• Home
  • About/Contact
  • Media Tips
  • Posts of Note
  • WBBall Writers
  • WHB T-Shirt
  • Women’s Basketball Library – Books etc.
  • Women’s Basketball Timeline – Since 1891

Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better

Feeds:
Posts
« You say you support women’s basketball?
Sitting, reminiscing, and anticipating…. #WATCHMEWORK »

Snip, snip, snip goes the preseason…

May 14, 2016 by Helen

…like someone making the transition from a long-hair to short. Now comes the big reveal – does the cut suit?

FIRST: If you haven’t purchased a WNBA League Pass yet, I sniff haughtily in your general direction. There’s a free trial going on from today through May 18, but even if you NEVER use the beast, you should step up and purchase it. Heck, if you’re a college coach, how about you explore making it “required viewing.”

SECOND: As a wise woman named Lin Dunn once said – if you celebrate players who’ve made the WNBA with posters and such, you better celebrate the league. Coaches and SIDs should collaborate on content over the summer. The “newbie” programs on WNBA rosters should look to other college programs to see what they’ve done to highlight their graduates, but feel free to break the mold. Lots of different social media platforms out there… and a lot of “old school fans” who don’t know how to access them. Think “weekly email blast with pictures and links.” (Ummm… that goes for you, too, WNBA mothership and WNBA teams.)

THIRD: Watch parties anyone? It’s hard to get to a WNBA game. There aren’t that many teams and they’re scattered all over the place. How about a big screen watch party?

FOURTH: Celebrate the journey… and that it ain’t over…

i-1.jpeg

WNBA-reaches-a-milestone-with-its-15th-season-9C68UI8-x-large

521195972.jpg

 

GettyImages-482297548.0.0.jpg

CiGfc5SXIAA-89E.jpg

Ok. Done now. Moving on to some reading material.

Harvey at the New York Times: As W.N.B.A. Opens Its 20th Season, Key Figures Recall the First Game

On the inaugural game day, Penny Toler drove into an arena parking lot transformed into a carnival of child-friendly slides and noisy roller coasters to behold what for her was the most distinctive sight for a historic occasion.

It was the decorative surprise that Johnny Buss, of the family that owns the Los Angeles Lakers, had furtively told her was coming. Giant posters of Toler and four teammates were draped along the exterior of the Great Western Forum, welcoming Toler to the Los Angeles Sparks, to the W.N.B.A. and to a game in her home country after eight transient years in which she had played professionally in Italy and Israel.

“I had tears in my eyes,” Toler said.

WNBA 20: Two decades of defining storylines as players remember them – Sports Illustrated

Catchings, who enters her 16th and final WNBA season in 2016, recalls the turning point of her WNBA career as coming near the halfway point of the 2009 campaign, when she and her teammates began playing for their franchise’s life.

“That season, we had to win,” said Catchings, a 10-time WNBA All-Star and 2011 league MVP. 

The Fever responded favorably to the rumors about their potential demise, turning in a franchise-best regular-season record of 22–12 and advancing to their first WNBA Finals in team history. Though Indiana eventually lost the title to Phoenix after falling in five games, Catchings believes the support her team received from its fans throughout the season ultimately changed its fate. She credits a sellout of Indianapolis’s Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Game 3 of the 2009 Finals as the culmination of a city-wide effort to save the franchise.

Entering league’s 20th year, WNBA legend Weatherspoon proud of foundation she helped build

Teresa Weatherspoon’s career arc dovetails with that of the WNBA, now entering its 20th season.

Weatherspoon serves as Director of Player Development for the New York Liberty, an appropriate perch for the winner of the league’s first two Defensive Player of the Year Awards to mentor last season’s best defensive team in the league.

Weatherspoon remembers what it felt like in those first few moments of the league itself.

Introducing my daughters to the superheroes of the WNBA

They flail through the jungle gym, race each other through the field and play chase until dissolving into fits of laughter. They live full in their small bodies. They move about with abandon. Their frames are for speed, for dancing and shaking, for hiding in small spaces and bursting forth when they’re found. They riot awake in their skin and to watch them move is to watch them bloom, to watch them discover who they are and how they want to interact with the world.

It makes me want to search role models for them, makes me hungry to see how other women demonstrate their power and skill to the world. We talk about what it means to have a healthy body, what it means to feed ourselves and be active. We study what it means to be an athlete and realize we all want to be as fierce as the women in the WNBA. When we start to watch videos, we all start to sit up a little straighter, move our feet a little faster. We explore the way they move on court, the way they pass and drive across the floor, the way they make a community with the other players, just like my daughters do in their world.

WNBA’s 20th season begins; history celebrated on ESPN, in The Mag  as ESPN Tips off WNBA’s Historic 20th Season on May 14

Michelle: Inside the W with Michelle Smith

I’m not afraid to compromise any journalistic integrity to say that for 20 years, the WNBA has earned my love, my respect and a stout defense when it’s called for. The players have always been some of the most gracious and gifted athletes I’ve ever covered. When I travel to places like Phoenix, Seattle, Minnesota and Connecticut and see how those communities support their teams, I feel proud of what’s been built over 20 years.

But in order to respect women’s basketball, you have to cover it. Really cover it. Not just personalities and personal stories. Not just unicorns and rainbows.

You have to tell stories. Basketball stories. Injury stories. Stories that are true to the effort and passion that these remarkable players have given for 20 years.

That’s what we will do here, in this space every week.

Let’s tip it off, already.

Five burning questions before the 2016 WNBA season tips

2016 WNBA.com GM Survey Taps Phoenix Mercury to Win Title

WNBA Set to Tip off 20th Season This Weekend

WNBA season story lines

WNBA turns 20, still trying to expand fan base

WNBA president Lisa Borders: Most who judge league haven’t watched

New WNBA president sees time at Duke as turning point

SlamOnline: For The Summer – We’re celebrating the WNBA’s 20th birthday with a preview of the 2016 season, which should see the Brittney Griner-led Phoenix Mercury rise to the top.

Back in 1996, there were those who believed “Macarena” had more legs than the WNBA, but you win a free game of Trivial Pursuit if you can name the band that did that song—meanwhile, 20 years later, the WNBA is still in business.

Sure, the league has gone through growing pains, but it’s carved out its own niche in the sporting world, and proven that 5,000-plus people will pay cold hard cash to watch women play basketball on hot summer evenings. There are 12 teams now, and while there are still issues (the Olympics interrupt the season every four years, for one) and transient franchises (the Tulsa Shock are now the Dallas Wings), the basketball is better than ever.

Swin Cash on the WNBA’s fight for respect and recognition

The WNBA gave itself a chance to succeed when it stopped looking for a savior and Can Breanna Stewart transform the WNBA? ( You saw what I did there?)

20 Things to Know About the WNBA’s 20th Season: Page 2

2016 WNBA.com GM Survey: Best Players/Coaches – WNBA.com – Official Site of the WNBA

Connecticut: Morgan Tuck Getting Plenty Of Guidance From Sun Veterans
New faces have brought energy, excitement to Connecticut Sun

Another WNBA season for Connecticut Sun (facts and figures)

Phoenix: Williams’ WNBA Career Off To Fast Start

Wire | Mercury’s Diana Taurasi Receives Grand Welcome Back to Phoenix

Women’s basketball: Diana Taurasi back in WNBA, shoots for 4th Olympic gold

Jillian Alleyne still smiling through ACL recovery, WNBA opportunity

Did you catch the seriously awesome job the Phoenix folks did? (Note to other teams: When you look up “BEST PRACTICES” in the dictionary,  it reads “see Phoenix Mercury”)

The Founding of the WNBA and the Phoenix Mercury

Interactive timeline for the franchise’s 2o years:http://phxmerc.com/XX/

Countdown: The 20 Greatest Moments in Phoenix Mercury History – Phoenix Mercury

Sigh. I miss the Sisters of No Mercy.

Mother Mary Hoops has one fist stuffed in a boxing nun puppet and the other white-knuckled around a ruler she is using to menace a novice ref. Next to her, Sister 3 Pt. has ripped off her spectacles and is screaming, rather uncharitably, that the ref needs them more than she does. Heaven help him, he just missed an outrageous foul on Phoenix Mercury blonde bomber Michele Timms.

A fixture in America West Arena, the Sisters of No Mercy-neither nuns nor biological sisters-know about sins of omission. Former Wheaton and Ohio State ballplayers, Jan Newman (Mother Mary Hoops), 56, and Beth Ells (Sister 3 Pt.), 49, had no pro haven for their skills. “Our dream was to play basketball,” says Hoops, who’s actually a mother of two. “Now we’re playing-if not for the WNBA, then with them. We have no mercy for anything that keeps people from their dreams.”

San Antonio:

OSU: Hamblin makes Wings roster; Weisner cut

WNBA’s Dan Hughes enters last season as San Antonio coach

WNBA coach Dan Hughes is ready for a new challenge.

The veteran San Antonio Stars coach announced last month that this would be his final year on the bench. The franchise has already started to prepare for his departure, announcing former player Ruth Riley as the new general manager – a position previously held by Hughes.

“I have truly enjoyed every moment of my time in the WNBA, but I reached a point personally and professionally where it’s time for a change,” Hughes said. “I know I want to stay involved in basketball, just not sure exactly what that is yet.”

Wake Forest Hamby Set For Second Season in WNBA

Moriah Jefferson Navigates the Stars

Da Rooth: New Stars GM: WNBA needs better presentation

Washington The WNBA is so progressive that a player came out as gay and no one even blinked

Stefanie Dolson: ‘I just am who I am’

As they say, love is love.

Someone I knew growing up always joked that I’d be gay just because I was into sports. Not wanting to be a stereotype, I blocked that possibility from my mind during college and my first year in the WNBA. It wasn’t until my first WNBA offseason, when a woman came up to me at a coffee shop in Washington, D.C., and introduced herself, that I personally considered dating women. I asked myself: How did I know I didn’t like something until I tried it?

Indiana: WNBA Past And Present Players On Tamika Catchings’ Final Season

10 reasons to enjoy Tamika Catchings’ final season with the Indiana Fever

In Good Hands: 

My goal was to play in the NBA.

Problem: When I was growing up, the WNBA didn’t exist. The only league I could look to — to aspire to — was the NBA.

So, that’s what I was going to do.

My father, Harvey Catchings, played in the league for 11 years across four teams: the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Clippers. My goal was to follow in his footsteps, and to conquer the league as a female. I remember that day when I was in 7th grade that I ran downstairs and told my parents about my plan. They looked at me with a smile and said, “If anyone can do it, you can.”

Chicago: How WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne Thinks She Could Beat Michael Jordan

The WNBA’s Elena Delle Donne Stays in Shape With Boxing

Imani Boyette goes on Twitter campaign to get 50 Cent to attend a WNBA game

Washington: Mystics season preview: Starting five could total just eight years in WNBA

Dallas: Horn: Why Dallas got a WNBA team and how the Wings think they can succeed in Cowboys country

That Nancy Lieberman is enthusiastic about the Wings’ arrival in North Texas should not surprise. For decades, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer has been a driving force in the women’s game. As a player, she was the face of the Dallas Diamonds, a professional women’s team that played in the 1980s.

“The Wings will get tremendous support here,” said Plano resident Lieberman, an assistant coach with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. “Dallas was ridiculously supportive of the Diamonds when we played at Moody Coliseum.

“Dallas didn’t jump on the women’s basketball bandwagon,” she said. “It was the bandwagon.”

WNBA expert’s tips for new WNBA fans, keys for Wings to make playoffs this season – Dallas Morning News
Wings want to connect with D-FW to bring in fans in new town
Longtime WNBA coach, player Pettis imparts knowledge to Dallas Wings players
10 things to know about Dallas’ new WNBA team, the Wings, including its jazz musician coach
How Skylar Diggins is building a brand that transcends the WNBA

SKYLAR DIGGINS IS sitting in a booth in an empty restaurant near Manhattan’s West Side Highway, telling stories about a subject that’s intimately familiar to any woman who spends time on the internet: male trolls. The difference between Diggins and most women, of course, is that she has more than 600,000 followers on Twitter and nearly 1 million on Instagram, which is more than any other female basketball player on the planet. It’s more than the WNBA. So when she says she isn’t terribly bothered by guys being rude to her online because “there are too many to count,” I believe her. But that doesn’t mean she ignores them. “I block people,” she says, laughing. “I’m like Dikembe Mutombo.”

I ask whether people ever give her crap in real life. “Rarely do fans come up to me and say” — she impersonates a gruff male voice — “‘Diggins, I think your shorts should be a little shorter.'” She rests her arm on the banquette. “Ain’t no man coming up to me and saying that.”

Hooper hones skills overseas, with WNBA Dallas
WNBA in Big D: Wings land in Dallas, league’s 1st team there
Seattle: How far can Breanna Stewart take the Seattle Storm and WNBA?

Stewart, who is renting an apartment in Lower Queen Anne, looks forward to visits from her parents, Brian and Heather, and her grandparents this summer.

But she also anticipates starting a new stage in her life — on her own.

“This is where I live, and this is where I’m going to be,” Stewart said assuredly. “I’m fine. I got this.”

New York: From “not Jim Massie” Adam Jardy: Former Buckeyes Katie Smith, Herb Williams find niche as assistant coaches

For all of their physical differences, Katie Smith and Herb Williams are racking up a lot of similarities.

As Ohio State basketball greats — Smith from 1992 to ’96, and Williams from 1977 to ’81 — both left as the all-time scoring leader for their gender. Both went on to lengthy professional careers before moving into coaching. Tonight, when the New York Liberty opens the 2016 WNBA season at the Washington Mystics, Smith and Williams will begin their second year working together under Liberty coach Bill Laimbeer.

In both cases, their current positions represent somewhat unexpected developments in their career arcs.

Minnesota: Minnesota Lynx look to add to WNBA legacy with back-to-back championships

Minnesota Lynx No. 1 in first AP WNBA power poll

The defending champions received 10 first-place votes from the national media panel on Friday. The Phoenix Mercury garnered the other four top votes and are second in the inaugural poll. The two teams will play in Minnesota on Saturday as the league tips off its 20th season this weekend.

Five reasons the Minnesota Lynx could repeat as WNBA champs

WNBA: Whalen healthy and ready for a bounce-back season


For Minnesotans, plenty to cheer for in Olympic women’s basketball

The WNBAlien is back with his previews:

Seattle Storm

San Antonio Stars

Phoenix Mercury

Minnesota Lynx

Los Angeles Sparks

Dallas Wings

Washington Mystics

New York Liberty

Indiana Fever

Chicago Sky

Connecticut Sun

Atlanta Dream

College: Women’s Basketball: ISU files response in Moody lawsuit

You stay put (or as “stay put” as anyone can make a college coach be): UW locks up women’s basketball coach Neighbors

You stay, too: Jeff Mittie signs contract extension as K-State women’s basketball coach

I guess they liked the “interview”: Norfolk State signs women’s coach to three-year deal

Badgers women’s basketball: Jonathan Tsipis followed an improbable path to top spot at UW

WATN? Sherill Baker joins Agnus’ Kennesaw State staff.

WATN2? Olympian, WNBA All-Star Vicki Bullett Named WVWC Head Coach

WATN3? Former WNBA player Kristen Rasmussen returning home to lead Okemos girls hoops

Q&A with Husker women’s basketball coach Amy Williams

New NU women’s basketball coach Amy Williams has moved fast in her first month, bringing her staff and style from South Dakota

Hello: Day Named New UVM Women’s Basketball Coach

UConn women’s basketball team gives President Obama a rocking chair

There is “stuff” going on on the college front that I sure as heck hope reporters don’t ignore….

Former NCAA infractions chair cautions against rash conclusions in UNC case

Yah, right: Hatchell: ‘Hard not to say’ women’s basketball is scapegoat in UNC scandal

After investigation, Joanne P. McCallie to remain Duke women’s basketball coach

Duke women’s basketball struggles to turn recruiting success into wins

Where women’s basketball recruits draw the line for screaming and cursing coaches

From both worlds: 4 years after hitting rock bottom, Chamique Holdsclaw has a new mission outside of basketball

On the November day in 2012 that everything really changed, Chamique Holdsclaw was looking at the 9 mm handgun sitting on the passenger seat of her car. She had it because she lived in Atlanta, and her stepfather told her that she needed to protect herself. She liked to go to shooting ranges with her friends — it was a sport, a thing to do, a way to blow off steam. It was fun.

But now the gun was her way out. She had just gone into a rage and smashed the windows of her ex-girlfriend’s car with a baseball bat. She couldn’t see anything but the gun. She considered lifting it and pressing the muzzle against her temple.

“The only thing I could think about was putting it to my head,” she said. “My hand was shaking.”

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn

Posted in NCAA Division I |

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1,653 other followers

  • Recent Posts

    • Aaaaaand we’re off!
    • Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2018
    • THIS is why
    • In Tenerife and thinking…
    • Quick hits from Tenerife
  • Blogroll

    • Across the Timeline
    • Arena Apothecary (Atlanta Sports etc.)
    • C&R's Stanford Blog
    • Cal Triple Threat Blog
    • Cardinal Couple: Louisville Women's Athletics
    • DC Basketcases – Maryland/not really the Mystics
    • Doggydaddy's Den – A UConn Blog
    • Holding Court with Geno Auriemma
    • Houston Roundball Review
    • Hustle Belt: Some MAC women's basketball
    • Jim Fuller – UConn/Sun
    • John Altavilla – UConn
    • Just Shooting Hoops – Women's Basketball photography
    • LadySwish – Virginia area bball
    • Mel Greenberg
    • Ref's Forum
    • They're Playing Basketball
    • WNBAlien
    • Women's Hoops Blog: Old Site
    • Women's Hoops World
  • News Resources

    • Around the Rim – LaChina Robinson Podcast
    • Burn It All Down – Podcast
    • Division III Hoops
    • ESPN
    • Euro Basket – Women
    • Excel Sports – Basketball
    • FIBA
    • Hashtag Basketball
    • Her Hoop Stats: consistent, reliable, and easy to access data about women's basketball
    • HERO College Sports News Women's Basketball
    • Hoop Feed
    • Locked on Women's Basketball – Howard Megdal
    • Massey Ratings Women's College Basketball
    • NAIA Division I & II
    • NCAA TV & Streaming Schedule
    • NCAA.com WBBall
    • NJCAA I, II & III
    • Players' Tribute: Basketball
    • RPI College Basketball Rankings
    • Shattered Backboard
    • Slam Online
    • SunCast: The Official Podcast of the Connecticut Sun
    • Swish Appeal
    • Television Listings: Hoopfeed
    • The Jump Around with Blake DuDonis – Podcase
    • Unitentional Journalist – Archive of Helen's WBB articles
    • USA Basketball
    • We're On Live – Podcast at Medium
    • WNBA.com
    • Women Talk Sports
    • Women's Basketball News and Thoughts
    • Women's Basketball Server
    • Women's Basketball State
  • Related Sports Blogs & Sites

    • After Atalanta – gender and sports.
    • Ball & Chain Podcast: Rebecca Lobo and Steve Rushin
    • Deaf International Basketball Federation
    • Division I teams by Conference
    • Female Coaching Network
    • Kay Yow Cancer Fund
    • National Assoc. of Collegiate Women Athletics Admins.
    • National Wheelchair Basketball Assoc
    • National Women's Law Center
    • Pat Griffin's LGBT Sport Blog
    • Pilight's superstat WNBA site
    • Rebkell Message Board – NCAA
    • Rebkell Message Board – WNBA
    • The Sports Economist
    • TITLE IX BLOG
    • Women's Talk Sports
  • Archives

    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy