming from mostly from 2 SEC schools whose fans have become the lethal combo of totally entitled and perpetually victimized. The prez of LSU took to Twitter to agree with the painfully immature Morris and her frankly dumb, career ending tweets. Helicopter So Car fans gonna totally boycott over Beal.

I don't agree that the W's outlook is quite so rosy so the argument of the entitled that team expansion is the easy answer doesn't seem so obvious to me. Possibly roster expansions to 14, but even that seems a stretch. The league is at the mercy of rich people willing to make a very shaky investment. Not a great place to be.

Rich people don't invest in something they don't thinks profitable

 

[lvocd]

Last time I checked women have their own minds and they definitely don't listen to men on what to watch or what sport to be a fan of this isn't the 50's and 60's the days of Joan Cleaver are gone but that was a nice paragraph lol

You are out of touch with reality.

 

[lvocd]

Also, knoxvol, I have vast personal experience seeing how women's sports are covered in media and who is making the overwhelming majority of the daily decisions about what is covered.

 

[knoxvol52]

Also, knoxvol, I have vast personal experience seeing how women's sports are covered in media and who is making the overwhelming majority of the daily decisions about what is covered.

You are out of touch with reality.

Opinion board you don't like it don't reply to it

 

[knoxvol52]

Opinion board you don't like it don't reply to it

I'm glad you have experience cudos to you

 

[knoxvol52]

Also, knoxvol, I have vast personal experience seeing how women's sports are covered in media and who is making the overwhelming majority of the daily decisions about what is covered.

Thats good happy for you

 

[volnationnj]

Also, knoxvol, I have vast personal experience seeing how women's sports are covered in media and who is making the overwhelming majority of the daily decisions about what is covered.

Virtually every decision made by a network is based on financial considerations. If the networks thought they could make money on a sport, they would cover it. That's true regardless of what gender happens to be playing.

 

[Darth_Vol]

Consider the Comets. Strong organization. Strong management. Strong coach. Strong roster. After winning the first four straight championships since the league began, they fell off slightly with the retirement of Cynthia Cooper, in 2001. They remained competitive, reaching the playoffs with the exception of 2004 until Les Alexander sold the team in January 2007. Van Chancellor left to coach LSU and Carroll Dawson left as GM. The strong organization was no more. The team was dissolved in 2008.
Houston Comets - Wikipedia

Ironically the ONE team that was actually enjoyable to watch in the history of the WNBA, IMO...

 

[ttharp]

Looks like Jordy made the 12-player, opening day roster!

I'm glad she'll at least get a chance to show what she can do. Noelle Quinn seems to be high on her. I hope Pokey Chatman plays a role in her development so she can stick around in the league for a while.