More NCAA FUN!
I'm totally shocked. Usually by this stage of the tournament I've got one region left alive on my Yahoo bracket. This year I got 7 out of 8 right in the Elite 8. My only miss was Mizzou over Memphis. But seeing Memphis lose was worth it. Of course the danger now is that Mizzou is going to spoil the party by beating UConn -- which is a very real possibility. That team can play.
Now on to the women's party where parity is beginning to emerge. But I'm fairly certain UConn has enough grit to make it through to the title and a perfect season. Unless the good old girls network at the NCAA assigns one of their favorite incompentent refs to do the Stanford-UConn semifinal. I don't know how things look and sound in other parts of the country, but over the last 5-10 years the group of elite female head coaches who have been around since the 80's appear to have a chip on their shoulder. Especially over men like UConn's Geno getting good press. But not just the guys. They seem to resent the rise of the new coaches like Coales, and Goestetnerkor? and they definitely never liked Carol Peck. When I read between the lines on what I see and hear in the interviews is a sense that they resent these folks who've crashed their party uninvited. And it's the uninvited part that's clear. They've got their proteges, but its the other up and coming coaches that seem to rankle their feathers and whose success they begrudge. Maybe it's just me reading too much into it, but it sure seems that way. And it seems like Summitt, VanDerveer, and Conradt and the other greats have had too much sway in the tournament committee. Of course now that UConn has become a powerhouse and an ESPN media darling they get special treatment as well. But I like them so it doesn't bug me to see that!
Now on to the women's party where parity is beginning to emerge. But I'm fairly certain UConn has enough grit to make it through to the title and a perfect season. Unless the good old girls network at the NCAA assigns one of their favorite incompentent refs to do the Stanford-UConn semifinal. I don't know how things look and sound in other parts of the country, but over the last 5-10 years the group of elite female head coaches who have been around since the 80's appear to have a chip on their shoulder. Especially over men like UConn's Geno getting good press. But not just the guys. They seem to resent the rise of the new coaches like Coales, and Goestetnerkor? and they definitely never liked Carol Peck. When I read between the lines on what I see and hear in the interviews is a sense that they resent these folks who've crashed their party uninvited. And it's the uninvited part that's clear. They've got their proteges, but its the other up and coming coaches that seem to rankle their feathers and whose success they begrudge. Maybe it's just me reading too much into it, but it sure seems that way. And it seems like Summitt, VanDerveer, and Conradt and the other greats have had too much sway in the tournament committee. Of course now that UConn has become a powerhouse and an ESPN media darling they get special treatment as well. But I like them so it doesn't bug me to see that!
posted by Wake of the Flood at 8:51 AM
2 Comments:
i strikes me that UConn and Tennessee are victims of their own successes. The crowds and fan base the Huskies developed in the 90s when they began their challenge to the Summit had to have opened eyes with athletic directors around the country.
Big crowds for girls games?
Press requests for interviews?
TV ratings?
Jersey sales?
Wow. All things associated with top men's programs and easy money used to offset the expenses of non-revenue generating athletic programs.
So the blue print was drawn and others started to imitate it, just in time to reap the benefits of expanded pools of athletes coming through the high schools. Suddenly young women understood that femininity and athleticism were not mutually exclusive traits. Mia Hamm and her teammates were as much role models as Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo and Cheryl Swoops. Anika Sorenstamm and the other women golfers upped their game as well.
This is only the beginning of a major expansion of attention being paid to female athletes.
Some of them understand how to use their attractiveness for better marketing contracts (think Danika Patrick and Maria Sharipova) while still proving they belong at the top levels of their game. Others, such as Michelle Wei, struggle to balance it. But we will see amazing things from the female games in the next few years. I'm looking forward to it, as the games are played in a manner I find much closer to what I imagine I could do. Fundamentals are still stressed.
oh, and the use of the word "girl's" in the line above about big crowds was intentional, inferring a level of patronage that seemed endemic for many years.
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