Filed under: Basketball
Mystics player Marissa Coleman said: "The only two times I've noticed who was courtside was when LeBron was here, and obviously today. And today's was even worse. It's just kind of a surreal thing to look over and see the President of the United States sitting courtside."
Call me silly, but I think that the president is making an incredibly important symbolic statement by taking his daughter to see a WNBA game. Although the talent of the WNBA is remarkable, much of the country has not taken women's basketball as seriously as we take the men. Some of this might be due to the fact that there is a lot more dunking in a men's game, but the fundamentals, the competition and the excitement of the WNBA are every bit as strong.
The WNBA still finds itself struggling financially. There are some teams who make a profit, while quite a few others face continuous losses. What's also interesting is that under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, the maximum salary a player can earn is $101,000 per year, which is nothing compared to the tens of millions of dollars earned by the men. Much of the differential in earning power is directly correlated to the fact that fans are far more likely to go see the men than the are to see the women. This is unfortunate.
I argue that the rest of us should take the president's lead: Take your kids to a WNBA game at least once a year if there is a team near your hometown. Also, when you are looking for good basketball in the summer time, keep the dial on the WNBA game and try to get into it. What you're likely to find is that the women in this league are absolutely awesome, without all the egos attached.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the Athlete Liberation and Academic Reform Movement (ALARM). To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.