Wnba

[tornado]

you can tell it's really getting boring with no college news when I start a thread about the WNBA.
But here's my take...

The newest superstar Candace Parker is already dominating the league...averaging 23 ppg, 9.5 rpg, and
a league leading 7 assists per game. She is also among the leaders in blocks, 3-pt shooting pct.

But, attendance is woeful despite the good numbers at Candace's games so far.......
In Tuesday's games the announced attendances were 6231 (in Washington), 5245 in Connecticut), and 7261 (in Houston), but you decide for yourself if those attendance figures might just be a little phoney and inflated...

Here are some pics from Tuesday's games:

Washington--


Connecticut--


and last Friday & Sunday in Atlanta--


Especially in Atlanta, the whole place, even the prime courtside seats are empty.
No way there were supposedly 10,000+ at both of those games...
who are they kidding??
Here are the links to the box scores if you don't believe me, but they posted attendances on those two nights of
10,039 and 10,185 in Atlanta!!!!

http://sports.espn.go.com/wnba/boxscore?gameId=280525020

http://sports.espn.go.com/wnba/boxscore?gameId=280523020

this writer suggests they use this slogan...
"Good Seats Still Available"

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=752181

" Frankly, I don't think they can shame me or scare me into buying WNBA season tickets"

[houstontxbrave]

How funny, I was at a festival a few weeks ago and the Comets had a booth there giving info about tickets. I have two neices who like basketball and thought they might like to go to a Comets game.

First off they do not even play in the Toyota Center anymore, they moved their games out to a small arena on the same compound as the Relient Stadium, the arena is not real nice nor very modern.

But that wasnt a huge deal, what is a HUGE deal is the pricing they are asking for a single game ticket. Remember this is a sport where they need to build a fan base, instead they have decided to simply gouge anyone who wants to see a game.

Mid court between the baskets $95 per ticket. Endzone $ 65 per ticket, they do have some seats at $10 a ticket but these tickets are in a corner and guess what they face they face the endzone seats. The arena does not wrap around the seat face what is infront of them, either an empty area or other seats.

This league is never going to expand when they price themselves in the area of the NBA pricing. I would give them $20 for a seat but come on even that amount for the product they present is a stretch... 95 a ticket is a certain never no way.

[That Guy]

The WNBA....FEEL THE EXCITEMENT!

[Stryker]

She is the sister of former Bradley star and Toronto Raptor, Anthony Parker.

[MacabreMob]

So what. She could have made us famous if she would have followed her brother. I just don't get why her name keeps popping up? She did not play here.

IMO - She pops up in discussion because of her bro Anthony and because she is the newest/best thing for women hoops. Bradley fans have a name recognition with her - that's all.

Whew - it's gonna be a long summer. And to think - this is gonna be the shortest off-season in recent memory. LOL!

[Da Coach]

So what. She could have made us famous if she would have followed her brother. I just don't get why her name keeps popping up? She did not play here.

Also, Anthony Parker's mother and father attended every one of AP's games in the 4 years he played at Bradley, and they usually brought Candace and Marcus with them to the games in Peoria. So many of us that have been fans a while got to know the Parkers and remember Candace well.

[Da Coach]

You guys did a bad job in recruiting I think she was the first woman to dunk in a college game!

It would have been nice to see her play at Bradley, but that would never have happened, even if Pat Summit was the BU coach.
Candace was the 2-time Ms. Basketball in Illinois and the National Player of the Year in high school in Naperville. Every top D1 school recruited her.

[tornado]

I think she was the first woman to dunk in a college game!

well....some of this assessment depends on how strictly a "dunk" is defined.
Some shots where a woman lays the ball over the front of the rim, then barely grabs the front of the rim yanking down, give the appearance of being a dunk, but in slo-mo there is a clear difference.

-- according to many sources Georganne Wells was the first woman to dunk in an NCAA game way back in 1984. BUT-- some people who witnessed this dunk claim it was NOT a real dunk but simply a layup over the rim with the rim grabbed.

--the next time a dunk was claimed was a full 10 years later, in 1994, when UNC's Charlotte Smith appeared to get her full hand over the rim and dunked in an NCAA game, and since Michelle Snow, Sylvia Fowles, Sancho Lyttle, and Candace Parker have dunked.

-- Candace Parker was the first woman to dunk in an NCAA Tournament game AND she also became the first woman to dunk twice in an NCAA game.

--Lisa Leslie was the first to dunk in a WNBA game

--numerous other women players have demonstrated that they can dunk in practice but have still never done it in a game. Sylvia Crawley won the 1998 WNBA Slam Dunk contest but never dunked in a game.
There have been estimates that possibly no more than a dozen women in the world at present have the ability to dunk.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_is_the_first_woman_to_dunk_a_basketball

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaatourney06/news/story?id=2375457

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slam_dunk

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_n7_v87/ai_15969823

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E3D8163BF932A3575BC0A9649C8B63

http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/crawley_sylvia00.html

http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=27832&SPID=2167&DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=1325247

Here is a photo of Georganne Wells "dunking" in 2004, but some say the ball left her hand as she reached the rim and it simply fell through the hoop. If one of the requirements for a dunk is to have your hand on top of the ball and give the ball downward impetus through the hoop, then unfortunately this picture sorta suggests he shot may NOT have been a dunk, as she may have already lost contact with the ball even before it had begun its downward movement to go through the hoop.