ALMOST 24 hours after major league baseball showcased its stars in Boston, the WNBA held its inaugural version last night at the sold-out Garden. It was a big night for the three-year-old league even though the game wasn’t that close after the West jumped out to 17-2 lead and cruised to a 79-61 win over the East. But this wasn’t an event centered around which team won or lost. It wasn’t even as much about the present as it was about the future.
It was no coincidence that the WNBA’s first All-Star Game was held in the World’s Most Famous Arena. Nor was it a coincidence that nearly every player approached by someone carrying a microphone or notebook was more than willing to expound on all the positives the league has to offer. This was more about promotion than pomp and circumstance, which is why those who played in this inaugural game won’t be fully appreciated until 15 or 20 years from now.
“Hopefully, there will be a league in 15 or 20 years and we’ll be seen as the pioneers,” the Liberty’s injured center Rebecca Lobo had said earlier in the day. “That’s probably when the big money is going to come. I don’t think most of the women that are playing now are going to see it. But that’s when the full appreciation is going to set in, after all of us are probably done playing.”
History and tradition are a vital part of any sports league. Baseball held its 70th All-Star Game at Fenway Park Tuesday night and the highlight wasn’t anything the players did on the field, but the pre-game ceremony that acknowledged the legends of the sport. Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Bob Feller, Tom Seaver and other famous names took the field to be saluted by the crowd, which was nearly driven to tears when Ted Williams threw out the first pitch.
The WNBA has no such history. There are no records to compare the present with the past, no stories that have been handed down from mothers and fathers to sons and daughters. No doubt, 10 or 20 years from now, the players who performed last night will be invited to another WNBA All-Star Game where they will be saluted for the things they are accomplishing today. Only then will we fully understand the impact they are having now.
Unlike their baseball counterparts and even the men in the NBA, the WNBA players do as much promoting as they do playing. While trying to succeed in the present, there is an understanding that they are playing for a future.
“Selling the [league] is a big part of the All-Star Game and getting people to tune in,” Lobo said. “People might tune into an All-Star Game even if they’re not apt to tune into a regular-season game. To get everybody talking to the media, that’s real important for us right now especially being such a young league. We have to do as much as we can to promote it. The All-Star Game is the best vehicle to do that.”
Val Ackerman, president of the WNBA, said the league’s “vital signs are all good right now,” even though there are rumbles that the franchises in Charlotte, Utah and Los Angeles might be in trouble. With no baseball to compete with, last night’s game was broadcast on ESPN and to 125 countries in 20 languages. An estimated 500 media credentials were issued for the game. Whitney Houston’s rendition of the national anthem was nearly as stirring as when she sang before Super Bowl XXV in Tampa. The halftime show featuring kids tap-dancing with Gregory Hines and young tumblers flying all over the court was worth the price of admission alone.
Naturally, the WNBA was all too happy to ride any momentum filtering from the World Cup victory of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team. Five of their players, including Mia Hamm, had front-row seats. “This was a wonderful night for women’s basketball,” said West coach Van Chancellor.
Nonetheless, last night’s All-Star Game was more important to the league’s future than the present. Quick! Name five players among the 23 who were on the All-Star rosters last night? The average sports fan would find that a difficult chore. Two-time MVP Cynthia Cooper is the Michael Jordan of the WNBA, yet she can move through a crowded Manhattan sidewalk and go virtually unnoticed. Her team, the Houston Comets, is a two-time league champion looking for a third title. They very well could wind up as one of the best WNBA’s teams of all-time. But whom do you compare them with?
Lobo went down in the season opener with a knee injury and is out for the year. Yet, she was voted to the All-Star Game, a reflection of not just her own popularity among fans, but also the lack of name recognition for those who have been competing.
That will change. The WNBA, which plans to add new teams in Seattle, Portland, Indianapolis and Miami next year, will definitely get bigger. With NBA money backing it, it also will get better. The excitement created by the women’s soccer team proved it’s not unmacho to cheer at women’s sports. Perhaps someday soon it won’t just be kids and families going to these WNBA games, but the hardcore fan in the blue seats.
Of course, that may not be for another 15 or 20 years when Lobo, Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes will be honored not only for being exceptional players, but legendary pioneers.