WNBA On The Rise

We’re currently in the midst of the 2016 WNBA finals with the Los Angeles Sparks vs. the Minnesota Lynx. The league’s two best teams at the moment are currently tied 1-1 with game 3 set for Friday. But this isn’t an article breaking down the series. This article is about the WNBA as a whole. It’s true that the WNBA will never be the NBA or NFL or MLB or even the NHL. However, at this point, anybody that has sat down and actually taken the time to watch WNBA games has to admit to themselves it’s become a pretty good product. In the past, the WNBA has been the butt of many male sports fans’ jokes. It used to be cool whenever a WNBA game was on to throw a jab and say how nobody cares or nobody is watching. Honestly, the criticism back in the 2000s was warranted. The WNBA overall just wasn’t a good product to watch. The games weren’t played at a high level, the stands were empty lots of times, and it just wasn’t very exciting to watch.

However, I’m here to tell you things have changed. The WNBA is becoming a legitimate sports league. Ratings and attendance is up and the product is just remarkably better by the eye test.  The WNBA playoffs over the past 3 years especially have been really good. It’s exciting to watch, the fans are there and they’re loud and engaged and it looks like a legitimate professional sports product. The fact of the matter is female basketball players as a whole have gotten better. I’m not saying there hasn’t always been great female basketball players. Players like Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Loren Jackson, Yolanda Griffin, Diana Taurasi and a few others were all all-time great female basketball players. But there has never been a time in the history of the WNBA in my opinion where there was as many great players with star quality as they have now at one time. With players like Nneka Ogwumike, Mya Moore,  Tina Charles, Elena Delle Donne, Angel McCoughtry, Candace Parker,  Breanna Stewart, Brittney Griner, Sylvia Fowles and even veterans who have played over a decade like Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi still playing at a high level the game is in very good hands. That many star players in a league with only 12 teams is pretty good. And as the level of talent in the women’s college game continues to grow so will the WNBA game.

Any idiot out there still making fun of the WNBA is either just an oblivious fool trolling for laughs or a misogynistic sports fan that just doesn’t think women can play sports. I’m not a fan of hockey, but I recognize it’s a good competitive sports league and can be exciting. I just don’t know about all the rules and ins and outs of the game and at this point I’m too lazy to try and educate myself on it. Then there’s the fact that outside of playoff time, their games just aren’t on TV as much as other sports. But my point is I’m not here to condemn anyone for not watching or even liking the WNBA. Watch and like whatever sports you want. But all the jokes I continue to see and hear about the WNBA are just old and outdated at this point. If you’re argument against the WNBA is that it isn’t the NBA, well maybe it isn’t, but we also have to keep in mind the WNBA is still very young. This season is the their 20th season in existence. If you remember the NBA wasn’t that great of a product in it’s 20th season. As a matter of fact, the WNBA right now in it’s 20th season is a lot further along as a league than the NBA was in it’s 20th season. The NBA’s 20th season was the 1965-66 year. That year, the NBA had 8 teams, the WNBA currently has 12. Kinda like the WNBA now, the NBA back then wasn’t garnering huge attention from the sports world. What about the almighty NFL. They’re 20th season was back in 1939 where you had 10 teams and the most popular brand of football was college football. So go ahead and keep it up with your uninformed corny WNBA jokes while their league continues to grow and thrive. I’ll be watching two great teams go at in game 3 on Friday night.