WNBA Team Vs. Boys JV

Ok, I have been meaning to write this opinion down for some time. Though it may upset some women out there, my observations must be known.

I went to a WNBA game a year or two ago, free tickets, I couldn't pass it up. I was watching the Utah Starz against some other team. First of all, the place was empty, the crowd was dead, and I felt uncomfortable patronizing the event. There are many different hypothesis on why nobody goes to a WNBA game.
1. It is a new concept and it will take time for it to catch on.
2. Price determines value, if the tickets are free then people think the game and talent level is sub-par.
3. There is a stigma about women's athletics and if we can only shift that age old paradigm we will be able to enjoy women's sports just as well as men's.

I have a response for all three of these "educated guesses". BOLOGNA! Allow me to address each point made above.
1. The WNBA has been around long enough for it to "catch on". If the sport is quality, people will realize it. They have tried it on TV, and people turned the station after the novelty wore off. They have tried marketing live games and people were not fooled by all the glitter that dressed up this less than spectacular league, you can spray cologne on poop, but in the end it still stinks
2. People think that since the tickets are cheap or free that show isn't going to be good. Ok let see what happens when you try and sell WNBA tickets for the same price as NBA tickets. There would be about 3 people in the stands. I seriously think you have a better chance at selling Varsity boys tickets for $20 than WNBA for $20. No amount of marketing and pricing is going to give the perception of value in this case.
3. Yes, there is a stigma, but for good reason. If women's basketball was the same as men then they wouldn't use a different sized basketball, they wouldn't have a different shot clock(college) and they wouldn't be on separate teams, the men would play with the women. I hate to break it to the die hard feminazis out there, but on average men are just more athletic than women; ok, I said it, the secret is out.

Enough about my opinions, lets get to the facts. I was looking at the roster of the Utah Starz team and it looked something like this: Guard 5'7" Forward 6' Center 6'5". That looks exactly like the line up for my highschool JV boys team, the only difference is our 6'5" center could dunk. As I watched the game I tried to pick out differences from the Starz and my JV team at Comstock highschool in '95. The guards were quicker on the Starz, the forwards could shoot a little better. My JV team was stronger and could jump much higher. These are the best women players in the world, and they compare in size and ability to my JV team? Granted, these women know the game much better and are smarter with the ball, but that doesn't put butts in the seats. Another thing, if sports center had a highlight segment for every JV boys dunks around the country the show would take about 2 hours a day. Since they highlight all the WNBA dunks the segment takes about 15 seconds a season.

For all you people out there saying, "women's basketball can be just as exciting as men's". I agree, in some instances. I have seen a few close women's games that have knocked my socks off, I was cheering like a lunatic. I was cheering because of the suspense, the closeness of the game, not the sheer athleticism. The game was not good until the final two minutes. At Lake Superior State University many, if not all, of the women's games had more people in the stands than men's. They won more games than us, they had close games and they were playing for the conference title every night. They had a good following, but when I go to see a game, I want to be wowed by athleticism, amazed they are out there doing something that I could never do. If a male college basketball player shoots an air ball, the crowd rides him the rest of the game, chanting "air ball, air ball". If a female college basketball player shoots an air ball, they simply get back on D as though it was just another missed shot, no biggy. I seriously counted 8 air balls in a Division II women's college basketball game at Lake Superior State. There is something to be said about that statistic alone.

My point is, there are differences between men and women athletically, (body structure, muscle/fat quantity, muscle fiber type, etc.) it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out, but it does take some pretty hard headed people to deny it. Proprietors of the WNBA; don't be mad at the public, or the men, or the social climate about women's sports, or the grossly disproportionate pay between WNBA and NBA, when people don't respect the league, nor does it perform, nearly as well as the male counterpart. If my boys JV team can give some of the best female players in the world a run for their money, than they deserve about as many fans as I did in '95.