Sunday, June 7, 2009

Rookies shine on opening day, and other tidbits

Not quite like CP last year, but damned good nonetheless:

Brian Martin writes on the .com

Other Sparks opening day tidbits I forgot last night in my fatigue:

- 13,000 in attendance! Booyah.

- Snoop Dogg was there! Sitting in some expensive seat with his wife Chante. And of course, he had the shades on. Football player Warren Sapp was also in attendance.

Snoop D-O-double gizzle

- I didn't read the game program until I got home, but inside was a brief interview with Lisa Leslie that included this comment:

"I'm strong, I'm tough, and I still wear my eyeliner," Leslie said.

Leslie has managed to maintain her femininity while becoming one of the best to ever play the game.


The implications of this statement are many, and all are disturbing. And why the Sparks felt the need to insert this quote into a program where kids could read it is beyond me. So I'd like to make the following points:

1. Being feminine doesn't make one a better or more desirable basketball player or person than a tomboyish woman.

2. Women should be able to be who they are.

3. Female basketball players, from high school to the pros, do a MUCH better job of accepting one another (regardless of appearance or sexuality) than their male ball playing counterparts. For the most part, people just get along. If they publicized these attitudes more, it would help influence fans and others to also be more accepting. But instead, the WNBA goes out of its way sometimes to hype and promote feminity and/or heterosexuality.

Apparently, we've still got a long way to go.

- On the upside, I saw a father and son in the parking garage before the game. The father playfully bopped the son on the head because he forgot the tickets. They turned around to walk back to the car, and as the dad walked by me, I could see he had a "Dunkin Divas" T-shirt on.

OK, maybe not as far to go as I thought.

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