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1769 Franklin Blvd. Next to Track Tow n Pi/./.a.
6S3 4)780
Givin ’ WNBA mad props
As an American citizen, it’s
probably safe to bet that you
know what basketball is.
Because as a Eugene resident or
a University student, chances are
you’ve heard something about
women’s basketball. (In case you
haven’t, the Oregon women suc
cessfully defended their Pacific
10 Conference title last season.)
And if you’re a basketball fan,
men's or women’s, then you had
to have heard something about
the WNBA.
You might have seen the
league’s commercials on televi
sion during timeouts of NBA
games: “We’ve got next” was its
slogan. Perhaps you’ve even seen
parts of a WNBA game on televi
sion. Maybe you’ve watched a
whole game, or many.
Of course, you can toss around
a few names of star players —
Chamique Holdsclaw, Lisa Leslie
and Sheryl Swoopes—but you
probably don’t discuss their ca
reers with the bravado that you
would when discussing Michael
Jordan or Wilt Chamberlain.
Chances are that you’ve heard
of the WNBA—but I’d be willing
to bet you haven’t actually gone
to a game yet.
In time, I think you will.
I ventured to the Rose Garden
in Portland on June 8 to witness
my first WNBA game. My first
glance into the arena’s red and
black interior was this: large,
black curtains bearing the WNBA
logo seemlessly hid the Garden’s
300 level of seating, and fans
were scattered throughout the
two levels of seating below. On
the scoreboard monitor, I saw the
face of some Portland player I’ve
never heard of, but she wore an
expression that I’ve seen on the
faces of athletes hundreds of
times over.
No doubt that these women
basketball players have heart —
but do their fans?
Upon that player sinking a free
throw, the crowd’s response was /
a resounding “yes.”
As my former sports editor and
I sat in our 200 level VIP seats
(which we bought from a scalper
for $15 a pop), several things
went through my mind as I tried
to picture success for this new,
up-and-com
ing league.
In Port
land, 15,000
fans attend
ing a Fire
game is not
unrealistic, if
they start
winning. But
then who
watches the
games of
teams who
start losing?
Perhaps
money can be
made in league apparel. But how
many street bailers are honestly
going to show up to a game don
ning a Natalie Williams jersey?
Forget about winning the mar
ket share by wowing their audi
ences. Out there on the court I
watched Utah’s 7-foot-2 center,
Margo Dydek, run up and down
the court with the presence of
Shawn Bradley. At that height,
she can dunk, no doubt — but she
didn’t. Nobody else provided
many firework moves either.
People go and watch the NBA
because it’s interwoven with
America’s sporting culture. The
NBA makes millions of dollars in
revenue because generations of
today’s population have grown
up idolizing its players. And no
female athlete will ever be as vi
sually pleasing as Vince Carter
flying toward the hoop, catching
the ball in mid-air, putting it un
der his leg and finishing the 360
degree slam.
But as I sat there watching the
game, I couldn’t get over one sim
ple fact.
I was having fun—lots of it.
Fun, because even though the
Scott
Pesznecker
Fire may have trailed by 10 most
of the way through, they contin
ued to play like they were right in
the thick of the game. Honestly,
it’s been a long time since I’ve
seen a team be behind by 10 in a
regular season game with just a
couple minutes to go, still play
ing as hard as they were in the
opening minutes.
I’m a sucker for a good Port
land-Utah matchup. And on this
night, I didn’t end up paying $32
for a top row, 300-level seat, just
to see a boring game with a lop
sided outcome. That happened to
me a few weeks before when I
saw the Blazers demolish their
Utah NBA counterpart in the
playoffs’ second round.
Small-time sports teams in
Portland have done well. The
Rockies (baseball) and the Win
terhawks (hockey) have been suc
cessful in drawing faithful fans
throughout the years. I don’t see
why the Fire won’t do the same.
The WNBA is a league with
great potential. Now that there’s a
pro women’s hoops league, all of
women’s basketball will see im
provement, even down at the
high school level. More stars will
shine. Because now they have
something to shoot for, beyond
college.
Yet a part of me hopes the
WNBA never grows to be too big.
Nobody needs another league
that is marred by big business and
surrounded by talks of big-market
conspiracies. The Fire-Starzz
game I watched wasn’t merely a
collection of millionaires getting
together to play some ball — it
was much, much more.
But that’s a whole ‘nother col
umn, and a long one at that. And
for now, I’m not worried about
that. While I was at the game, I
kept on scanning my eyes across
the empty seats. Isn’t that Oregon
women’s coach Jody Runge, sit
ting down there on the baseline?
Yup.
The seats will fill. Soon
crabb, Macdonald run with gusto
■Senior Katie Crabb and
sophomore Eri Macdonald
turn in great shows at the
Olympic Trials Qualifier
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
The elder statesmen and the
fresh-faced newcomer.
Oregon track athletes Katie
Crabb and Eri Macdonald kept
themselves busy this past week
end by competing in the
Olympic Trials Qualifier at Stan
ford University.
Crabb, the senior, was impres
sive in the talented 1,500 meter
race. The Chico, Calif., native
finished fifth out of the 17 com
petitors in her field.
Her time of 4 minutes, 21.64
seconds was good enough to
place her as the top finisher
amongst the collegians in the
race. She was less than a second
behind Kim Fitchen of the Nike
Farm Team, who took fourth
place.
Mary Cobb, also of the Nike
Farm Team, won the event with
a time of 4:15.83.
Oregon’s Macdonald compet
ed in the women’s 800 and
showed no signs of first year jit
ters. She ended up finishing
sixth in the event with a time of
2:09.06 — less than a second be
hind fifth-place finisher Melissa
Flynn of the Reebok Aggies.
Macdonald, who recently
completed her first season as a
member of the track team, actual
ly ran her second-fastest time of
the season. Her only time that
was better was her 800 of 2:08.62
at the Oregon Invitational on
April 29.
Ironically, her fastest time this
year was the exact same time as
Flynn’s on Saturday.
Coming in second in the event
was former Duck Vicky Fleschn
er, who ran a time of 2:05.53. Her
time left her just over a second
behind 800 winner Nicole Teter
of the Sacramento Track Club,
who won the race with a time of
2:05.44.
Two other former Oregon
women’s track members also
competed over the weekend. In
the 5,000, Nike runner Marie
Davis took eighth place with a
run of 16:22.21. Annette Hand,
of Asics, captured first place
with her time of 16:01.77.
The race marked the end of the
season for Crabb, who recently
capped off her final track and
field season by placing third in
the 1,500 at the Pacific-10 Cham
pionships and seventh at the
NCAA Championships in
Durham, N.C. Her time in
Durham of 4:19.30 improved her
personal record by a half-second
and garnered her as an All
American.
Her career is not quite over,
however, as she will continue to
run cross country in the fall.
In a season that women’s head
coach Tom Heinonen would
Emerald archive
Katie Crabb (left) finished tops among
collegians in the 1,500 in California.
rather forget, Macdonald gave
her coach some reason to hope
for brighter days in the future.
Her go-for-it-all attitude helped
her become the sixth-best 800
meter runner in the Pac-10 dur
ing the regular season.
The Honolulu, Hawaii native’s
season is not quite over with.
She is next scheduled to com
pete at the USA Junior Track and
Field Championships in Denton,
Texas. She will again run in the
800 at the event, which takes
place this Friday and Saturday.