Blog #1: The growing interest in Women's Basketball

I live by one golden rule, “I don’t discriminate sports, I’ll watch anything you put in front of me” and my entire life, I’ve sat through countless games from the Big 5 in sports, MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS. But the only sport that has also intrigued me has been the WNBA. Now I know most people would say “Why do you watch the WNBA, No one cares about the WNBA, WNBA Sucks, etc.” The answer is one specific player who I’ve have watched since her freshman year in college.

Diana Taurasi, 2004 #1 Draft pick.

The back story of my interest in Women's basketball began when I was 9 years old on an East Coast road trip to see my uncle in Connecticut on a chilly and rainy day. My family and I were touring the University of Connecticut’s campus, when I looked at the marquee for the Gampel Pavilion advertising an upcoming Women’s basketball game at 7:05pm that night. Little did I know my uncle already had tickets to the game. I have a good memory, but not good enough to remember who UCONN was playing that night, but I became intrigued by the play of UCONN star Diana Taurasi, best known for being the #1 draft pick by the Phoenix Mercury in the following year’s WNBA draft. I also frequently attended San Diego State Women's games at Cox/Viejas Arena when they were led by star player Jene Morris who was drafted by the Indiana Fever in 2010, then traded to the Tulsa Shock in 2012.

Candace Parker, 2008 #1 Draft pick

I did my best to stay updated and on top of the Women’s Basketball scene, as far as WNBA and College scores from ESPN or other online feeds. Slowly, my interest began to die down until roughly November of ’04 when there was a Women’s college game on ESPN one night during an off day with the NBA. The game was Tennessee facing an opponent that I can’t remember, but I recall how the commentators were pumping up the tires on a freshman from Tennessee. Her name was Candace Parker, a freshman that most experts were talking about for All-American, Naismith and other accolades during her four years with the Lady Vols. It was from that point forward that I made sure I didn’t any Women’s basketball.

Candace could have played one more season with the Lady Vols after taking a medical red shirt her Freshman year, but just days after guiding Tennessee to back to back NCAA Championships, she opted to enter the 2008 WNBA Draft that April. The Los Angeles Sparks, coming off of their worst season in franchise history after posting a 10-24 record were awarded the #1 pick for the draft. Naturally, LA selected Candace as the overall #1 pick and I remember saying to myself that night “This is the start of something nice.” The next day at school, I walked into my English class and looked at the warm up assignment, which was a journal entry reading “Tell us about something that occurred yesterday.”

Go figure, two pages and a cramping hand later, the “something” was Los Angeles drafting Candace. I remember my classmate sitting next to me saying in a joking matter “You wrote that much about Women’s Basketball?” and I remembered my gold rule that I still live by to this very day “I don’t discriminate sports, I’ll watch anything you put in front of me” The WNBA still wasn’t given a lot of air time over the summer, due to other commitments but luckily the Sparks games were shown on FSN West so I was able to watch most of the 34 game regular season.

Talk about things coming full circle, Parker’s debut was on May 17^th, a day before my birthday plus it was against the longtime rival Phoenix Mercury, with their star in Diana Taurasi, the same player that I saw play five years ago on that chilly and rainy day in Hartford. LA beat Phoenix in that contest, with the rookie Parker shattering the rookie record for points in a game. Parker dropped 34 in her debut game, again “The start of something nice”

Candace Parker's dunk as it appears in
Callan McClurg's #CityPrideLA art album 

As June rolled around and with Candace leading the Sparks, she added yet another feather to her cap. In the June 22^nd home game against Indiana, Candace became only the 2^nd women to slam dunk in a game, joining then teammate and Sparks legend Lisa Leslie as the lone two players to accomplish the improbable feat. She would also take home Rookie of the Month honors for May and July. 

With August in full bloom, the WNBA suspended play to allow players to partake in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games with Parker and Leslie selected to play on the squad. Team USA cruised to eight straight victories and a Gold Medal. More accolades for Parker included winning both the 2008 Rookie of the Year, but also being crowned the 2008 WNBA Most Valuable Player. She joined Wilt Chamberlain and Wes Unseld as the only players to win both prestigious awards. During the 2008 off-season, Candace tied the knot with former Duke star Shelden Williams. As 2009 sank in, the couple welcomed a new member to the team, in a baby daughter on May 13, 2009.

With the pregnancy behind her, she returned to LA after missing the first eight games of the season. Despite missing the time earlier in the season, Parker lead the Sparks to the Western Conference Finals, but they faltered in a well fought three game series to the eventual WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury. The 2010 season would be one to forget for Candace as she missed most of the year after suffering a left shoulder injury, playing a career low ten games in the 2010 campaign.

With a few hiccups with injuries in the 2010 season, she returned to full strength early in the 2011 season, only to have her season cut short once again after suffering a torn meniscus in her right knee which forced her to miss the remainder of the season. 2012 would be a fresh chapter for Parker as she recovered from her injuries to lead LA to a 24-10 record and another berth to the WNBA Playoffs. The Sparks breezed by the San Antonio Silver Stars in the Western Conference Semi-Finals 2-0, only to be stopped dead in their tracks by Maya Moore and the Minnesota Lynx in the Conference Finals 2-0. Candace dropped 33 points, snagged 15 rebounds and rejected 4 shots. The closing shot of the 2012 season was Parker's emotion after the game with her mom watching courtside.

Most recently, more and more WNBA games were shown on ESPN, ABC and on the new Sparks channel, Time Warner Cable SportsNet to give fans more chances to see them play on the big stage in front of National home audiences.

I missed maybe two or three Sparks games on Television the whole year this season, and if I missed a game, I caught it on NBA TV or on the league's online stream mobile app. With the expanded television coverage, I was able to watch probably the best basketball game that I've watched at any level, male or female was this past August in a game against the Tulsa Shock where the Sparks erased a double digit deficit in the fourth quarter, including the now infamous Parker/Ogwumike head-butt to force Double Overtime and win the game 90-88.

At any other level, I would guess maybe 90% would give up and not try to make a comeback when down by that many points that late in the game, not in the WNBA where no lead is too big or too small to overcome.

The 2013 season was also a memorable one for the WNBA in terms of growth, The Number Crunch-er will further examine the league's growth

NUMBER CRUNCH-ER: WNBA Growth

MARKETING: "The 3 to see" Elena Delle Donne (CHI), Brittney Griner (PHX), Skylar Diggins (TUL)

SPONSORSHIP: Boost Mobile and State Farm Insurance

VIEWERSHIP: Renewed TV contracts with ESPN through 2027 with an average of 231,000 per telecast = 28% increase

MOST WATCHED GAME: Chicago at Phoenix = 455,000 viewers = Most watched WNBA game

ATTENDANCE: Chicago +17%, Phoenix +9%, Indiana +8%

MOBILE/ONLINE STATS: Double Digit growth in website growth and utilization of the WNBA Center Court/Live Access mobile app

So, to everyone that gives me grief for watching the WNBA and always tells me “Why do you watch the WNBA, No one cares about the WNBA, WNBA Sucks, etc.”, let me ask you this question, "What Basketball are you watching during the summer? NBA Summer League? NBA Development League Reruns?" I'll take WNBA Basketball over the NBA Summer League and D-League ANY summer. With these numbers provided above, this only means one thing: 

The WNBA is going in the right direction. Delle Donne, Griner and Diggins did their part, More sponsors are joining forces with the league,Television contracts with ESPN renewed through 2027, attendance rose in three major cities last season, and if fans couldn't make or watch the games they could utilize the WNBA Mobile app to watch their games on the go. So instead of saying “Why do you watch the WNBA, No one cares about the WNBA, WNBA Sucks, etc.” How about you actually tune in and watch these athletes that I believe actually play way harder than most of the players in the NBA instead of always putting the league down because it's the WNBA.

In closing, The 2013 season was also memorable for one particular social media moment during the season. On a late night in August and after I finished hosting my YouTube sports show, I came across a tweet from Candace who couldn't seem to fall asleep on the eve of a prime time match up on the national stage with WNBA legend Tina Thompson and the Seattle Storm. Just like most people would say during a rough night, she asked what was good with her tweeps. I saw the tweet and said that I had just finished hosting my sports show and I talked about her and the Sparks on it. Right before my friend and I decided to call it a night on FaceTime, I caught a Twitter notification reading "Mentioned by @Candace_Parker" and I said to my friend with probably the biggest smile I've had on my face in a long time "Candace Parker just replied to my tweet." Her answer, pretty plain simple:

Candace Parker's Twitter response for the love shown on
my sports show that night.

Thanks for stepping into The Sports Zone,
Callan McClurg