Attention Basketball Fans (Part One)

This weekend brings many questions: why did the Vice President enter the hospital? What (if anything) can the U.S. do about Iran? Is thimerosal truly toxic, or not? How much bile can spew from Karl Rove? Can Howard Dean really pursue a fifty-state strategy? Now that the Spurs have their rings and the NBA has its collective-bargaining agreement, where can you go to watch basketball all summer?

To the first four of those questions, I have no good answers. To the fifth, I say "Sure, and it may already be working." As for the sixth, four letters: W N B A. Some people don't think it's basketball if no one dunks, and some commentators need a smackdown. Everyone else who enjoys NBA ball, however, ought to try this year's WNBA, whether or not you've watched women's hoops in the past, and especially if you're part of the large (and growing!) fan base for the women's college game.

You can find the WNBA's schedule here, a TV schedule here and a webcast schedule here. (All webcasts are free once you sign up; any game on webcast, or on NBA-TV, is also on local or regional broadcast TV in at least one of the markets involved.) Tonight's late game could be a blowout, or a corker: a troubled but talented team hosts the league's top scorers, who got an emotional win yesterday. Today's afternoon game could be close, but may not show the league at its best. For an intro to all thirteen teams, stay tuned for part two of this column; for more on the league in general, keep reading.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR.
Assists. Teamwork. Defense. Determination. The WNBA certainly has superstars: Chamique Holdsclaw ("the Claw"), a dramatic one-on-one player who can score from anywhere inside the three-point line; Katie Smith, the game's best pure shooter and one of its grittiest defenders, who can score from virtually anywhere outside the three-point line; Lauren Jackson, the Australian power forward who collects double-doubles the way kids collect action figures. And it has its future stars, rookies and second-year players whom we get to watch as they develop: Vanessa Hayden, a colossal center who seems to be able to block shots just by looking at them; Diana Taurasi, last year's youngest Olympian, for two years the leading light of the college game.

But the W isn't a league for one-on-one ballers. The teams that win games have to work together, and the greatest pleasure of watching a well-played W game often comes from watching assists: on the best teams, guards and forwards move the ball around, watch the flow of the whole court, and move to get open. Another pleasure comes from defense and determination: there are only 34 games in the regular season, which means that every win and every loss matters, and every player on the court shows up on both ends.

POTTED HISTORY.
The W (that's what fans tend to call it) began in '97, taking advantage of the publicity drawn by the 1996 Olympic team; the league expanded from 6 teams in'97 to 16 in 2002, then contracted and shuffled teams around a bit. All but one team share arenas and front offices with NBA franchises; the exception, Connecticut, plays at Mohegan Sun casino. (Next year a non-NBA-affiliate team begins in Chicago.) Some '96 Olympians are still playing and thriving, as are almost all the players who won the gold medal in Athens last summer. The W's season begins in mid-May, has an All-Star Game in July, and ends with playoffs in September, so as not to conflict with the NBA. Many, perhaps most, WNBA'ers play year-round, with overseas gigs in the winter. Others coach college teams. Since the initial seasons, attendance has declined somewhat in most markets, but the play (and the coaching) has improved: because women's ball at the high school and college level has grown so much, each season's crop of rookies probably raises the overall level of the game.

THE BUSINESS END.
Is the WNBA profitable? Not really. Will it go out of business soon? No way. Attendance dropped between '99 and '03 in part because the hype wore off, but now the numbers have arguably stabilized, some teams (mostly winning ones) have increased their gate, and the new commish, a former basketball player with a history of success in marketing golf, seems to know what she's doing (especially regarding corporate sponsorships). Some WNBA teams do turn a profit-- and W teams cost peanuts compared to what the men make (WNBA salaries max out at $89,000; many players make below $50K), so anyone who can afford to own an NBA team can easily afford to stay in the W. NBA commissioner David Stern has been one of the women's game's great supporters; continued NBA support for the W has been, by most accounts, one of his non-negotiable demands.

MORE TO COME.
In part two of this column I'll tell you about each team, so that, if you live in a WNBA city, you can have some idea what to expect, and, if you don't, you can pick a team to follow. (Short version: if you liked Steve Nash and the Suns, pick Connecticut.)

Right now, I'll tell you instead where to find out more. WNBA fans use the web a lot; some use it well. Sara and Ted's Womens Hoops Blog (to which I occasionally contribute) summarizes news and offers comments-- if you don't mind the occasional inside joke, it's a good place to start. The elegant She's Got Game collects headlines and pictures. Kim Callahan's Women's Basketball Online is a truly comprehensive aggregation of data, links and daily news. Mel Greenberg, who virtually invented daily newspaper coverage of the women's college game, has his own blog. Detailed analysis comes from Full Court Press, an online mag whose regulars include prep coaches (some articles subscription only). The Seattle Storm site carries exceptional coverage from blogger (and stats nut) Kevin Pelton. More stats (and pix) are here. Fans talk about the game (constantly) on national message boards: ESPN runs this one, but I prefer this one. Let me know what you see!