re: WNBA Draft Is Tonight!!!

Angel to Chi-town

quote:

---

Those young women are going to learn that most of the fans are not going to follow them to the WNBA.

---

While this may be true, this is the best opportunity the WNBA has ever had for popularity growth.

The NBA was not very popular in the 50's, and frankly the game looked a lot like the women's game of today. In the 60's, Russell's Celtics dominated and gave everyone else a team to hate. They also added some great players, then in the 70's they merged with the ABA and brought some fun to the league, as well as Dr. J who brought eyes to screens because no one ever knew what he was going to do next. The 80's brought showtime and the Bird-Magic rivalry. The 90's brought the Jordan era. Now the modern game has opened up to great international players and the NBA is one of the most popular leagues world-wide.

Clark is that Dr. J/Jordan type of player for the WNBA. There have been really good players, but it has always been a bit boring. Clark is the kind of player that brings eyeballs, even people that don't even know basketball. Adding Clark, Brink, and Reese in a single year was like adding Jordan, Hakeem, and Barkley.

I didn't watch the draft, but I also don't watch the NBA draft. However, I bet more people watched than ever before and I bet more people will watch the games than ever before. Like it or not, the popularity of women's sports is on the rise and the WNBA could not have been luckier to have great players who are fun to watch raise the college game's popularity then enter the draft at the height of that.

Keep in mind also that a player like Clark will push younger girls to do what she did. Jordan wouldn't have been Jordan if not for Dr J and George Gerving. These current players will have a bigger impact than we'll probably ever know on the women's game.