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How can the WNBA problem be fixed?
![[image loading]](https://a.espncdn.com/photo/2019/0408/r526103_1296x729_16-9.png)
It has been 23 years, but the WNBA might as well just be a regular weekday gradeschool girls' basketball little 3-day league in Wyoming. I mean come on! What can the NBA do to fix the problem.
But first, a poll:
What kind of an WNBA fan are you?
Poll: What kind of an WNBA fan are you?1. What's WNBA? Don't know don't care (2) 50% 2. I watch when I happen to tv surf into a game (2) 50% 3. I know the teams and I watch occasionally (0) 0% 4. I have favorite players and teams, and I follow them regularly (0) 0% 5. WNBA Stan (0) 0% 4 total votes Your vote: What kind of an WNBA fan are you? (Vote): 1. What's WNBA? Don't know don't care
(Vote): 2. I watch when I happen to tv surf into a game
(Vote): 3. I know the teams and I watch occasionally
(Vote): 4. I have favorite players and teams, and I follow them regularly
(Vote): 5. WNBA Stan
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Is that a troll post or what?
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On August 22 2019 12:29 cLutZ wrote:
Is that a troll post or what?
Serious. I mean Its over 2 decades old and its not taking off, and current projections predict its steeper downhill in the next 2-3 years. It's practically a cash drain for the NBA.
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I was going to say, maybe they could put WNBA games in the NBA offseason, I have no basketball to watch and I'm sad. But then I realized there were precisely a bunch of games just yesterday, that's how little I know about the WNBA. I think it's very enjoyable to watch when I stumble upon it though.
How would I go about watching it from Europe? Also likely without paying for it :D.
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I think they need to get women interested and watching. I think this is true of most women sprts I hear tons about ewual pay but as long as men are the only ones watching and prefer the mens game I dont see it happening.
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I don't even fit into any of your 5 voting categories. The problem with the WNBA is that basketball is not a good sport for girls. Its like gymnastics. The guys do the rings, ladies do not. It doesn't matter that it would be fair and even if girls faced girls in the rings, it still wouldn't be a good competition. The basketball is fundamentally a sport about jumping and moving side to side quickly. Football is fundamentally a sport about power and size. These are not sports that will ever make sense to put girls in. See, for example, the massive rate of ACL tears for girls bball players. They should just take all the wbball resources and put them into sports based off of Survivor's immunity challenges until they find some that hit.
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On August 22 2019 23:49 cLutZ wrote:
I don't even fit into any of your 5 voting categories. The problem with the WNBA is that basketball is not a good sport for girls. Its like gymnastics. The guys do the rings, ladies do not. It doesn't matter that it would be fair and even if girls faced girls in the rings, it still wouldn't be a good competition. The basketball is fundamentally a sport about jumping and moving side to side quickly. Football is fundamentally a sport about power and size. These are not sports that will ever make sense to put girls in. See, for example, the massive rate of ACL tears for girls bball players. They should just take all the wbball resources and put them into sports based off of Survivor's immunity challenges until they find some that hit.
I used to be strength and conditioning coach for a local community college and the girls soccer and basketball teams got injured at a much higher rate of the men's team. Women's hips being natural more outward and knees being more inward which makes girls more vulnerable to hip, knee, and ankle, injury. On the flipside, Men who participated is dance classes got injured at a much higher rate than the girls did because they are not as flexible. Girls and Boys can train to make those muscles stronger, but they cant out train the skeletal structure of the body.
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I have an orthopaedic surgeon in my family who once carefully explained to me how the female shoulder joint is fundamentally different from the male shoulder joint. It explains why a really skinny Tim Lincedum can weigh 150 lbs and be under 6 feet tall in college and throw a 99 MPH fastball while no woman alive can come close to that speed. Women way bigger, with far longer arms and far more muscle can't come close to what Tim Lincecum did at age 18. And, I think Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd was even smaller than Lincecum. I'm pretty sure Marcus Stroman's 4-seamer is over 95mph. What is he? 5'6" ?
I wonder if its the same for the knee joint? With far wider hips the femur must be at a different angle. So I wonder if the knee joint of women is fundamentally different leading to very different injury patterns than men experience.
I think the WNBA players need to do what every other pro athlete does. Travel to where the money is. The best Canadian soccer players aren't going to make their best money on the continent Canada is on. They play in Europe or some other far off land to maximize their income. I suggest the WNBA players do the same thing.
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Where is the money for female basketball players though? I'm not sure the demand for female bball is higher elsewhere.
I'm also really not in favor of the solutions based on changing the ruleset for women that you see proposed sometimes. Like lower rims. First, they themselves don't want that and it's not practical, and second I'm not convinced it would help the watchability. Just because dunks are more frequent doesn't mean they will be impressive, or that it would help getting more viewers.
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On August 23 2019 10:06 ZenithM wrote:
Where is the money for female basketball players though? I'm not sure the demand for female bball is higher elsewhere.
I'm also really not in favor of the solutions based on changing the ruleset for women that you see proposed sometimes. Like lower rims. First, they themselves don't want that and it's not practical, and second I'm not convinced it would help the watchability. Just because dunks are more frequent doesn't mean they will be impressive, or that it would help getting more viewers.
I completely agree, I would no more watch 10 year olds dunk on 8 foot rims as women dunk on 9 foot. It is not the dunk that it is impressive, it is the athleticism that is required to pull off that dunk.
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On August 23 2019 10:06 ZenithM wrote:
Where is the money for female basketball players though? I'm not sure the demand for female bball is higher elsewhere.
I'm also really not in favor of the solutions based on changing the ruleset for women that you see proposed sometimes. Like lower rims. First, they themselves don't want that and it's not practical, and second I'm not convinced it would help the watchability. Just because dunks are more frequent doesn't mean they will be impressive, or that it would help getting more viewers.
russia/china/turkey pays more, but i'd say most articles i read never say anything about how they could afford to pay higher. it said some teams are backed by governments, some have rich owners who dont care about losing money on a women's team. which is kinda like dota, u got some owners who dont care, they just want the best and winning.
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On August 23 2019 01:06 JimmyJRaynor wrote:
I wonder if its the same for the knee joint? With far wider hips the femur must be at a different angle. So I wonder if the knee joint of women is fundamentally different leading to very different injury patterns than men experience.
For women that are especially tall as in basketball, it exacerbates the chance of injury. Then longer a woman's legs are, then longer the hips are away from the knee, leaving more room for the muscles around the femur and patella to move thus increasing the odds of a sprain, break, tear, fracture, laceration, strain, etc.
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TIL, women and injuries. I'll admit, after Lisa Leslie and Loeb early in the WNBA, I havent watched a literal minute of WNBA.
@cLutz. what category would you be in?
@JJ, you seem well connected in the sports/sports science industry, and you obviously have the aptitude and interest, why dont you work in sports?
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Luke Walton dodged a bullet.
i guess more shots will be fired when the civil lawsuit commences.
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On August 23 2019 22:20 Twinkle Toes wrote:
TIL, women and injuries. I'll admit, after Lisa Leslie and Loeb early in the WNBA, I havent watched a literal minute of WNBA.
@cLutz. what category would you be in?
@JJ, you seem well connected in the sports/sports science industry, and you obviously have the aptitude and interest, why dont you work in sports?
I would be in "don't care" but because people pretend its a super cool sport and isn't a meat grinder for naive teenage girls, I actively dislike it.
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On August 23 2019 10:06 ZenithM wrote:
Where is the money for female basketball players though? I'm not sure the demand for female bball is higher elsewhere.
i think women basketball players are paid more in Europe, Japan, and Australia.
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Team Canada too, we could have a team full of NBA players. So mamy dropped out from NA!
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the same thing is kinda happening in hockey as well. For years certain NHLers said they were going to the Olympics whether or not the NHL allowed it. None of them went. Maybe the olympics will come completely full circle and be given back to the amateur athletes because the pros have better things to do.
oh, and btw.. Ordell Robbie has Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors..
+ Show Spoiler +right here in his Raptor Bag.
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WCS![[image loading]](https://preview.redd.it/ukjgrzcrc3i31.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=b61732afa325a5dcf45b4dd597fee3c5a7f02d6b)
