All right. Who can tell me about Serena Williams? And Elizabeth Cambage? I thought so.
Cambage, 6’8” center
for the Dallas Wings, set a WNBA record Tuesday when she scored 53 points
against the New York Liberty. The only
reason I know this is because I happened upon the two sentences the Tribune
devoted to Cambage’s feat in Wednesday’s sports’ section; that’s two more
sentences than in the Sun-Times, by the way.
Yes, it’s possible that
Cambage got big play on TV; my guess would be ESPN, if anywhere. But I doubt she merited much if any attention
on the local stations; the papers would’ve devoted more space if that had
happened. No, this Australian, who
happens to be three months older than my daughter, set a record that generated
just about as much attention as the proverbial tree falling in the middle of
the forest. Crash—did you hear something?
The sports’
establishment seems most comfortable allotting attention to women athletes in
individual sports, viz., tennis and golf.
But basketball? Good luck getting
coverage. And professional
softball? Homeruns in softball rarely
make the nightly news. Technical
problems, no doubt.
I’m of the opinion women’s
professional basketball and softball are doomed, absent a massive infusion of
money over the course of a decade, not a season or two. Then again, I’m just a crank who thinks girls
should be playing baseball. Women, too.
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