Dog Denizens of Genesee Park (DDGP) Special Correspondence Damager (an alias) offers his thoughts on the Seattle Storm capturing the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) championship last week:The Storm are a tremendous asset to the City of Seattle, and to the world of sports. I deliberately do not make the distinction that they are a credit to "womens' sports". It is time that these athletes are recognized for who and what they are. Professionals. They perform at the highest level one may perform at, and, as indicated by their Championship victory, they do it better than anyone else. Yes, they are women. Is that relevant? In some spheres, sure. On the court, no. Does anyone ever talk about how Michael Jordan was the best man to ever play the game? Or what a pleasure it is to watch the high level of competition amongst the men of the NBA? No, we don't care about their gender. Sports are sports and athletes are athletes. It is time that "womens sports" are given their due and treated as equally relevant, significant and entertaining as "mens sports".
The Seattle Times featured the Storm on the front page of the paper after they had won the WNBA Championship. That was great. How many times before that had the Storm even made it above the fold in the Sports section? I won't bother quantifying it at the moment. The answer is... not enough. When a town filled with losing teams gives more attention to those losing teams than it does to the best team the city has seen in over 30 years, something is wrong.
Force 10 Hoops did the fans and the city a great service by saving the Storm and keeping the team here in Seattle. I attended the Finals games at Key Arena and got to shake hands with one of the owners as she made the rounds around the court before the game. What a startling yet pleasant experience. As they reported during an interview with the Times, the owners are fans first, and owners second. Where else can you meet and greet the owner of the team before the game begins?
Coach Brian Agler did an incredible job building this team. He made many difficult decisions about which players he could keep and which players he wanted to bring in. Due to salary cap issues and contract negotiations, as well as personal decisions of the players, we already know that we won't have exactly the same team next year. If the progress of the team under Coach Agler in the past few years is any indication, more good things are sure to follow.
The Storm organization reaches out to fans, and to the community at large. Attendance at games is always a pleasure. Ticket prices are affordable. So affordable in fact that I have carved season tickets into my extremely tight personal budget. There is a magic and powerfully positive emotional draw surrounding this organization. I will be there for it all next year and hope to see you there.
The Seattle Times featured the Storm on the front page of the paper after they had won the WNBA Championship. That was great. How many times before that had the Storm even made it above the fold in the Sports section? I won't bother quantifying it at the moment. The answer is... not enough. When a town filled with losing teams gives more attention to those losing teams than it does to the best team the city has seen in over 30 years, something is wrong.
Force 10 Hoops did the fans and the city a great service by saving the Storm and keeping the team here in Seattle. I attended the Finals games at Key Arena and got to shake hands with one of the owners as she made the rounds around the court before the game. What a startling yet pleasant experience. As they reported during an interview with the Times, the owners are fans first, and owners second. Where else can you meet and greet the owner of the team before the game begins?
Coach Brian Agler did an incredible job building this team. He made many difficult decisions about which players he could keep and which players he wanted to bring in. Due to salary cap issues and contract negotiations, as well as personal decisions of the players, we already know that we won't have exactly the same team next year. If the progress of the team under Coach Agler in the past few years is any indication, more good things are sure to follow.
The Storm organization reaches out to fans, and to the community at large. Attendance at games is always a pleasure. Ticket prices are affordable. So affordable in fact that I have carved season tickets into my extremely tight personal budget. There is a magic and powerfully positive emotional draw surrounding this organization. I will be there for it all next year and hope to see you there.
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