Nike’s ’08 Tournament of Champions Recap

Check out this great slideshow to show the highlights of Nike’s Tournament of Champions, known to many as the best high school basketball tournament in the country.

National Basketball says that the Tournament of Champions is the largest and most prestigious in-season high school girls’ basketball tournament in North America. Each year more than 100 elite teams from around the United States compete in the event, which has been called “unparalleled” by the USA Today.
The tournament routinely showcases the majority of the preseason top 25 teams in the nation, along with the most powerful teams from Arizona, California, and bordering states, and has produced seven of the last nine USA Today National Champions.

Must have been quite an event! Special thanks to ESPN HoopGurlz who provides (by far) the best coverage of the top high school female basketball players in the country.

(NCAA) A drained economy: The end of women’s professional sports?

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Yesterday, at the top of NCAA.org read the question,

Will the economy undo women’s professional sports? Would this have a trickle-down impact on women’s college sports?

My personal opinion is no. The economy won’t undo women’s professional sports. Our culture’s value system will. When the economy is down, so are programs (across all industries) which rely on sponsorship/advertising and aren’t particularly “popular” with the dominant class of society. Unfortunately, these days, women’s professional sports fall into that spit bucket.

However, it doesn’t mean we can ignore the problem – it’s a topic that rightfully deserves some discussion.

The Houston Comets announced this week that they will be suspending operations until they find a new owner for the club. We don’t know what this means for the future of the Comets, but as far as the 2009 season is concerned, the Comets are done.

Similarly, the LPGA announced in late November that it will be cutting back on three tournaments this year, as well as prize money. USA Today reports,

“The reductions come amid an economic downturn that is sweeping across the sports world, although the PGA Tour increased its purses for 2009.”

However, there is hope in the sky.

Women’s Professional Soccer is making a comeback. This article in Forbes discusses the mistakes that WPS’s predecessor has made. With all that investment, they couldn’t get people in the stands.

What I pose, however, is a larger question.

With the overwhelmingly large amount of young women (and older women) who currently  – or at some point in their lives – participate in sports, why are female professional sports so unpopular? Where is that disconnect? Where is that market?

Tennessee Lady Vols squeak past George Washington, great showing of fans

I was fortunate last night to attend a matchup between the University of Tennessee and George Washington University in Washington, DC. The gym was almost full, and within the last five minutes of the game, everyone was on their feet.

Prior to the game, I had received a Facebook invite from a friend for an event titled, “Tennessee is coming…” started by some faithful GWU women’s basketball fans. The message read,

“Hey guys, The lady Vols have been spotted, along with over 1,000 fans. It’s time to remind them that this is our house! Doors open early tonight @ 6:15pm for student only!! This way we can get the best seats in the house.

So, Grab 2 friends, and get out to the Smith Center tonight!!!! Our best opponent of the year is at hand and the team needs our support!”

I was so glad to see a Facebook invite to a women’s basketball event -it already generated over 100 members from the Washington, DC area. So, of course, I decided to go (with a few friends).

Also earlier that day, the Lady Vols took a tour around DC. To the left is a picture of Briana Brass in front of the U.S. Capitol – direct from the Lady Vols’ Web site.

Later that night, I was surprised when I walked in a local bar on campus prior to the game and saw orange. Apparently, the Lady Vols have fans everywhere – and 1,000 of them were headed to GWU’s gym.

I entered the gym- which was pretty-much full, and very, very loud. According to the GWU Web site, last night’s crowd (3,459) was the sixth largest women’s basketball crowd in Charles E. Smith Center history. Pat Summit sure knows how to draw attention. (check out her post-game audio here)

The student section for GWU was in rare form, and the sea or orange behind the Tennessee bench was anything but quiet.

Tenesssee maintained about a 7-10 point lead for about the first 3/4 of the game, but with less than five minutes left to play, George Washington come within a possession of taking the lead (they were down two points).

GWU, a team not even mentioned in the top 20 ESPN/USA Today Divisoin 1 poll, came within 2 points of catching the number 9-ranked ladies in orange, one of the premier women’s basketball programs in the country.

I was impressed by two players, in particular, on GWU’s side.  Senior Jazmine Adair and senior Antelia Parrish, two towers over six feet in height, gave the Tennessee forwards some incredible resistance in the paint, on both the offensive and defensive sides of the floor.

Head Coach Mike Bozeman, in his first season with GWU, was animated and heated the entire game. When GW came within a few points of taking the lead from Tennessee, Bozeman could be found in front of his bench with a towel thrown over his shoulder and his arms extended, waiving at the crowd to get on their feet.

Unfortunately, Tennessee used a 15-5 game-ending run in the last few minutes to escape with a 71-59 victory.

The game was a lot of fun, and I’m proud of the GWU players, students as well as the Tennessee fans who came out of the woodwork for this game. That’s the type of attention every game deserves.

The young Tennessee team seems to have a lot of work to do this year.

USA Today, female athletes, milestones and progress

In today’s issue of USA Today, we earned an entire section of the paper. Its title: “Women in Sports.”

I almost jumped out of my chair when I started reading. Seven complete pages of content and photos of women who have completed milestones in sport.

The cover article is particularly interesting.

Heather Tucker published a groudbreaking article in the world of women’s sports. She discussed the heroines of milestones of the past, heroines of the present and obstacles that lie ahead for the future of female sports. If you haven’t done so already, please go check it out here.

She discussed Billie Jean King’s defeat of Bobby Riggs in 1973 in the “Battle of the Sexes,” a day after Title IX was passed.

She said, “King, who accepted Riggs’ challenge to play a televised match at the Houston Astrodome, soundly defeated him in three sets and put a damper on critics’ voices that women could not compete with men.”

Awesome. Totally awesome. I wish I were alive for that moment. Even though I wasn’t I know that what she did affected my ability to compete and succeed in sports twenty years later.

Tucker then pointed to Candace Parker, calling her a hero of today’s image of women’s sports due to her ability to beat five male competitors in the 2004 McDonald’s All-American Game, including Josh Smith, who won the NBA dunk contest the nest year.

She also mentioned Danica Patrick’s milestone in her “breakthrough” Indy-car race in Japan in April, when she became the first woman to triumph in a national oval-track touring circuit (Indy Racing League or NASCAR).

Then, Tucker talked about perceptions, and how the above milestones have inspired and influenced young women to compete on the playing fields today.

She said, “Perceptions of what women are capable of and what they can offer have been elevated thanks in part to these stars.”

Then, she wrapped up by highlighting the challenges that lie ahead, such as coaching, managing and team ownership, areas of influence that women have yet to solidly break through in terms of a “glass ceiling” in sports.

This is an incredibly crafted article. In my opinion, it’s too short. A lot of names are missing from this list of heroines. It takes much more than three influencers to break barriers. It takes an army, and decades of time and struggle.

Hopefully one day we’ll get there. Until then, articles like these will help keep the spirit alive. Thanks USA Today.

Other stories include player profiles on Jackie Joyner Kersee, Pat Summit, Mary Lou Retton, Janet Guthrie, Anny Meyers Drysdale, Nancy Lopez, Leslie Visser, Dot Richardson, and Brandi Chastian.

A separate article discussed sports marketers and how their altering their pitches as more female fans tune into sports. That particular article along warrants another post from me. I’ll be back in just a moment with more. (so excited!)