Does anyone here watch the WNBA? I really can't stand the NBA so after trying it a few times I didn't like the women's version any better. Personally I think it both cases college basketball is much more interesting to watch because there's more of a tendancy to play as a team instead of a bunch of showboats going for the ESPN highlight.
Stacey Pressman wrote: Look, I have the utmost respect for women's basketball players -- they're hard-working athletes and inspirational leaders, who could no doubt kick my 5-foot-2 butt. However, I'm just not of the belief that the WNBA is the greatest creation for females since the birth control pill. This league is like the female condom -- a nice idea, but does anyone really even use it?
Personally, I like seeing well played men's basketball where most of the people playing it can't dunk. You tend to see more teamwork, good passing and shooting and more strategy other than "watch me *school* this guy". I'm also not a big fan of the semi-mobile big "buy" who stands near the basket and cherry picks points while all the short guys with skills are stuck feeding him the ball.
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I agree with you on the NBA. It reeks. College sports overall are much better.
I think the problem with the WNBA is that they don't give it enough exposure, and it's only, what, a dozen teams? They play for four months. Quite a few of them are coaches (head or assistant) in college. I love women's basketball. i have season tickets to NC State and have gone to the women's ACC Tournament for the past 4 years. They play better than the men most of the time!
Kelly Antilles wrote:I agree with you on the NBA. It reeks. College sports overall are much better.
I think the problem with the WNBA is that they don't give it enough exposure, and it's only, what, a dozen teams? They play for four months. Quite a few of them are coaches (head or assistant) in college. I love women's basketball. i have season tickets to NC State and have gone to the women's ACC Tournament for the past 4 years. They play better than the men most of the time!
Did you ever see any of the WBA's games? I heard that they were better than the WNBA in that they were more interested in playing real basketball than in being a women's version of the NBA. Certainly the WNBA was marketed better than the WBA when they both started. The first couple years I could even run into WNBA games on tv on a regular basis. Now I hardly know they are playing.
I like college sports much better in general although I think that football and basketball have been influenced strongly by pro-sports so they aren't quite as unique as they used to be. Occassionally some team will do something "old school" interesting in football but in basketball the problem with most of the big name schools is that it's really become about auditioning for the NBA. Don't you just love the tournament teams from smaller schools where they have good players that have been with that team 4-5 years? Imagine what some of these big name schools could do if their best players actually stuck around for 4 years. Of course that's assuming their egos would let them do what the coach wants them to do.
Luckilly, I am hopeful that sooner or later that most high school kids who are just interested in the money will skip right to the pros and colleges will go back to mostly fielding teams from the regular student body + a few people who really want to use sports as a way to get an education. Baseball has been doing it for years and I think the NBA is slowing moving that direction. Football on the other hand....
By the pricking of my thumb,
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"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
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I'm quite the opposite. I used to watch college bball, but then lost interest to the NBA.
I don't really watch bball on TV that much anymore, though. But when I do, I go for my local club, and even then it's not throughout the whole season. I can't really say that in my experience from watching both, that one type was inherently better than the other. I do miss the marquee players like Olajuwon, and Ewing, playing at their peaks and showing tremendous skill in the NBA. *sigh*
I don't see what the big deal is with the WNBA. the games are low scoring. flashy plays are little to none. sure, they are pretty agressive and most play well as a team, but if i wanted to see that i would watch a NCAA game. long story short: WNBA = bland feel-good nonsense created for the sole purpose of boosting the self esteem of 12 year old girls.
"This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we’ll be lucky to live through it.” -Tom Clancy
The majority of pro sports suck. It's a bunch of high-paid idiots who, in football, play one day for 16 weeks, in baskeball, play two or three times a week for something like 32 weeks, and they don't care about the sport.
The bottom line is, the WNBA sucks. Sports, like business, is brutal in it's reality check factor. The players on the WNBA are just not good enough.
I know every one of these players is better than I. So what. Nobody will pay to see me play either. Thje lowesy of the unranked heaveyweight boxers could knock me out, 1, 2, 3. That doesn't mean in the arena they are competing in, they suck.
Mens pro basketball, is just played too hard. The sport, by it's nature, favours the man.(like football, American style)
I keep getting the arguement, that SOME women atheletes are better than Some of the men. Maybe in other sports, that require differnent skills/abilities to win.
NOT at the peak, in the world class. If this were true, there would be no men's and women's sports.
Zaia will beat me, and other men like me,(who don't swin so well) but never beat her male counterpart. Check the records.
I am reminded of a drama, about a young boy, who wanted to be a pro basketball player, but was short. His dad, a failed pro, kept telling him to get an education, because so few make pro. There is a telling scene, where the boy, idolising his father, asks about the pros. Dad tells about how in college, he was THE shit, awesome, and all state champion.
He then goes on to say, when he got to the pros, how EVERYONE was increadable, and good.He then says he knew right tne he wasn't good enough.
The son, defending his father's memory, tearfuly says," But you was great Dad, and all state!"
The father, bursting into tears, exclaims, "They were ALL, all state, just like me! I didn't even make the second cut."
At the peak of competition, only the best are there, and 6 billion are competing. Learning joke. Why is China a depressing place? Because even if you are a one in a million guy, there are ONE THOUSAND just like you.
Hmmmmmm.
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Emperor Chrostas the Crue wrote:Why is China a depressing place? Because even if you are a one in a million guy, there are ONE THOUSAND just like you.
Yes, the competition (academic, business, etc) is brutal. Even middle and high schools requires college-style entrance exams. Every kid wishing to be an engineering student has to work night and day because every aspiring-engineering student is working just as hard ever since middle and high school.
And that's one reason why the people with the means head for Western countries. There are more lazy people around in other countries. That, and much prestigious colleges.
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I don't care about professional sports. I mean, come on here, you pay to watch some guy (or girl in this case) play sports. Who gives a shit? If your home team wins the super bowl or some other championship, go gives a fuck? It's not like they solved cancer or anything, yet people celebrate as if they did. If you want to open your wallet and grab your ankles for these leagues, then knock yourself out. I'll find better things to do with my time and money.
The most basic assumption about the world is that it does not contradict itself.
Next of Kin wrote:Very true. What does it cost to take a gal to the movies these days? $50?
Well, after spending that much you're bound to get something in return. Taking your sweat thing to the ballgame probably won't have a similiar outcome.
The most basic assumption about the world is that it does not contradict itself.
There might not be people on the board who'd pay $200 for theater tickets, but there sure as hell are lots of people elsewhere who would. Christ, alright, fine, some people don't like watching sports--is it totally necessary to then get up on a soapbox about how nobody should give a shit about professional sports? Some of us are entertained by it, some of us would spend that kind of money once or twice a year, and some of us even have an emotional investment in the teams we root for. There's nothing wrong with that.
Any city gets what it admires, will pay for, and, ultimately, deserves…We want and deserve tin-can architecture in a tinhorn culture. And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed.--Ada Louise Huxtable, "Farewell to Penn Station", New York Times editorial, 30 October 1963 X-Ray Blues
the nba is like the best of the best players. the defense is better, and its more compettetive because the players have more experiance. i take it you're not a nets or kings guy either, but foccus on the lakers ?
I doubt you'll see that happening in football anytime soon. It's mainly because you'll never see a talented enough player come straight out of high school. Also, NFL teams don't have the time to teach the pro level game to someone for 5 or 6 years.
aphexmonster wrote:the nba is like the best of the best players. the defense is better, and its more compettetive because the players have more experiance. i take it you're not a nets or kings guy either, but foccus on the lakers ?
*buzz* Wrong. The best players actually play in Europe. They play a FULL game. Not a bunch of fucking prima donnas trying to work together. I mean, look at the first years Kobe and Shaq were together. It wasn't until Phil got there that they played as a team. They STILL don't play as a team. It's two players. Can you name the entire roster of at least one NBA team?
I don't care about professional sports. I mean, come on here, you pay to watch some guy (or girl in this case) play sports. Who gives a shit? If your home team wins the super bowl or some other championship, go gives a fuck? It's not like they solved cancer or anything, yet people celebrate as if they did. If you want to open your wallet and grab your ankles for these leagues, then knock yourself out. I'll find better things to do with my time and money.
Alot of people that attend sporting events played those sports as they were growing up.. So if you didn't play ,you won't like to go..
Sudden power is apt to be insolent, sudden liberty saucy; that behaves best which has grown gradually.
I doubt you'll see that happening in football anytime soon. It's mainly because you'll never see a talented enough player come straight out of high school. Also, NFL teams don't have the time to teach the pro level game to someone for 5 or 6 years.
I agree. Basically arena ball or some kind of nation wide minor league thing would have to really take off before we'll likely see many (if any) high school football players jump to the pros.
By the pricking of my thumb,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
aphexmonster wrote:the nba is like the best of the best players. the defense is better, and its more compettetive because the players have more experiance. i take it you're not a nets or kings guy either, but foccus on the lakers ?
*buzz* Wrong. The best players actually play in Europe. They play a FULL game. Not a bunch of fucking prima donnas trying to work together. I mean, look at the first years Kobe and Shaq were together. It wasn't until Phil got there that they played as a team. They STILL don't play as a team. It's two players. Can you name the entire roster of at least one NBA team?
True. But then again, only a true die hard fan of the NBA would know the entire roster of a team. While they do play better baskteball in Europe, the more athletic talent usually comes from the US. It's just like soccer in Brazil, most urban area kids grow up playing basketball. So they have more talent at it than other's do.
RedImperator wrote:There might not be people on the board who'd pay $200 for theater tickets, but there sure as hell are lots of people elsewhere who would. Christ, alright, fine, some people don't like watching sports--is it totally necessary to then get up on a soapbox about how nobody should give a shit about professional sports? Some of us are entertained by it, some of us would spend that kind of money once or twice a year, and some of us even have an emotional investment in the teams we root for. There's nothing wrong with that.
If you like pro sports that's fine with me. Hell, I root for my college teams even though their success or failure doesn't effect my diploma in any way. But when the importance of pro sports become such a priority stars are held up as gods and franchise owners can extort millions out of local governements, then there's something wrong.
The most basic assumption about the world is that it does not contradict itself.
