Today's results:
The Sky survived the Mystics, 89-85.
The Silver Stars topped the Mercury, 88-80. Phoenix was playing without center Brittney Griner, out with a sprained left knee.
Team news:
Fever....honors, outreach for Tamika Catchings.
Silver Stars....rookie Davellyn Whyte is facing new challenges in the WNBA.
Shock....rookie Skylar Diggins recently worked with some young basketball players.
Tomorrow's game previews:
Lynx at Fever
Sparks at Shock
World University Games:
Team USA closed preliminary round play by thumping Brazil, 105-75.
Coach Sherri Coale blogs.
College news:
Incoming Duke freshman Rebecca Greenwell is having yet another knee surgery. This one is to repair a torn meniscus.
The Pac-12 may be playing regular season games in China soon.
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8 comments:
Nice to see the Sky keeping the winning thing going but the most amazing thing about that game was that the reported gate was 14,201 which is the highest for any game in the W this year. Where did that come from? It was a daytime, weekday game so I assume there is a lot of community outreach in there. Over twice their season average of 6715 tickets sold.
Wonder what's going on with Griner's knee. Thought it was a minor ding and she was gradually working her way back to full time minutes. All of a sudden she's out.
That's an impressive attendance number, as is Big Sylvia's stat line -- 10 offensive boards, sheesh.
Last Thursday (the holiday), on the soon-to-be-defunct ESPN game board (before the bookie brigade took over), several UDelaware fans were speaking about who among them might be traveling to Newark (the one in Jersey) for the Sky-Liberty game. A couple spoke of intending to travel to DC for an upcoming game.
Considering the extent to which the league has been promoting the 3 to see (32C?), perhaps they should have scheduled one or two "home" games in these girls' college towns. Elena in Delaware or Skylar in South Bend would draw well, I should think. A Brittney return to Waco this summer might have been awkward, but...
I commend the Mercury for taking a cautious approach with Griner's injury.
The way so many of these kids are rushed back onto the court (Foggie at Vandy, the Harrison kid at Tennessee during the college post-season) is infuriating, border-line unconscionable.
I'll choose not to name the school (lower-level Div. 1), but when my daughter a decade ago needed a scope done on her knee during her sophomore season, we chose not to utilize the school's doctor or insurance, but rather our own. I don't mean this as a knock to the school or coach, but rather the culture.
I like that idea of having a game in Delaware for EDD. As you know the Blue Hens had several games last year with +5000 attendance results which compares favorably with the lower range of W attendance. Given the recent acrimony between Griner and Mulkey maybe the game in Waco would not be as cool but is certainly worth considering. For that matter Diggins in South Bend would be huge too.
I don't disagree with you on Griner's knee, but it does make a person wonder about the original diagnosis and countermeasures taken. Looks like they didn't address it as well as they should have.
Seems I recall you used to coach women's sports so you're already familiar with the stunningly high injury rates in women's sports like BB and soccer. Primarily ACL blow outs that are frequently non-contact in nature. It's been officially ignored by the entire WBB establishment for years.
The 15 scholarship standard in D1 WCBB masks this serious injury problem. At any given time most strong programs have 2 to 4 ballers out rehabbing their injuries. I'm a Louisville fan. Last year their WCBB team had 4 starters out on long term rehabs. This isn't uncommon at all.
This is also why the 11 baller roster is such a big problem for the W. They can't withstand the normal female injury rates that everyone that has a clue knows already exists from observing WCBB.
It's been a while since I played competitively but I can count on one hand the serious and semi-serious female athletes that I know that DO NOT have serious on-going ankle or knee problems. It's so common everyone seems to think it just comes with the territory.
Something that needs to be dealt with at some level other that with local, untrained coaches.
Through my teens and early 20's, I was lucky enough to attend almost every home game of Dave Cowens's Boston Celtic career.
Rather than re-invent the wheel, here's my take on Big Dave:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/914076-red-auerbach-in-memoriam-5-strokes-of-his-genius/page/5
After a two-year retirement, Cowens made a one-year return with Milwaukee. I'd moved to Houston by then and went to see him play.
I have never been so sad watching a basketball game, as Dave did little more than hobble from foul line to foul line and shoot a couple of jumpers -- I was literally crying in my beer.
The human body, male or female, simply wasn't constructed to perform many of the physical demands of our games.
Athletically, I was a CYO-lifer -- yet if I turn over in bed the wrong way or too quickly, I'll hobble around on a swollen knee (either is susceptible) for a day or two (if I'm lucky).
Nonetheless, I'm a huge supporter of youth- and school-ball. In my opinion, the good (fitness, character development/mentorship, life-long friendships) far outweighs the bad.
The injury issue indeed creates a conundrum -- one I suppose I'll take to my grave.
True enough. We all break down over time. The issue is that girls and women break down at significantly higher rates than boys and men in comparable sports. Documented ACL blow outs are between 4 and 8 times more frequent with female athletes than male athletes in the same sports. Female concussion rates are 50% higher in women's soccer than men's soccer.
I don't disagree with any of the positive benefits that you call out for young people of either sex that participate in athletics but that really isn't the issue. The real question is can they compete and have a reasonable expectation of being able to walk at 30 without arthritis and at 40 without knee replacements? The truth is that women roundballers are at much higher risk than men of the same injuries.
I'm not interested in getting in a hassle and respect your experience and knowledge but ignoring female injury rates is not fair to the parents of young women because they generally are not aware of the risk of serious injury to their daughters when they sign them up to play. If the risks were fairly and accurately disclosed to these uniformed parents of female athletes I'd have no issue with it. Unfortunately as you know they aren't. So you end up with catastrophic injuries with permanent, life-altering impacts to young women who had no clue they were as much at risk as they were.
Wasn't trying to be argumentative -- my apologies if it came across that way. Just speaking from my experience.
I likewise appreciate the information and opinions you offer to these discussions.
Have you given any thought to preparing a pamphlet to help raise awareness on this issue?
You clearly have the knowledge and literacy to make it happen.
Dang, as I was typing, Glory Johnson (one of my fav's) got the worst of a collision with Nneka Ogwumike. Hope it's not the shoulder she had trouble with at UT.
No issues at all with you. It would be great if there was a receptive audience for the message but it seems like there's some serious institutional push back for any facts that seem to indicate that female ballers are in any way more fragile than males. Don't see that changing in the near future, which is too bad when it comes to the people actually getting hurt.
It's a really tough political issue. Unfortunately the people getting hurt generally aren't the same ones that are so interested in the politics.
Parker went off tonight. Maybe Ms. Favor's wishes are coming true as we speak. LA is going to get their first road win.
1. I also resent the implication that females are more fragile than males. Women worked hard to overcome that stereotype.
2. I am a media member and not a Sparks fan. No wishes here.
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