Since the WNBA debuted fourteen years ago, I have mocked it for various reasons, all of them admittedly stereotypical; I knew almost nothing about the league when I first started criticizing it as a teenager and, although I've been to two New York Liberty games in person at Madison Square Garden over the last two seasons, I'm still far from knowledgeable. I can name a handful of players and (I think) all of the teams, and was subconsciously aware that the Phoenix Mercury were the defending champions. I also knew the league had some interesting storylines brewing heading into this season: another team (in addition to the Connecticut Sun) relocating to a non-NBA market (Tulsa, from Detroit), disgraced track star Marion Jones joining the Tulsa Shock, and probably a few that didn't involve the state of Oklahoma, too. Given how much enjoyment I get out of watching the NBA (and, to a lesser extent, men's NCAA hoops), I figured I'd tune in to see the WNBA's top two teams duke it out for a bit.
The first thing I noticed about the game between the Phoenix Mercury and Los Angeles Sparks was that the arena was packed. I've grown accustomed to seeing to U.S. Airways Center overflowing with Suns fans this spring, and the Mercury crowd was similarly passionate and numerous. Other than the fact that the cheers from the crowd were unexpectedly (and, somewhat comically) high-pitched, due to the high number of women and children in the stands as compared to the NBA, it could have been a regular season NBA game. The fans seemed knowledgeable, and the players seemed to appreciate the attention much more than NBA players do (especially during the pregame ring ceremony). When the game opened with Sparks star Candace Parker abusing her man (or, I guess, woman) with a sweet left-handed jump hook (which Dwight Howard could never make in a million years, by the way, though I guess that's not saying much), I had to admit that I was fairly impressed. I even think this season's WNBA marketing campaign is pretty good (shown almost every commercial break probably signifying a lack of advertisers, but still).
Is basketball really basketball? Sure it is.
I didn't watch the whole game*, but I did return in time to see the last few minutes of what ended up being a one-point Mercury win. Overall, the game was well-played, the fans seemed into it, and the athletes were more impressive (especially shooting-wise) than you might expect. For a 26 year-old male, is it as entertaining as the NBA or NCAA men? No, it's not. But as an alternative for families and young women looking for an aspirational sports activity, I think the WNBA games are worthwhile. Combine the impressive play with the fact that the games are a comparatively cheap way to spend a few hours in an NBA-caliber (for most teams, anyway) arena, and I'm kind of looking forward to making it back to a Libery game at MSG this summer. Now that I've watched some WNBA hoops this year, I'll be sure to Expect Solid.
*Note: I watched about 45-minutes of the game in total (the first 35 and the final 10), which is a lot longer than I can sit through most non-Knicks, non-playoff NBA games. I can watch about eight minutes of a regular season Nets game on the YES Network before I find myself flipping over to watch Futurama or South Park reruns on Comedy Central.
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