The other night when I heard it yet again – this time from two of my favorite kids – I knew I had to write about it. And what better day than International Women’s Day.
I’m talking about girls who don’t watch girls or women’s basketball. They’ll watch the dudes play, whether it’s high school, college or pro. But they won’t attend a girls or women’s game. To make matters worse sometimes, they’ll then disparage the women’s game. It’s an attitude surprisingly more prevalant than us older folks would imagine. Here are some examples…….
Last month a signee at a low-key Division I school told me she hadn’t seen the 2008 game when Candace Parker dislocated her shoulder.
“I don’t watch women’s basketball,” she explained.
I wanted to ask her, who do you think is going to watch YOU play in college?
The other day it was two girls who had just played in a high-stakes game, and only wanted to go to the boy’s City Championship game that evening.
“The girls game is boring,” one kid said.
The other one smiled, “except for our game.”
I politely told them I was walking out on them, and I did.
It’s ignorant and self-hating to degrade your own sport, and I’m not sure what’s happened to some kids to make them turn on themselves. My other thought in dealing with such attitudes is that those girls would learn so much more about the game – and be better players – if they watched WOMEN’S basketball, which is different than men’s. They’re only cheating themselves.
Females are the one sex that sometimes degrades themselves. I’m surprised it still goes on. I walked out on the two the other day, but for the most part I encourage girls and women to support women in basketball, and I’m doing so now.
Girls, watch your own sport. Women too. The only one you’re hurting by not doing so is yourself.