Biting the Basketball Hand That Feeds

I love soccer.

I love European Soccer, MLS Soccer, Collegian Soccer, the USMNT, the USWNT, Indoor Soccer, and all levels in-between, all the way down to my local High School Soccer Team.

But I understand that each entity above has its own business model and its own niche in the Sports Culture

So imagine my surprise when I was over at ESPN this past weekend and saw this story: Players Back Napeesa Collier in Ripping WNBA, Calling for Change

The whole article was a farce. Let's break it all down: "A host of WNBA players leaguewide showed support for Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier after she ripped WNBA leadership in her exit interview Tuesday."

Exit interview?

This is the exit interview for nearly every pro athlete in America over the past 50 years: "You suck, get out." Almost no one in sports gets an exit interview.

'Collier shook the sports world Tuesday when she accused league commissioner Cathy Engelbert of being "negligent" in her governance. "We have the best players in the world. We have the best fans in the world," Collier said in her lengthy remarks, "but right now we have the worst leadership in the world.'"

False. Not the best players in the world. Not even close.

False. Best fans in the world? Not even close.

False. Worst leadership in the world? Hardly.

Let's isolate Collier's quote to BASKETBALL ONLY.

Best Basketball Players in the World? NBA. By a mile. The average WNBA player is about as good as a subpar Division III Men's College Team.

Best Basketball Fans in the World? Probably the Kentucky Wildcat Fans, though another half dozen other college basketball meccas could make the argument. Maybe Purdue? Maybe Kansas? (We don't like Duke).

Worst Leadership in the Basketball World? In 1999, Isiah Thomas, formerly of the Detroit Pistons, bought the Continental Basketball Association. At the time, the CBA had just celebrated its 50th Anniversary. Thomas' leadership drove that league straight into the ground. The league folded, then tried to re-group. When the CBA went belly up, the NBA started their own minor-league feeder system, the NBDL. The teams in the CBA tried to re-organize, but the NBA put that league out of business. You want to know how NOT to run a basketball entity? See the CBA.

Why am I so angry? As a soccer fan, I could argue that the WNBA is the BEST run league in the nation. How do I figure? Name 2 players in the WNBA. You just named Angel Reese and Caitlyn Clark. Now name 2 players in MLS, the top level of soccer in the United States. You said Lionel Messi and then paused because you can't name a second. My second favorite sport is arguably hockey. Name 2 players under the age of 30 in the NHL. You can't do it. My argument is that the leadership of the WNBA tricked people into watching garbage. You have to give them credit for that, the same way I used to give Jerry Springer credit for getting ratings.

How are they doing it? With smoke and mirrors

WNBA players think that they should be paid like NBA players? They are delusional to the level of mass psychosis. Just last week at Politico: MAGA is Coming for the WNBA! What was Politico's angle? The WNBA is the most politically active, and WOKE, pro sports league in North America. Money has flooded into the WNBA for reasons totally unrelated to basketball.

More from the Collier article: "The criticism toward the league also comes on the backdrop of player frustration with the state of CBA negotiations, as the current agreement is set to expire at the end of October. Chelsea Gray, the Aces' primary player rep, said Tuesday that the status of talks is "not great, not where we thought and wanted to be at this point in time."

So the overpaid WNBA players want more money? Bottom line: The WNBA wouldn't have existed without the initial investment of the NBA and its subsidization. The WNBA wouldn't exist today without the NBA's guiding hand and the fact that half the league is owned by businessmen that also own NBA Franchises. No league in the history of American sports has been underwritten the way the WNBA has been. None. They should be struggling to survive like the NWSL or the PWSL. Neither Don Garber nor Gary Bettman had the foresight to invest in the women's version of their games. WNBA Players should worship at the David Stern alter, because without his vision, their league wouldn't exist.

Yet Collier is claiming that the WNBA is teetering "on the brink."

Not true at all. I wish it was, because I could argue that the WNBA is the most ungrateful league in North America. The only way the WNBA would be on the brink is if you pulled out all NBA-related money, and all television contracts tied to NBA deals.

Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, and Maverick Carter have all teased starting their own league. All three are full of crap. None of them are investing in anything without some guarantee on return.

I DARE WNBA players to break away from the league and start their own little basketball utopia. They will fail immediately. You want to kill women's basketball in America? Start a breakaway league that pays players MORE than the WNBA. Both leagues would collapse within 2 years.

If I was sitting in the living room with you I would push my finger square into your forehead. "The AHL partially exists due to the NHL. Triple-A Leagues like the International League partially exist due to MLB. But no major league entity exists on subsidies from another major league."

Last word goes to the Babylon Bee:

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