The entire salary cap number of a women’s basketball team is less than what one bad NBA player gets paid. Yet men still seem to resent the WNBA a disproportionate amount.
Why do men hate the WNBA?
In my experience, the average male sports fan regards most female sporting competitions with a sort of benign disinterest, which ranges from “I’ll watch if I’ve already seen this week’s episode of Ice Road Truckers” to “Wait, is the one who posed in Maxim playing?”
(Note: women’s beach volleyball is an exception to the latter, as I’m pretty sure they’ve all appeared in at least one of the lad mags.)
The WNBA, on the other hand, inspires venom. Outright hatred. And for no particularly good reason.
Why is that?
Back when the league made its debut, the general aversion to the WNBA was due in large part to marketing overload. NBA fans were bombarded with a constant stream of commercials pushing the league and its unbearable slogan, “We got next.” Now, if my unscientific research (mostly, watching comments on Twitter) is any indication, men are conditioned to hate any commercial that is played and re-played during every commercial break of a sporting event. So for the first few years of its existence, the WNBA was basically the AT&T “flash mob” ad, Franklin & Bash, and K-A-R-S for Kids all rolled into one.
I’m convinced that a large portion of the hatred that still bubbles up from time to time is held over from those original ad campaigns, even though they haven’t been nearly as in-your-face in years.
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Then there’s the lockout. The NBA’s lockout has now lasted longer than the Biblical downpour that caused Noah’s flood and shows no signs of abating. Now, let’s apply the logic I learned in 10th-grade math to the situation:
The NBA funds the WNBA.
The NBA is in lockout because it claims to be losing money.
Therefore, the lockout is the WNBA’s fault.
Right? Wrong. The biggest problem with that logic is that the WNBA’s budget is basically a rounding error on the NBA’s balance sheet. The salary cap number for an entire WNBA team this season is $852,000. Eight-hundred-and-fifty grand. That’s it. That’s significantly less than the Knicks paid Bill Walker in 2010-11. Add up the salaries of every player in the league, and you’d still only get about half what the Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards paid Gilbert Arenas.
Then, there’s the “inferior product” argument. That goes a little something like this: “Why would I want to watch a game played below the rim by players who can’t dunk?” And there’s some validity to that objection. But you could say the same about men’s college basketball as compared with the NBA. Or college football as compared with the NFL. Or minor-league baseball, or MLS Soccer as compared to the EPL. Why does women’s basketball get all the “inferior product” heat?
I think we’re too close to the issue.
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Have you ever played basketball against women? I have, many times. My high-school crowd included a couple of pretty good female ballplayers, both starters on their school teams. I, on the other hand, was charitably offered a “manager” position when I tried out for the freshman squad.
My buddy Jim was probably the best player on our CYO team. I was the seventh or eighth man, mostly responsible for fouling the opposing team’s best guy. But when we played against the girls, we dominated.
We were six-to-eight inches taller than them. Forty or fifty pounds heavier. And playing with the women’s-size ball—as we usually did when matched up against the girls—just made things easier, because the smaller ball wouldn’t slide awkwardly off our hands when we attempted finger-rolls or hook-shots. Their only advantage? The amount of time we’d spend making dumb jokes about playing shirts vs. skins.
(Don’t judge. Every male teenager that has ever played hoops against female teenagers has made that joke at least once.)
Those games left us with the lasting impression that relatively lousy male basketball players could beat pretty good female players of equivalent age.
For what it’s worth, that lesson applies well beyond my friend Karen’s driveway hoop in Farmingdale, New York. No less an authority than Pat Summitt—the legendary coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols—is one of many women’s college basketball coaches to use male students as practice players, on the theory that scrimmaging against bigger, stronger opponents helps to prepare her team better than a standard intra-squad scrimmage.
We may not have the same basis for comparison when talking about women’s tennis or golf or soccer. In hoops, we have first-hand knowledge. And I think that makes all the difference.
—Photo twodolla/Flickr
The writer of this story doesn’t know much about what basketball fans think, male for female. There is no evidence for his statement that: “The WNBA, on the other hand, inspires venom. Outright hatred.”
He is mistaking indifference for hatred. The average pro basketball fan, male or female, doesn’t hate the WNBA anymore than they high school javelin competitions. They are indifferent. They don’t care. I have never heard any basketball fan (and I know hundreds of them) ever mention the WNBA as being at fault for any problem in the NBA. In fact, they don’t mention the WNBA at all because they don’t care.
I don’t know anyone who hates the WNBA but I also don’t know anyone who isn’t indifferent toward the WNBA. The writer is mistaking indifference for hatred. There is a difference.
Yes, there is evidence that the WNBA is hated outright. run a twitter search on wnba and watch as everyone direspects the players.
A quick response to Eric: No doubt, there’s plenty of indifference going around — which is just fine by me. But you’re being deliberately obtuse if you don’t see the outright hatred that’s out there, too. I cover the game, I know. Check out the blog posts written by men about the W. google WNBA and NBA lockout and you’ll see sports writers who are pointing the finger at the W. Read many of the comments on stories written about the W or women’s college basketball and if the insulting, homophobic vitriol spewed by people angry and threatened enough to spend the time registering for a site doesn’t open your mind, it ain’t going to be opened.
As for this piece of analysis, wow, how naive and profoundly illogical. Let’s look to the “logic” first:
Basically you say the “inferior product” moniker shouldn’t be applied because people love college AND pro ball. That is, though college ball is a “lesser” sport (any NBA team would posterize the best college men’s team — they’re simply bigger and stronger, Same goes for a NFL/NCAA football match up).
BUT, you then go to say because you’ve played against, and defeated lighter, shorter women you understand why men hate the W?
So, by your logic, NFL lovers should hate the NCAA. Pffft.
You’ve missed several obvious points you should explore, especially if you claim to want to explore “what does it mean to be a good man in these modern times?”
Start with reading “The stronger women get, the more men love football.” Then ask yourself what is the role of sports in men’s identity, even if they’re NOT an athlete. Then ask yourself how many of the “haters” have actually watched a game. Then ask yourself about men’s sexuality and their obsession with men’s sports. Then ask yourself why you wrote such a simplistic piece that simply re-enforced simplistic thinking.
You see where I’m going with this….
Helen,
Sure, there are crazies out there who hate every sport (e.g. baseball), team (e.g. the Yankees), and league (e.g. the NFL, WNBA, etc.) but compared to the (what? 100s of millions) pro basketball fans, the number of people who truly hate the WNBA enough to log on to a blog virtually are non-existent.
Also, it’s just as legitimate to say that the WNBA relies heaviily on the NBA for its funding as it is to say that the Dept. of Educaiton relies on the federal government for its funding. Both have a financila impact on the funding organizations, albeit relatively small.
I think the WNBA should exist. Women should get to play pro sports too, and anyone who wants to eliminate it is just being petty.
But…
It sucks. Yes, I’ve watched it. I’ve watched it on TV and I’ve seen a game in Conn. in person. It’s very, very boring. Now please don’t mistake that with saying they have no talent. On the contrary, they are very talented. They could whip me and everyone I know. I played against women college players growing up and they wiped the floor with me. They’re good, very good.
But they suck compared to PROFESSIONAL NBA players. That’s the difference. I watch NBA players perform at such an elite level, doing things no one else can do. Then I watch the WNBA. And suddenly I feel very sleepy. And don’t give me this crap about “Oh but the WNBA game is played with strong fundamentals.” Who cares? Pick & rolls can be pretty, no doubt, but I’ll take the excitement and style of an NBA game every day of the week.
But why can’t these two leagues just exist without all the rancor? If you don’t like the WNBA, don’t watch it. I sure as hell don’t. But there’s no reason to call for the league to be eliminated.
The NBA funds the WNBA.
The NBA is in lockout because it claims to be losing money.
Therefore, the lockout is the WNBA’s fault.
I’ve never heard that before. Or at least I’ve never heard it from actual NBA fans nor have I heard it on the little bit of ESPN radio I listen to (I just finished spending 2 years driving a used car in which by some odd twist the only station that worked was ESPN Radio).
No less an authority than Pat Summitt—the legendary coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols—is one of many women’s college basketball coaches to use male students as practice players, on the theory that scrimmaging against bigger, stronger opponents helps to prepare her team better than a standard intra-squad scrimmage.
Analyze your team for weaknesses and develop ways to counteract them. A sound strategy that any wise leader would employ.
But as for the WNBA in general I’ve never heard any hatred towards it. I’ve heard a lot of the indifference Eric M mentions but not hatred not to say its not out there though. And I really think that indifference is the larger force at work. If pro sports fans have show anything its that they have the power to ignore criticism and continue being fans. Yes there is hatred of the WNBA but let’s not pretend that that’s the one and only (or even main) reason it hasn’t got the same following.
Wait…so the WNBA isn’t for PROFESSIONAL women basketball players? So, if a woman automatically does sports, it is no longer valid compared to men’s sports? That’s what I’m getting when you basically dismiss the WNBA as not being professional when I clearly thought it was the professional version of basketball for women, as per the -NBA suffix.
Here ya go: Stop Blaming the WNBA for the NBA Lockout – False accusations. http://www.slamonline.com/online/other-ballers/womens/2011/07/stop-blaming-the-wnba-for-the-nba-lockout/
When the NBA lockout officially hit last week, sportswriters across the country immediately began casting blame on the WNBA, calling it “money-bleeding” and a “bad business venture” that ultimately contributed (somehow) to the hundreds of millions of dollars the NBA is losing (supposedly) on an annual basis.
Nothing new. We’ve heard it before. And we’ve proven how false those statements and accusations are.
Time after time.
ALSO, just open your eyes re: boys reaction to the W: WNBA: Why All the Hate? http://bleacherreport.com/articles/219099-why-all-the-wnba-hate
ALSO: I Hate The WNBA it Sucks! http://whyarewomensostupid.com/2010/07/28/i-hate-the-wnba-it-sucks/
July 28, 2010 | Posted by pooh
I just can’t get in to the WNBA I hate it. I’m sorry to all you feminists and especially to you lesbians that think the WNBA is the best thing since flannel, denim, and softball but I can’t stand it
ALSO: MajorWager Forums > MW – Online Sportsbooks > Mess Hall
We Hate The WNBA!!!!
ALSO:
Why the WNBA isn’t — and will never be — a popular league
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jeff_pearlman/06/16/wnba/index.html#ixzz1VPmvPOQf
ALSO: When WNBA Players Attack: WNBA’er Article Vs. Me in Arizona Republic
By Debbie Schlussel
The she-males in the WNBA sideshow just can’t take it. First, I received a “creative” F-U e-mail from Phoenix Mercury Assistant Head Coach (Lute Olson’s Granddaughter) Julie Brase. Now, it is Mercury player Kayte Christensen, who is so bothered by my anti-WNBA column, she’s written an anti-Debbie-Schlussel-anti-WNBA column in the Arizona Republic.
OH – as a side note: you might want to do a little research and discover how many independent owners the W has.
As another side note: Daddy, I agree. I don’t watch the NBA. I’ve seen it on TV and I’ve attended a Knicks game. It sucks. They don’t play defense. They don’t know how to pass. They play without intensity ’cause the season is six zillion years long and none of the over-paid giants want to get hurt.. The crowds aren’t interested in the game between the dunks because they don’t care about the game of basketball. Which is fine. I’m not calling for the elimination of the NBA (heck, they’re doing a fine job killing it themselves), just peaceful co-existence.
“I don’t watch the NBA. I’ve seen it on TV and I’ve attended a Knicks game. It sucks. ”
How hypocritical of Helen to claim that men hate women’s basketball (without any evidence that 100s of millions of men care enough to hate it) when she hates men’s basketball. And, even those who hate it hate it because they believe it is of poor quality, which is why it doesn’t draw enough fans to make a profit, even after more than 10 years in existence.
She just defeated her entire argument.
Interesting to see what responses are posted and what aren’t. Ah, well. ignorance is bliss.
As for the claim that “the number of people who truly hate the WNBA enough to log on to a blog virtually are non-existent.”
You don’t follow the league, so how on earth can you make any such claim?I know follow the wnba and read the message boards and the vitriol posted after articles on the league. Just ask Christine Brennan.
There are hundreds of million of basketball fans worldwide. How many hate the WNBA enough to logon to a message board? 100? 500? 1,000? Compared to hundreds of millions, that equates to about zero percent.
I disagree with your comparison of the WNBA and mens college basketball. College basketball has guys who can get their HEAD TO THE RIM. Boys High School basketball is proably a more appropriate comparison, but then again even high school has had guys like Lebron James with verticals in the 40′s. Not a single player in the WNBA even has a vert in the 30′s lol. The WNBA is around the same as boys junior high basketball in terms of athleticsm, and even then their are more junior high boys than can dunk than WNBA players. Why do people hate it? Because you don’t see boys junior high school games being nationaly broadcasted like it’s top notch b-ball. The ONLY reason WNBA is ever on tv is becuase it’s WOMEN and it’s like they expect people to watch just to be policaly correct or something.
The general lack of athleticism, proliferation of layups, and lack of exciting plays creates a boring back and forth when compared to the NBA. It isn’t a fair comparison because female athletes have nowhere near the physical abilities of even division 1 men’s collegiate basketball.
wnba is the most boring sport in the world ¡¡¡
Maybe the perceived “hatred” comes from theTitle IX debate. The unfairness to male athletes which has resulted from Title IX would make anyone resentful to a league that is propped up by the NBA for its
survival.