I’m watching the Connecticut Sun game tonight on ION network.
We are getting that team, which features Brittney Griner.
Quite entertaining stuff.
Just can’t get excited. Preferred Hockey team
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Caitlin Clark went off yesterday…
I don’t really watch the WNBA… but that woman can hoop!
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Hopefully the plan is to trade her back to Russia for the arms dealer
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There’s a good chance of that as well! STAY TUNED!!! Hopefully Friedkin doesn’t let us down!
Why not have both?
I just asked AI which US cities have franchises in all of the following leagues: NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WNBA, MLS, and NWLS?
The answer from both Google and ChatGPT is …only THREE:
New York, Los Angeles, and Washington DC.
Within the next few years…HOUSTON could become #4.
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Brittney Griner … consider me not interested.
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She had a decent game last night.
12/6/4 in a winning effort.
Still a major post presence.
Be nice.
You mean UFC ring girl Sophie Cunningham…?
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If I were Fertitta I’d be selling everything I could to get Caitlin Clark to Houston. She doesn’t like her coach and doesn’t fit well with Indiana even though they are playing better lately. Let her pick her coach, etc.
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She’s old and not that good anymore. Connecticut is worst team in the WNBA and the sooner they move on from her the better.
As a girls basketball coach and girl dad, I watch a ton of WNBA games, collect WNBA cards with my daughters and drive 1.5 hrs to Indy to watch a bunch of Fever games (also cincinnati Native Kelsey Mitchell is the best scorer on that team not Caitlin) and all I got to say is…. If you love the game of basketball then women’s basketball is purely where the heart of basketball lies.
They are no 7 footers. They aren’t world beater athletes. They can’t dunk.
And yet, it’s what I love about it. It’s fundamental
Basketball that relies on skills & training instead of pure athleticism. The barrier of entry is also a lot easier for girls. Your height matters less, and skills matter the most. The most skilled 5’10 male has virtually no chance in the nba.
You’d guys are lucky to get a wnba team and if you. Can get an elite player that’s marketable like CC, aja Wilson, Paige Bueckers or Juju Watkins, and you build it right, it will be a near capacity crowd every night that doesn’t leave until the final horn just like Indy.
And if your a coach, some of the best set plays that translate to the youth level come from the W.
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Fertitta bought the Sun.
They become the Houston Comets 2.0 next year.
We’ll see.
Interestingly, the WNBA is now making a profit.
The Comets 1.0 folded despite four titles.
While I don’t disagree with you on the whole about the game being more fundamental, height still matters a TON. The median WNBA height has historically been about 6’1, which is, in percentile terms, about the equivalent of being 6’7 as a man. In other words, relative to the gender’s height distribution, WNBA players are exactly as tall as MNBA players. Women are just a lot shorter than men on average. The average woman in the US is still two and a half inches shorter than the shortest WNBA player.
Especially at the professional level, Basketball, whether women’s or men’s, is probably the most genetically-deterministic sport. When you go to a WNBA game, you’re still watching absolute freaks of nature.
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And isn’t soccer the LEAST genetically deterministic sport?
Consider this:
Maradona (5’ 5”)
Messi (5’ 7”)
Pele (5’ 8”)
Those are the three GOATs, right?
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Soccer’s a good candidate for that, though height is more important on the defensive end there. Baseball would be another good one, given that there’s an active former AL MVP who’s 5’6” (to say nothing of the Princes Fielder of the world.)
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There are a lot of top defenders in soccer under six foot as well.
Height would definitely help a goalie. Can’t see it being too much of an advantage anywhere else.
In MLB, pitchers average 6’ 2.5". Height is generally an advantage on the mound, though exceptions exist (see Billy Wagner). Average MLB player at all positions is 6’ 1".
Obviously height isn’t as big an advantage in baseball as some other sports (in baseball, you don’t have to be seven feet tall, or seven feet wide), but height is probably still a bigger advantage in baseball than in soccer once pitchers and first basemen (average MLB height 6’2") are considered.
According to AI, the average MLS player is only slightly taller than the US average for all males at 5’11"; goalkeepers probably skew that average up a bit.
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Goalkeepers: Average (6’2\frac{1}{2}") (74.56 inches)
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Defenders: Average (5’11\frac{3}{4}") (71.85 inches)
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Forwards: Average (5’10\frac{3}{4}") (70.63 inches)
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Midfielders: Average (5’9\frac{1}{4}") (69.23 inches) [1]
As a general rule, any sport in which Japan is competitive ain’t gonna be all that dependent on height.
Still 33% of the league is under 6 foot and the average height of a guard in the WNBA used to be 6’0 and now has shrunk to 5’10
More girls than ever are playing basketball and training from a young age. My 11 year old is playing basketball 4-5 days a week & trains daily,I think it’s becoming a lot more about do you have skill vs… your tall you should play basketball.
But my main point is… if your a 5’6 girl and your really frickin good, you still have a chance in the W but a 5’9 male is almost eliminated from the jump.
Also… as the WNBA expands, I actually think the height continues to trend down with guards. Kelsey Mitchell is 5’8 but yet is an absolute killer on the court and scores from everywhere. For a long time in the W, height was could be a huge factor when you only have 14 teams but if they expand it to 25, I think they can take on more skilled smaller players in the long run.
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I have seen clips of alleged cheap shots and I see a lot of Clark flopping.
Cunningham is a baller. I like her attitude and how she gets up in opposing players’ faces. Clark should try to be like Cunningham in that way.