It’s Saturday night and I’m a little buzzed so let’s just get a little buzzfire going.
I happen to really like the WNBA (women’s pro basketball). I’ve been watching since the 1996-97 inception of the league. I like the way the women play. The team play. Fundamentals.
But I’m afraid I’m a male basketball fan in a minority on this. The WNBA is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and will probably fold soon (unless continuously propped up by the NBA).
For every basketball-loving male like me who will watch them, there are probably 10 more men who will not. Why? I think I know the reason why, even if the WNBA does not.
Remember when these popular knee-length shorts everyone wears today came into vogue? It’s when Michael Jordan became successful in the late ‘80’s, and that’s what he was wearing. Soon (seemed like immediately), that style is what every boy and men’s sports team wanted to wear. And they did. And have since then.
And to me these knee-length shorts also seemed to become synonymous with masculinity in fashion (women shunned it for their own attire for awhile, for good reason, thank God). But just look around—every guy in shorts wears them that length today, whether on the field or in the mall.
However, perhaps because women had an absence of female role models in basketball and wanted to be taken seriously for their "game" and not their "gams" (for good reason), they soon adopted the Jordan protocol in sports fashion. Today, about every woman in the WNBA (and soccer and others) wears shorts down below her knees—and if there is one who doesn’t please let me know.
I’m a man and I like women’s basketball (and other sports) regardless of attire.. And I continue to watch. But I’m afraid I’m in a minority on this. You want me to be honest? I’d damn sure rather see Sue Bird in shorts above her knees than below. I’d rather see women in moderate-cut shorts than these knee-length shorts the guys wear anytime and every time—and I really believe the lack of sexual differentiation in attire in the WNBA is hurting their ratings with men.
Do I have any evidence to prove that? Not really. Do I need any? C’mon.
As a card-carrying member of the Bobby Riggs sect, I believe the women in the WNBA (starting with a management strategy of course) have got to start showing some leg and embracing their femininity. Most guys aren’t going to watch a slower, less athletic, below-the-rim basketball game played by women unless sexuality is introduced into the mix. Sorry, but that’s just the unbridled truth of the matter.
You want this league to succeed? It’s simple. Hike the damn shorts up about 9-12" and get rid of the Jordan Rules fashion. I feel like the guy who’s saying the emperor has no clothes here, fer Christ sake, but this needs to be said. We have a dying female league where women are about to lose good jobs and something must change.
Hey feminists—don’t make me the enemy—I’m a liberal male and consider myself a feminist too, but I’m not playing by any burn-the-bra 70’s rules here. All things being equal, guys want to see skin with their female sports. Take it up with Darwin if you don’t like it. And these below-the knee-shorts are killing the WNBA by refusing to effectively market to men.
AND THAT. IS. A. FACT.
I want these women to succeed. And I’d like them to succeed, short shorts or no short shorts. But if it TAKES short shorts, wear the damn shorts! Am I right or wrong?
Discuss.