What makes the comments more disturbing is that said player went out of his way to denigrate the women players who have reached the same professional peak as himself. But instead of focusing on this numbskull I decided to dedicate this post to the sacrifices made by the women of the WNBA as well as give them my deferential respect.
WNBA PLAYERS AND LEAGUE- LGBT PIONEERS
When Michael Sam and Jason Collins came out to the public they were praised for their bravery and lauded as sports heroes. I applaud both players, however, as athletes they don't hold a candle to lesbian players like Chamique Holdsclaw and Brittney Griner. While their male counterparts recieve sportsman of the year awards and fame, despite being awful at their respective sports, the media fails to give the women of the WNBA proper respect for their work in the community. The WNBA is light years ahead of the sports world in it's efforts to embrace our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers. Just last year the league became the first professional american sports structure to acknowledge it's gay and lesbian fans with the first ever "Pride" game. Let's give the WNBA credit for this unprecedented gesture.
MEAGER PAY SCALE AND SUBSEQUENT CAREER EFFECTS
In 2014 the average WNBA salary was estimated to be around $75,000 with the max salary being near $110,000. To put things in perspective the last man on an NBA team receives close to $400,000! Of course the NBA generates more revenue than the WNBA and the WNBA players Union could possibly negotiate more fair profit-sharing, but this smaller pay scale has significant effects on the career trajectory of WNBA players. You would never hear of Carmelo Anthony signing a contract with a foreign team immediately after his final playoff game. This would essentially commit him to the grit and grind of a complete year of professional basketball! Yet this is necessary for some WNBA players without coaching gigs or other supplements to increase their income. Hell, even the great Tamika Catchings played overseas 8 of her 10 WNBA seasons. Competing at the top of your sport year round ultimately has to have detrimental effects on your ability to stay healthy, and could possibly shorten your career. In turn, I wonder if WNBA players would continue to play ball year round, or take time to rehabilitate and spend time at home with their loved ones if they recieved the same league revenue share as their NBA counterparts? This remains to be studied.
FAVORITE PLAYERS
Finally, as a show of obeisance...here are video montages of my 3 favorite WNBA players! Elena Delledonne (hometown hero), Ivory Latta, and arguably the future GOAT (sorry Cheryl) Maya Moore!
TheLonelyBlogger
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