![]() ![]() ![]() Like the players and anyone directly involved with the league, I caught my fair share of ridicule from those who mocked the league, the sport and the women who played it. Little did I know that 13 years later I'd have had in some ways a front row seat to the leagues growth and change. As a young aspiring play-by-play guy, I felt the league would also provide additional jobs for guys like me who were always looking for games to broadcast. I'll admit that I had another motive for wanting to see the league succeed. Thus 1997, after the 1996 Olympics and high profile names, such as Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo, and Sheryl Swoops were the first 3 to sign into the WNBA." The ABL basically beat the WNBA to the punch, but the ABL could not sustain its league. Thus steps were started to not only get a team ready for 1996 to win the gold medal again, but women's basketball took off in the 90s with much exposure and it was a great time to launch another league. "In 1992, the Women's USA Olympic team lost one game and it cost them a chance at winning the gold. Hall of Famer Ann Meyers Drysdale, the General Manager now for the Phoenix Mercury, played briefly in the WBL and recalls how and why the WNBA came to be. That trend continues even now with WNBA players supplementing their incomes here with sometimes very lucrative deals to play during the WNBA offseason overseas. If playing professional basketball was their dream, they'd have to follow it overseas. Sure, there were leagues that popped up from time to time thru the years (WBL-78-80/ABL-96-98/NWBL-97-07), but they didn't offer any real long-term hope of being successful. Despite having plenty of ability, there was nowhere locally in the states where they could advance their playing careers or skill set. My mother worked and my father was always supportive of her job (nurse) and likewise with my sisters in things they wanted to pursue.įor years, once a woman's collegiate career was over she had only a few options. With 5 women in the household growing up, a woman's opinion was never too far away. My perspective was shaped many years ago due to the fact that I grew up in a family with 4 sisters. How could I mock an idea that gives women a chance to display not only their basketball skills, but also allows them to fulfill aspirations of playing professional basketball in front of their peers and fans here in U.S.? I was about to become a Dad for the first time and we knew it was going to be a little girl. I guess my view was a little different for a number of reasons. When the NBA Board of Governors announced back in April of '96 they'd approved the WNBA concept, the naysayers wasted no time in trashing the idea before even a single game had been played. ![]() Happy 14th birthday, WNBA! Many of these sports fans were the Joe Six Packs who were part of the growing sports talk radio genre. Along with the critics and experts came the sports fans who were certain the league would fold and be out of sight within 5 years, if not sooner! I guess the joke's on the so-called "experts" and critics who took every opportunity to the bash the very concept of the WNBA. These were just some of the words used to describe how some felt about the WNBA more than 14 years ago. ![]()
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