"Two no-names"

[DblT81]

http://www.courant.com/sports/hc-jeffcol0406.artapr06,0,6742168.column?coll=hc-utility-sports

Is having two relative no-names in the women's championship bad, too?

Let's be honest here, beyond Tennessee and UConn, everybody is a relative no-name in the national sports consciousness. When they play, the TV numbers are better. When they play, the story lines are better defined, the rivalry bettered stoked. :mad: [That is the biggest pile of... of... garbage I've ever read in an article about women's basketball. Oh wait, it gets worse...] :mad:

"I think in the short term it's not good for the sport," said Doris Burke of ESPN, one of the game's premier analysts. :rolleyes: "From a fan's perspective, if you have a powerhouse, somebody who is considered a dynasty, Connecticut, Tennessee, those are compelling stories. But obviously in the long term, for the viability of the sport as a whole, and credibility issues, I think that two other teams are competing is good.

Doris Burke and Jeff Jacobs have just shown themselves to be two of the bigger media idiots that exist. I'm sorry. This makes me so angry that I can't even write it down.

[Beerman]

And they wonder why we think there's an east coast/ESPN bias. :rolleyes:

I've talked with Ryan H many times about where ESPN gets it in their head that it's not just UConn and Tenn fans that want those teams in the finals every year.

ESPN obviously thinks it's true, but I have yet to figure out why.

Ryan thinks it's the almighty $$$...not that he agrees with it...just that for some reason ESPN thinks they make more money when UConn and Tenn are involved.

It's very strange. :eek:

[Marlene]

I have just sent an e-mail to Jeff Jacobs telling him to "Get over it! Connecticut wasn't good enought this year; neither was Tennessee. Teams in the Midwest and the Big 12 know how to play basketball too. There is no God given right for Connecticut and Tennessee to play in the Final Four every year even if the East Coast elite believe it is their due."

[YemenBear]

This written just to blow off some steam. The Baylor vs. Michigan State final game wasn't scheduled for live broadcast on the Orbit ESPN listing for North Africa & the Middle East. Still, I held out some hope it was an error and the game would in fact be shown live.

Time for tip-off arrives, and sure enough there I'm looking at the Lady Bears warming up.....for their semi-final game against LSU. Now someone please tell me, does it make any sense to show a delayed broadcast of a game that's two days old when at the very same time the championship game is being played live?!?! Persons responsible for program scheduling are pure genius (heavy sarcasm). The good news (although bittersweet) is that I'll get to see the championship game on delayed broadcast via ESPN tonight. I'm just astounded at such a HUGE bone-headed blunder in not showing the championship game live. Instead, Orbit ESPN deems viewers more interested in seeing a two-day old semi-final contest.

I raised myself from my sleep-induced stupor, put on my ball cap to hide the bed head, slipped on my jeans and t-shirt, then bundled up my computer at 2:30 in the morning before heading out to my neighborhood 24-hour internet cafe to listen to the internet broadcast. How much nicer it would have been to have seen the game played live within the comfort of my own apartment. As happy as I am with the national championship, it would have been so much sweeter to have watched the game unfold live on the TV. It would be an easier pill to swallow had they shown another live sporting event....soccer for example. But the semi-final match that's two days old? Dumb is the nicest word I can come up with.

[stever]

...here's another "article" to offend both Baylor & MSU fans:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7399407/

[Bball Girl]

The only way to shut up this nonsense is to change it...

we need to have two more no-names in the NC next season and the next season, we need our teams to play the kind of schedule Tennessee plays year after year, we need to get more Big 12 and Big 10 teams in the NC. We need to keep UConn and Tenn at home by competing with them and beating them time after time. We need to raise the bar of excellence for all of our programs until a new champion every year becomes old hat...just like it is in the men's program.

We need Tenn and UConn to be like the UCLA of John Wooden's day...he raised the bar for men's ball, UConn and Tenn have done the same for womens, it's time we all leaped over that bar.

[catladyok]

Granted, the game would have been more exciting if the score had been a lot closer there at the end. Keeps our adrenalin level up and all. But would a Tennessee/UConn game really have generated more interest this year?After the way both of these teams performed in the tournament I doubt that the ratings would be any better than those of the Bowflex infomercial. Sure, each one of the traditional powerhouses just might get back to its former self and play for the championship game next year. They've got the players, they've got the coaches - plus everything else it takes to rise to the top. But they just didn't get it done this year, so they need to deal with it. And so does the media.

I'm sure that a lot of fans thought that last night's game was too boring to watch and that's fine. Bring on Tenn or UConn and let them get blown out by the Lady Bears and see if they like it any better! If their team does well in the tourney next year they just might get their wish.

And as for ESPN, well - I'm sorry that you 'didn't get the matchup you wanted.' It required a lot more effort on your part to get ready for the game. You didn't have all the contact phone numbers at your fingertips. You didn't have all the film footage pre-edited. You had to find someone else in the crowd to interview besides Diana Taurasi. If it was too much of a strain, well, why don't you let Fox Sports Network buy out the remainder of your contract with the NCAA? They don't mind doing a little unexpected last-minute preparation. They're used to it.

[sejstad]

Aaargh! I thought I wouldn't get sucked into some blowhard account of what's wrong with women's basketball. But Filip Bondy writes that the lack of drama in last night's championship demonstrates immaturity in the women's game. That really irritates me. Real drama exists at every level of women's hoops. With and without the UConn/Tennessee contributions. Decidedly without Filip Bondy's validation.

Next time the Super Bowl is a dud, I'll be sure to attribute it to the immature state of American football.

[Marlene]

Here's an article by the NY Times' Harvey Araton that, I think, is better.


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/sports/sportsspecial/06araton.html


And another by the Washington Post's Sally Jenkins

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28574-2005Apr6.html

[PeachBasket]

I want to suggest that media reaction doesn't necessarily reflect fan reactions. (I'm a mostly lurker UConn fan, I found this site at the time of the UConn-OU final.)

The media may be making a big deal out of the fact that that UConn and Tennessee weren't there, but please don't assume that UConn fans are bemoaning reality. While we were racking up championships with DT, the media attention to that dominance obscured fundamental changes that were happening in WCBB. The WNBA effect began to emerge, girls motivated to improve their skills by the dream of being a pro player strengthened the game at its most grassroots level, vastly broadening the recruiting pool. Both the pool of consistently competitive programs, and the pool of periodically competitive programs has been growing rapidly as a result. Every UConn fan paying attention knew that with Diana gone this was going to be the beginning of a transition period not just for the Huskies but for WCBB as well. I don't think most UConn fans at the start of the season expected to get further than we did, and there's been little to no wailing, gnashing of teeth and rending of garments at the Boneyard. Just a lot of love for our girls and looking forward to the future.

The days of the UConn/Tennessee closed shop are gone forever. I find it's easy to take these changes in stride, as there's no reason to be afraid of the new reality. What's gone before is a memory, a time to be forever treasured by UConn fans, but as WCBB grows, there's no reason to doubt that UConn WBB will continue to grow right along with it. The people and the programs that have achieved such astounding things are still in place, still in their prime. There will be a lot more years when we don't win the championships, but that's just normal. I'm thinking most teams still won't be happy to see us in their bracket.

It makes no sense to resent the changes; new challenges, new systems, perhaps new rivalries to be built, these are good and healthy things in college sports of any kind. I became a UConn fan when Rebecca Lobo enrolled there (she was from my nowheresville hometown), and the Huskies were the newcomers then. How can I resent others for having that same moment of astonished joy now that we had back then? Baylor showed their heart in the LSU game, their will in the MSU game, they earned their championship and they deserve every bit of acclaim they get.

And we'll see y'all in Boston next year ;-)

[Marlene]

Nice Post, Peach Basket. Thanks.

[Marquette Fan]

Aaargh! I thought I wouldn't get sucked into some blowhard account of what's wrong with women's basketball. But Filip Bondy writes that the lack of drama in last night's championship demonstrates immaturity in the women's game. That really irritates me. Real drama exists at every level of women's hoops. With and without the UConn/Tennessee contributions. Decidedly without Filip Bondy's validation.

Next time the Super Bowl is a dud, I'll be sure to attribute it to the immature state of American football.

This is one of the things that annoys me the most about the media when it comes to women's basketball. They take something they see in one game and attribute the characteristics of it to the whole sport (and I'm not even talking about his point here - just the broad generalizations). I remember being in Cincy in 1997 for the women's Final 4 and one of the columnists there wrote about all the ills of women's bball based on a low scoring regional final he had watched between ODU and someone - think it was Florida. I grew up in Cincy and they never covered women's sports there so this guy was just tuning in b/c he had to with the Women's Final 4 in town. The example I always use is Wisconsin's men slowdown play - they only scored about 36 points in an NCAA game against SMS a few years back and no one was talking about how that set the sport of men's basketball back but I bet some people would see a women's game like that and say that about women's bball. I think UW even lost in the Final 4 scoring something like only 44 points - people will say they don't like their style of play but never attribute the problems they have to the whole sport.

OK - end of rant now :-) - time for work...

[Bball Girl]

Thanks PeachBasket for a great post..

We're a tad jaded here about UConn and Tenn...more because we've had them shoved down our throat at the expense of coverage of anyone else. But we all know and appreciate (down deep) what Tennessee and UConn have done for WBB.

I just hope we can all follow it up now with terrific women's basketball. I was disappointed that the NC game was not closer. Baylor played beautiful ball and anyone with a clue would see it and relish it if they truly love the sport.

That's the difference between the fans and some of the media...we love WBB, they love the sensation and the annual Geno v. fill in the blank show and they got all their stories and pictures prepped and then couldn't use them.

I was REALLY proud of Chelsea who talked about how terrific the Big 12 was and how it prepared them to play their way to a NC.

[catladyok]

PeachBasket,

I'd like to add my apologies to you as well. I truly appreciate the contributions that UConn and Tennessee have made to women's basketball - and are continuing to make. But there are times when I resent it when the media implies (and sometimes comes out and actually says) that the championship game 'lacks drama' just because neither UConn nor Tennessee is involved. Some of these people have so little enthusiasm for women's basketball that they would just as soon be covering a cowchip-throwing contest in western Oklahoma. And this is what is getting us so riled up.

Looking at the big picture, however, I can see that I should be grateful that women's basketball is getting as much coverage as it's getting now. It wasn't so many years ago that the coverage was zilch! I will try to show a little more patience from now on. And I hope to live long enough to see the day when everybody will be excited about a women's basketball game, regardless of which teams are on the court!

Thanks for posting, PeachBasket. You gave us some good food for thought, and we appreciate your input!

[PeachBasket]

I certainly can appreciate where your frustration comes from. The media are by and large phenomenally ignorant when it comes to WCBB, and fans of underappreciated programs have good reason to be more than a bit peeved with the coverage, or lack thereof, that they get. Probably no conference has been so unfairly underrecognized as the Big 12. Several programs consistantly in the Top 10, programs that draw large crowds year in year out, and practically zilch coverage. Hopefully this Baylor championship will open some eyes among the "professionals" and "analysts". If such a decisive championship run doesn't do it, I can't imagine what might.

And thanks to all for your gracious responses! There's a reason I've been visiting this board for years, and that's the quality of the posters here.

[vickie1ok]

And they wonder why we think there's an east coast/ESPN bias. :rolleyes:

I've talked with Ryan H many times about where ESPN gets it in their head that it's not just UConn and Tenn fans that want those teams in the finals every year.

ESPN obviously thinks it's true, but I have yet to figure out why.

Ryan thinks it's the almighty $$$...not that he agrees with it...just that for some reason ESPN thinks they make more money when UConn and Tenn are involved.

ESPN may make more money on these teams because they MARKET them on the air. It's about damn time ESPN market's the SPORT, not UCONN. The SPORT is what is putting butts in seats in Big 12 country, Big 10 country, and so on. Not UCONN.

ESPN needs to realize their homer mentality is only holding back ratings and MONEY. It never ceases to amaze me how stupid business people really are.