by Ethan Johnson
July 14, 2008
I was going to recap at least one WNBA game this weekend, but the New York Liberty game was "okay", the LA Sparks game was webcast-only and therefore impossible to pause or rewind, and the Atlanta Dream game was excised from public consciousness by the Men in Black. If not, then they just haven't gotten to you yet. Since Petrel at Pleasant Dreams demanded it, here's an article about some fixes - real or imagined - that might help the WNBA live long and prosper.
These improvements/suggestions range in complexity, and are presented in no particular order. Stick around for the spirited debate in the comments section! (Insofar as moderated comments allow for spirited rapid-fire debate.)
One: Mandatory free-throw practice. I don't care if you're Candace Parker or Katie Feenstra, free throws make or break a game. If your team employs some sort of Awesome Assemblage that can compensate for 10% free-throw shooting with lots of fast-break points and three-pointers, fantastic. Enjoy your dynasty. Back on Earth, all WNBA teams seem to be (literally) hit and miss from the charity stripe. I was going to dog 6' 8" Katie Feenstra for not being able to palm the ball into the hoop during a recent game, but she scored an amazing (for her) 21 points against Chicago last night with 100% free-throw shooting. I guess that's why she gets paid the big bucks. Anyway, I have heard anecdotal reports that certain teams/players do spend a fair amount of time practicing free throws, only to hurl bricks during the game. I'm not a pro baller, and am barely an amateur baller, but I do remember the free throw drills I did as a youth, and mastering the mechanics did mean a higher FT % than if I did a Dennis Rodman impression and lazily toss the ball up, results be damned. Maybe WNBA teams need a sports psychologist. Who knows.
Two: Improve the WNBA web site - including individual teams learning to harness the web to promote their sport. Helen at the Women's Hoops Blog writes extensively about her least favorite feature, "Courtside MORT!" In my game notes for the recent LA Sparks webcast, I noted that the WNBA site wasn't keeping pace with the score. It froze into the second quarter, displaying the 1st quarter score with about 4 minutes remaining. Uh, no. I don't know if the WNBA got too clever for their own good with web gimmickry, but sheesh, if TV coverage is going to stink for those of us outside of the WNBA home markets, is reasonably timely web-based play-by-play info too much to ask?
As for the individual teams using the web to promote the league, their team, and attract new fans (and retain the ones they have), ultimately this is one part technological solution (use the right platform) and 9 parts "front office has to sit down and figure this out." I won't flatly accuse any team owners of not caring (I reserve that bile for David Stern), but in a fair number of cases, the WNBA isn't their bread and butter. It shows.
Three: Find a way to develop a WNBA video game. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not going to link to that stupid YouTube video that people this is sooooo clever. I wondered if there was a legitimate case to be made that a WNBA video game would not sell, ever, and decided that a good gauge of this claim would be if FIBA has or is planning to develop a video game. Hey, they are. So don't gimme this crap about "nobody cares about women's basketball", as if that's the long and short of the argument. People care even less about FIBA. Did you know that the WNBA is a blend of NBA and FIBA regulations? And that men who play on FIBA teams have the same three-point stripe measurements as WNBA players? I've got your double standard right here.
As an erstwhile gamer (only because we broke down and bought a Wii), I'm here to affirm that sports-themed video games are an excellent way to socialize the game and build a fan base. I didn't think much about Manchester United before playing PES 2008, and now I know all of the players' names, and even a bunch on teams I've never heard of. As for the claim that girls/women don't play video games, oh, I guess Marlena didn't play Wii games with me. I guess the women in line for Wii consoles wanted them for their husbands/kids, and weren't talking about how excited they were about playing the games. Please. As I have found with the PES game, if faced with an unfamiliar team, get a feel for who the good players are and go from there. If the LA Sparks turned up in the next iteration of NBA Live, I think people would grok that Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker are the go-to players. But until the game is actually developed, we'll never know, will we?
Four: Get the men involved. By this, I mean women/girls aren't the sole market for WNBA teams. I checked out the WNBA online store to see what was what, and would have liked, say, a New York Liberty or LA Sparks t-shirt. (Not player jersey. Key distinction.) But they either didn't have my size (XXL, ideally), or plain didn't have anything for men to wear. Many other pro leagues have reached out to women in terms of merchandising, so I don't know why men's apparel is such an apparent afterthought. Lost opportunity, big time. This is an easy fix.
Five: Improve TV coverage. I get that we're living in exciting times, chock full of wall-to-wall sports coverage. As of this writing, I can flip on the TV and follow all sorts of sports: The Tour de France, Major League Baseball, what's Brett Favre going to do with his life (and they say soaps are girly), Arena Football, Major League Soccer... the list goes on. The NBA cannot make the claim that they're too busy right now for the WNBA. It's the NBA off-season, but magically they're airing "summer league" games, adding to the clutter. Well done. This means less available time on the NBA Channel for WNBA games. Worse, if a game is airing on the NBA Channel, this means that all other WNBA games on the schedule are blacked out (on DirecTV). So... where's the WNBA League Pass or whatever? This seems like an easy enough fix, to me. And considering the sheer amount of uh, quality programming that I get whether I want it or not, offering a League Pass isn't going to case DirecTV shares to plummet. I'd like to be able to see teams like the Seattle Storm consistently, instead of once a month, and pixelly because it's a webcast. Fix this.
Six: Explain to me why WNBA games are on ESPN2 and ABC, but don't rate a mention during SportsCenter. Maybe I am talking out my ass here, but random spot-checks of SportsCenter have contained exactly ZERO mentions of WNBA games, on game night or the following morning. Maybe ESPN is busy making good on their "commitment to soccer" and haven't noticed. Major League Soccer has as many teams as the WNBA, and has been around for the same amount of time. If ESPN can find it within themselves to have someone talk over the goals of the day for 30 seconds in a 90-minute SportsCenter broadcast, can they spare 30 more for WNBA highlights? (Be the first on your block to chime in with "'WNBA highlights' is an oxymoron! Hurrrr!" Hilarious.)
Seven: For the love of God and all that is Holy, stop micing coaches during ESPN2 games. This isn't college. This isn't high school. I don't need to know that the coach wants his or her players to "box out", "get the loose ball", and "get the ball to Candace." That's deep. Save it for the halftime or between quarters interview. "Coach, what does this team need to do to come back in the second half?" Gets them every time. Other sports get the "wired" treatment, but it's selective and highly edited. Although hearing an NFL coach "wired" all afternoon could have high entertainment value. Anyway, if the WNBA wants to be viewed as something other than "bush-league", stop micing the coaches. Or else go all in and have a school band for home games.
That's enough for now. I'm sure there are more sure-fire fixes to improve the league that I have neglected to mention, but there has to be something for a sequel, right? Or comments box fodder. Fire away. <EM>
(The full WNBA archive may be found here.)
Here are some of my suggestions:
Eight: Hire full time technical support staff, and not part time. Tomorrow, I'll probably remove the Monarchs official blog because it hasn't been updated in a month. The Houston Comets blog hasn't been updated in two months but it doesn't matter as Hilton Koch probably because the blogger is still waiting for his first check.
Nine: Experiment, experiment, experiment. The XFL, the upstart football league, used the "overhead hanging camera" (which the NFL disdained, but now uses all the time) and the "camera cam" (which never caught on).
The WNBA should be Ground Zero for media experimentation, and experimentation in other areas. Mike a player for the entire game. Mike all the players! Let players wear shorter shorts because actually, some players don't like the superbaggy look. We're not talking about bikini bottoms, just something that you couldn't hide an immigrant family in.
There are so many directions that could be tried. So much that could be done instead of just trying to carbon copy the NBA.
I mean, everyone has an Internetakabob these days! Your web presence is just as important as the door to your front office, even more so.
As for #3, I've been trying to find some sort of text based emulator for NBA games to convert to WNBA...but no dice. Then again, modern videogames are the same as modern bookstores these days -- the floor space is devoted to what they're promoting and what they want you to buy, as opposed to that in which you have an interest.
For #4: Amen, although I have seen a lot of XXLs in Atlanta wearing Ivory Latta jerseys. Some of these women could equal two Ivorys and change.
#6: I hear all these soccer blogs moaning and groaning. "The @#$@#$ WNBA game ran late! No one cares about women's basketball! I missed five minutes of LA Beckhams-DC Chivas because the WNBA game went into overtime!"
Now, I can answer back, "Well, at least ESPN mentions your sport." Although I suppose it could be worse. We could be hockey.