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.
Seattle got within 10 on a
three pointer by Gary Peyton ear
!y in the third quarter, but Utah
oufacored the Sonin 25-16 over
the real of the period.
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