Is UConn coach right?

the sports world largely only cares about making money.

...so the woman's game with naturally get less exposure than the men;s came. Its all about the money baby!!

For all the baseball is harder than softball people...

In the 2004 Pepsi All-Star Softball Game, Finch struck out Albert Pujols, Mike Piazza and Brian Giles.[28] "I never touched a pitch," said Giles.[14] "Her fastball was the fastest thing I've ever seen, from that distance. It rises and cuts at the same time."[14]

from Finch's wikipedia page and her NBC bio

So your one anecdotal piece of evidence unquestionably proves that softball is harder to play than baseball? Did you miss the qualifier at the end of the sentence "from that distance"? Well, yeah it was. Baseball's mound is 60' 6" away and softball's mound is 46' away so did it surprise you that they had never seen a pitch from that distance before?

If softball were harder than baseball, then where are all the former female softball players in professional baseball? Do they voluntarily forgo millions so they can continue playing a harder sport with no money in it?

just pointing out that major league baseball players couldn't touch her pitching... does it bother you that you're roided up meatheads couldn't even touch a pitch from a girl?

need more "anecdotal evidence"?

eddie feigner (softball pitcher)

Eddie has showcased his pitching skills by striking out Major League Baseball stars Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Brooks Robinson, Maury Wills, Harmon Killebrew and Roberto Clemente in succession.

more finch

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/08/sports/athens-summer-2004-olympics-jennie-finch-softball-the-strikeout-artist.html

joan joyce

Joyce even struk out Ted Williams in 1961 and counts it as one of her most notable achievements.

http://www.softballperformance.com/famous-softball-players/joan-joyce.html

They didn't hit her in an exhibition one-off match-up with no practice. You are aware that hitting a underhanded softball pitch from 46 feet away is completely different than hitting an overhanded baseball pitch from 60' 6" away? Maybe you aren't. Would you expect professional baseball players to perform well if they tried to hit a cricket ball bowled by a top female cricket player in a similar one-off exhibition with no practice? I wouldn't. How do you think the top female softball hitters would fare hitting a baseball thrown by your choice of All Star baseball pitchers?

"Today I was at a girls lacrosse game, and i realized for every girls lacrosse game their are over 24 empty kitchens…a real tragedy. MLIB."

When people/teams break records, it is only significant if the public finds it so. There are some records (i.e. 100m BOLT) that everyone is passionate about and others (i.e. speed walking) that very few care about. The UCONN womens team gets a lot of attention in general as it should. The fact that they may not get as much as UCLA did is a statement on what the world actually watches.

In general, men watch more sports than women. If you were to survey the public on who gets online to watch the NCAA XC meet live or the NYC Marathon live or March Madness or NFL football on TV, I am certain that more men are watching. Men like watching other men doing things that they could never achieve, or hope to some day achieve. I know that since I have worked my butt off to run a 4:16 mile best, watching Webb clock a 3:46 is awe inspring. It is fun, but far less exciting to watch a womens world class field run 4:20.

The ball is in women's hands. If we are going to get true sporting equality, women have to step up and watch TV, buy tickets, post on boards, and really care more. Gino's whinning certainly won't accomplish anthing.

wrybread wrote:

"Today I was at a girls lacrosse game, and i realized for every girls lacrosse game their are over 24 empty kitchens…a real tragedy. MLIB."

I think you meant 24 empty seats at the buffet restaurant.

Buffalo Billy,

Your comments are quite impressive. You are right in your reading of my post that I am "friggin' stupid" because I have the audacity to think occasionally there are times when gripes such as Coach A's are valid. I am certainly pussified in thinking that UCONN's streak of 89 victories is in anyway comparable to UCLA's. I never said all commentators are biased because they are men. Your second grade reading level must have missed my intent. Perhaps because I reside in a home made of rock hewn from the side of a mountain I missed the possibility that women's sports might not be taken as seriously as men's sports. Womens sports will always be looked down on by a great many sports fan. Women have made great strides to rise to the respectability. UCONN has certainly brought that a long way. It is clear that you are one that will never celebrate any achievement in womens sports. That is ok, though, you probably live in the next cave down from me anyway, but unlike me, you live there by yourself.

chikin wrote:

joan joyce

Joyce even struk out Ted Williams in 1961 and counts it as one of her most notable achievements.

http://www.softballperformance.com/famous-softball-players/joan-joyce.html

Ted Williams was retired in 1961, not to mention 43 years old. In any case, he didn't play softball. I suppose next you'll be bragging that MLB players couldn't hit Serena Williams' serve.

BRETT FARVE. He must be talked about! His ego needs fellatiated!!! He will if he his not talked about 24/7!!!!!

"you're not wrong walter, you're just an asshole"

They didn't break any men's basketball records. To do so, they would have to be men, playing other men. Maybe they are men? Is that what the real story is here? Tards just aren't making any sense. Ignorance is bliss!

I can't wait to fill out my bracket for the women's NCAA tourney

Gino's right on most fronts and to say he isn't is to ignore a the current media and social climate and its standards to a large degree.

For all the people crying "it's just more PC b.s." and "every time a minority or a woman gets criticized it turns into this kind of whining," try to take into account that there's a good reason for people being a little reactionary. It didn't come from nowhere.

Women, even in the western world, have only very recently been given anything close to equal rights and in many cultures are still, often by law, held down.

Minorities in this country have many different stories, most of them not good, and blacks especially.

Again, try to take into account that prior to 1964 (!), blacks didn't even have equal protection under the law (not to mention that 99% of them in this country at that time were descended from people kidnapped and brought here to be sold as property only 100 to 200 years prior.)

This isn't "just some PC crap," (though I'm sure many of you will have clever responses saying it is,) it's just the reality of a society that's been progressive in a lot of ways, but has a history that it's still trying to reconcile.

The women's game is different. It's not as fast, the athletes aren't as dazzling as the men (just as women runners aren't as fast as guys; just physiology,) but a game's a game and when the participants are apples to apples, it doesn't really matter, it's a game, it's sport, it's why we love watching it.

Wooden had Alcindor and Walton back to back. Plus, he's freaking John Wooden. That's stacking the deck with those three guys alone.

Geno is an overpaid, manipulative, pompous ass, who has taken advantage of Title IX better than any coach in any sport in the US. I guess that makes him a good coach.

No, it really is PC crap. NOBODY cares about women's basketball. Ever take a look at the attendance figures of WNCAAT games (particularly the ones in the first couple of rounds that have to be played on the home court of the higher seed just to make sure that 1000 people show up)? ESPN nonetheless has to show games on prime time all the time and scrolls their scores every night. Universities give it red carpet treatment with chartered flights everywhere, the best hotels and the best off campus housing even though it should be treated like every other non revenue sport. When will the insanity end?

It's a complete strawman argument to site unfair advantages for women 50 years ago. Nobody thinks that that was right and that has more than been corrected for many years ago. Every member of the UConn women's team has lived every second of her life with more opportunities than men with the same ability.

Have you played with any college or pro women? I have and I can tell you that they are horrible. A mediocre high school boys team would beat almost every NCAA women's team. Your comparison of women's basketball to women's track also is completely offbase because female runners actually are very good. Unlike women's basketball, a good college track team would beat most high school boys teams with ease. A good collegiate female runner also is faster than 99.999% of the general population. The best collegiate female basketball players are worse than hundreds of thousands of guys.

Not Rush wrote:

The women's game is different. It's not as fast, the athletes aren't as dazzling as the men (just as women runners aren't as fast as guys; just physiology,) but a game's a game and when the participants are apples to apples, it doesn't really matter, it's a game, it's sport, it's why we love watching it.

(1) what you mean to say is that the women's game isn't as good. they aren't as fast, strong, etc... By definition then, they aren't as good. Unless you're going to argue that watching a 10 year old-and-under league game is exciting because they are doing the best they can with the physical attributes they have.

(2) If you're comparing kind of crappy apples to kind of crappy apples, then nobody cares as much as when you're comparing great apples to great apples.

(3) NOBODY except for angry lesbians love watching women's basketball.

Being a guy coach in a women's sport is like being a male nurse. You'll always be viewed as an underachiever no matter what you do.