So, why does the Women's National Basketball Association exist? What those women do - Taurasi, Wilson, Stewart, Griner - millions of men worldwide, and boys as young as 15 and 16, can do. What does their league have to do with athletic excellence, which is what professional sports is supposed to be about?
The obvious answer is sex and politics. Because they are women, they get a sports league just like the men. It is an extension of Title IX - that government legislation passed back in the 90s that assures girls are entitled to every sports opportunity boys receive. Title IX says nothing about athletic excellence. It speaks only of "opportunity."
Today, the teams in the WNBA would have a hard time defeating a boy's junior varsity team. The women there would be hard-pressed to compete with the size, strength, and speed of 16-year-old boys. The boys would steal the ball from them, grab 80% of the rebounds, block many of their shots, and throw down dunks repeatedly upon their heads, (which would be very debilitating, considering the ladies, without lift, could not dunk back.)
The WNBA's viability as a sports league seems dependent upon the powers that be - the media, politicians, and sponsors - to create a biosphere that dispels truths, and replaces them with notions of equality that simply do not exist in the real world. And, many of us fall for it, the way we fall for Hollywood - the way we gladly suspend our disbelief for the chance to swoon over cinematic stars.
But, let's not get this twisted: These ladies of the WNBA are not actors. They play their hearts out every night. Watch them, and you will come to love them. (I think I just answered my own question.)
She breaches!
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