Open Shots

By Dave Reardon

Monday, June 23, 1997

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WNBAhad its good
and bad points

SATURDAY mornings I usually spend examining the insides of my eyelids. It takes an act of God--not God Shammgod, mind you, but the real one -- to get me out of the sack on my one day to sleep in. But two days ago, I got up early because I had to.

I had to watch the WNBA.

Felt as though I must, like it was my duty--not so much as a sportswriter, but as a sports fan (particularly, a male sports fan) -- to give it a chance. Hey, marketing affects even cynics.

It seems men feel they must be extreme in their feelings about the WNBA. They're either the quiche-eating, fair-minded wimps who know Title IX by heart. Or they're the beer-swilling, sexist pigs who feel women shouldn't play basketball because "chicks can't dunk" (man, they must have loved that try by Lisa Leslie); they're the same guys who would rather provide a scholarship to the fifth string punter than a female softball All-American.

Both of these groups irritate me to no end -- partly because I've never figured out which one I belong with. So I've got a little bit for both of them: reasons why the bleeding hearts need to re-evaluate their take that the WNBA is the cure for cancer (although it may help to find one in its support of breast cancer research), and reasons why the Neanderthals should pop a cold one and check it out.

First, here are the things and people to like about the WNBA:

Judy Mosley-McAfee: The greatest player in the history of the University of Hawaii scored 10 points to help the Sacramento Monarchs win their first game.

Hard defense: In this league, they play it. All the time.

Ann Meyers: Although she made excuses for the sloppy play of the Los Angeles Sparks and the New York Liberty, she knows her stuff and does her homework as a color commentator. She also did a good job when she did UH (men's) games several years ago.

Passing: They always look for the open man, I mean woman.

Kym Hampton: She's the female version of Karl Malone, and she's the main reason why the Liberty beat the Sparks on Saturday.

Something to shoot for: Hopefully this league will be around long enough for Nani Cockett and BJ Itoman to get a chance.

Penny Toler: Remember her doing a number on the Wahine a few years back? The girl's got a game. Simple as that.

Now, here's what and who not to like about the WNBA:

Nike: It should get off the high morality horse and admit that this is about selling shoes.

Bogus "sellouts": Do they think we're stupid? The definition of a sellout is when the tickets for all the seats in the arena have been sold, not just a part of the house.

Hannah Storm: Get this cheerleader off the play-by-play and give us someone who knows something about basketball, like Robin Roberts does.

Overly aggressive marketing attitude: OK, marketing campaigns are designed to get attention and this one got mine. But instead of the in-your-face, "We Got Next" schtick, the league would have been better served by highlighting the attributes of the women's game that the men's doesn't have much of -- pattern offenses, sincere passion for the game and teamwork in general.

Sorry, Rebecca Lobo talking tough about not wanting to play for the Celtics just doesn't cut it.

Lousy shooting: Some misguided folks say women are better outside shooters than men (I'd like to see anyone in this league beat Steve Kerr in a 3-point shootout, or Larry Bird, right now, for that matter). Saturday's Sparks-Liberty brickfest provided a reality check on that theory. And the Charlotte Sting missed their first 13 shots of the second half yesterday.

The idiots who voted Lobo player of the game when the Liberty beat the Sparks: They must have seen too many of her commercials. Lobo shot 6-for-15 from the floor. The real player of the game was the above mentioned Kym Hampton.

Dave Reardon is a magazine editor and freelance
writer who has covered Hawaii sports since 1977.
He can be reached via the Star-Bulletin or
by email at reardon@aloha.com.