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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 31, 1996)
Women need a league of their own I* it time ft* professional women * baskrthail ConvmtkMMl wisdom would lewd to My nay u mra — ym. U It time for two pmfewinmi women'* he* ketUil league*’ Conventional wisdom, this time, would hew ti rum pond with a resounding no. With the implementation of the American He* iurtbftll lasagne end the pomihility of en NBA coun Set pert on the w»y. the Mart of • pro women' hoop* league it not only • pouibitity but a reel it — and rightfully *o The talent level of and escitament created by the US women* banket hell twun alone indicate* that now is the time for women'a basketball to lake a step up to the professional rank.* Similarly, the rise in popularity of women’s college basketball ha* made * "pro-status" a very logical neat step ESPN'* cut,tea* in covering the women's NCAA Championship Tournament ha* shown there Is an audience for the sport, and clone to home, no more convincing evidence exist* than the popularity of Oregon * very tut tnatful women s basketball team But while conventional wisdom does not qua* tion pro women's hoops, it does tend to question tn« anility of two league* lo operate in unison. There it no room for two big time nu»n'» basketball Imium. no room for two big-tima football League* and no room for two biglime baaaball League* Why. than, would it be any different for women * basketball? fin point of the lailura ol alternative leaime* ia the Conti nental Basketball Association. th« NBA's “toun terpart." if you will Without the big-name Slayer* — except for a few has been* anti a hand i! wannabe's with a few up-and-coming NBA Eros pacts mixed in —* the CBA is simply not a tg draw How many CBA games do you see grsc ing television broadcasts or even newspapers these days? Not many, to say the least. The amount of big-name athlete* dictates one "major“ league per sport. Sure, there is the Cana dian Football League, the World League of Foot ball and prominent basketball leagues — both men's and women’s — in Europe And sure, they will attract big name players for short stints, but as evidenced bv Rocket Ismail's brief stay in the CFL. the top talents want to be in the top league* And again, that translates into one "major" league per sport. Eventually, sports (an* want to see the best players in the world compete against each other or on tha same team. People don't want Shaquilli O'Neal to be the best player in one league while Michael Ionian rules another There is no demand for the San Francisco 49ers to be in a dll furant league than the Dallas Cowboys (though Otters and Cowboys tans may argue that their teams are already in different league* ) Likewise, followers of women's basketball are going to want the Lisa Leslies and the Rebecca Lobo* in the same league, leading their teams into hand to hand competition Such Individual and l«*m matchups are ulti mataly what sports ere alt about Competition between the beat alhleta* la what the average •ports (an pay* the money to mm. not competition * between rival leagues that split the pot of top notch athlete* "In moat team, tom petition is good, but iht* is a cam again*! that,* ABC/KSPN sports broadcast i «w law ley Vinter said Thursday at the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center s symposium on women in sports "A unified basketball league is the way to SUCUNH * Indeed, that seems to be conventional wisdom *1 think it would he diffkull.* Sharun Higdon, vice president of marketing for the Portland Trail Hlasers. said of the possibility of competing league* "It would probably he better if there was one league * But wait There might fust be a method to this "madness * Conventional wisdom may be wrong yet Donna t.opuiu) the r*<wutiv« director of the Woman * Spoilt Foundation. unit an Thursday that the com petition between the two leagues Mf not be in vain. and it may not i«.n*rdi*e the nature of women * professional basketball “I think it it good that there it competition," Lopiano wid "The worse that could happen it that the NBA could win 1 don't think that women'• basketball would be that hurl (by a women s NBA) " According to Lopiano. two league* won’t make it. but that doesn't mean that one won't ha stand ing after all the dust settle* "It is eventually going to gel to that. One league will win out," Lopiano said. And malty, why not? The NBA adopted the ABA The NFL adopted the AFl. Why couldn't the WNBA (aa the potential NBA version has been dubbed) adopt the ABL or vice vena? In tlie end. it could But in order to start a league from scratch, the concentration of big name players In one league is tantamount with creating a successful professional • ports league And the driving force wilh the resources to invest in women's basketball, to sink with it in good and bad time* and to provide the needed foundation and cash support is the NBA. While the WNBA, proposed aa a summer league, is still just an idea being tossed around, it presents the most viable and realistic way to cast women's basketball into the professional ranks *1 think (NBA commissioner I David Stem won't fail." Visser said The NBA Will not enter into * situation that i» not feasible." Higdon said Indeed Chalk a victory up for conventional wisdom, because that fact alone dictates why •port* fans can expact to see an NBA version of women's basketball when all is said and done Trevor kmmey, a tumor maturing in jaurtuthtm. is toarti editor for the Kmerald, E- mini ti rameyetgladrtone uorrgon edu | I Jazz force Game 7 with rout of Sonics ! ■ NBA WEST A 118-63 blowout sends the senes back to Seattle SALT LAKE (TTY (APt - The NBA Pinal* will have Jo wall one* again The Utah Jatt aren’t finished making the .Seattle SuperSunka look miserable In the moat Important home game »n franchise history, the lea* took control right from the start Thursday night and came up with yet another blowout to (on* the first Game 7 of this year's NBA playoffs. The final score was tl» «.l. the latest in a long line of postseason rout* at the Delta Center Karl Malone had 32 points, to rehounds and seven assists. Jeff Hornacak was as dead-eye as usu al with 23 points and even John Stockton coaxed a good game out of his battered body with series highs of 14 points and 12 assist* "The odds were against us.’* Malone said "Nobody expect ed us to win up there, but we did l! show* a tol of character about this bum " Utah shot over &0 percent, lad by an rnauv «I 3lt and fort ml 23 turnover* from a Seattle team that'* averaging more than 20 par game in the series Came 7 will be Sunday at Seat tle. and Utah will be tanking to become ju»t the sixth team in NBA history to come back from a 3-1 deficit its (ust like any other game." Stockton said ”1 always try to simplify and make it a one-game series, and that's what we re down to.** Utah scored the first 12 points of the game, turned It into a laugher early in the fourth Quar ter and withstood every brief run or burst of momentum the Son it s managed The Jau seemed to get an immediate boost bom the ener gy of the fans, opening their 12 0 lead on four (limpets end t pair of steals that were turned into hwthreak layups. Stockton soured his sixth point of the quarter, matching hm tmlim often «ive output of Game 5. on • rutting layup with 4 39 left for • 22-10 lead Seattle had only five Raid goal* In the quarter and went 10 for 13 from the line to trail 3S M entering the wcond period Bryon Rutted. who ended the fir*t quarter with Utah'* fir*l three pointer, had a 360 degree dam to open the tecieui Antoine Carr* off balanc e jumper from the vide made Utah 21-Of-29 from the field, and Hornacek * first ha*ket. a three'pointer wtth 9.55 left, put the |*ti ahead 52-30 Seattle had it* tug run a minute and a half later a* Sam Perkin* hit a three-pointer, Oetlef Schrempf had two baiket* and a pair of foul *hot* and Shawn Kemp w orm! for an 11O run that cut the defic it to 11. 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