Basketball is basketball. You know what I’m saying?
October 6, 2019 5:49 PM   Subscribe

Masks On. Washington Wizards All Star Guard Bradley Beal writes a Players Tribune piece about the WNBA Finals.

"Basketball is basketball. And whether it’s male, or female, or has any other label attached to it….. that really doesn’t matter to me. It really doesn’t matter who’s playing. Hoop is hoop. Game is game. If you have it, I’ll recognize it. Period. That was just the world I grew up in. And yeah, of course, five boys in the house — we watched all the NBA we could. Making it to the league, that was my dream. But my mom saw to it that we watched our share of the WNBA too. Greatness is greatness, right?? And as much as I learned about that from seeing Kobe win his rings….. I also learned about it from seeing Sheryl Swoopes and Lisa Leslie win theirs."
posted by cashman (8 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
"A term we use when we talk about the pie in our NBA negotiations is “BRI,” or Basketball Related Income — and I think that’s a helpful way of explaining what these women are after. In the NBA, we as players get 50% of our league’s total BRI. In the WNBA? I think they get less than 25% of theirs. How is it being greedy to ask for more equality?"

That was a great damned article, thank you.
posted by jessamyn at 5:58 PM on October 6, 2019 [6 favorites]


It's so great to hear someone knowledgable talk about something they're really into. Fair warning, he'll make you a Mystics fan.
posted by LobsterMitten at 6:25 PM on October 6, 2019 [2 favorites]


100% agree with the "basketball is basketball" thesis and I'm always on board for some WNBA shoutouts. I took the family to see the Mystics earlier this season. Great seats -- 2nd row, midcourt! -- but those Mystics were the 2nd most exciting team on the court. Go Sky!! Vandersloot, Quigley, DeShields, Copper... they are ridiculously athletic, run-and-gun, and simply beautiful to watch. Delle Donne is an all-timer (saw her lots over the years in Chicago) but for my tastes her game isn't as beautiful as Vandersloot's hummingbird dips and dives, Quigley finding her spots, and DeShields playing like everyone else is in slow motion.

Though Beal would remind me that we're at home right now (or in Turkey, since we can't earn enough in the US...) and the "Stics" are still playing. Okay, sure whatever. Did you see the shot that ended our season? Stupid. I love this game.

...I always get hung up reading Players Tribune articles, I feel like they all have virtually identical cadence or rhythm or something like that. Ghostwriting? I don't know... but a non-trivial amount of my brain process while reading these goes to wondering how, analytically, you could prove/disprove that all these articles are from the same author...
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 8:47 PM on October 6, 2019 [2 favorites]


Woo DeShield's behind the back passes!
posted by fleacircus at 9:42 PM on October 6, 2019


Ghostwriting? I don't know

I don't remember where I got this but my impression is that many/most of them use a "ghostwriter interviews player and formats it into a full piece" approach. So yeah they often have a certain "monologue-ness" and many have presumably been touched by the same few writers.
posted by atoxyl at 10:52 PM on October 6, 2019


This is a wonderful piece. My child is a women's basketball fan and took me to a Liberty game earlier this year. It's excellent basketball, and I had a blast. I highly recommend women's basketball for anyone who wants to see good tactical play and serious athleticism. Also incredible toughness.
posted by Peach at 4:53 AM on October 7, 2019 [2 favorites]


DeShields playing like everyone else is in slow motion.

I was going to post a comment that she wasn't that great but she came from out of nowhere and blocked it.

Did you see the shot that ended our season?

The YouTube comments complaining about the shot selection or not passing to her teammate under the basket? Take the W. I love that she went for the win.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:32 AM on October 7, 2019 [1 favorite]


Mystics just won the WNBA Championship!
posted by cashman at 7:05 PM on October 10, 2019 [1 favorite]


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