Women's sports, here we go again

As a champion for girls and women in sports for more than twenty years, I watched with much interest ESPN's documentary, Branded, Tuesday night. Every ten years or so, ESPN will do a piece on women's sports and why they're not as popular as men's sports. This was just the network's latest offering. I find it amusing that ESPN would rather use its considerable resources to tell us why we don't like female athletes instead of introducing us to female athletes we might like. Just yesterday I saw a delightful 17-year-old named Victoria Duval at the U.S. Open. There's a woman named Alysa Kleybanova who is returning to the court after undergoing cancer treatment. A young woman named Elena Delle Donne is totally renovating the WNBA and soccer player Alex Morgan has everything it takes to be a bonafide super star. If ESPN truly cared about the popularity of women's sports, it would show us features on these women, tell their stories and the stories of so many other outstanding female athletes. But, I digress. Branded came to the same conclusion every other ESPN-produced show has discovered - men don't enjoy watching women play sports. That's true, to an extent, but the real problem from what I've seen in my two decades of covering female athletes is, women don't support female athletes. I can't tell you how often I've heard girls and women say, "I like to watch the guys. I can't stand watching the girls play." I've talked to college-caliber female basketball players who admit they've never watched a WNBA game. They watch the NBA but have no interest in the WNBA, can't name one WNBA player. San Antonio Silver Star Shameka Christon gave a free clinic to girls at El Dorado a few years back. She gave them an opportunity to ask any question they desired. The questions were, "Have you met Tracy McGrady? Have you talked to LeBron? What's Kobe Bryant like?" Not one question about the WNBA. Not one question about her career or what she had to do to get to where she was. I've heard people on TV ask up-and-coming female tennis players who they idolize and, more often than not, the answers are Federer, Nadal or Djokovic. Here's the question ESPN should send to its female audience - if women won't support women's sports, why would you expect the men to support women's sports? Yeah, there's a large segment of the male population who like sex appeal. Hell, I'm a member of that group. I like pretty, athletic females. I liked the Lingerie Football League. Sue me. But, I liked that league in part because of the intensity of the competition. I liked the Lingerie Football League because they were playing football - hard-nosed football. I ain't watching no Lingerie Pillowfight League. But, yeah, sex sells in sports and, fortunately or unfortunately, women are judged as much on their appearance as their athletic skill. That explains some of the lack of male viewership. It doesn't explain why the women aren't watching and that is the question that needs to be answered. If women supported the WNBA the same way they support the NBA and NFL, we'd have a whole different story. But, they don't so we won't and I'm pretty sure that's just the way ESPN likes it.

FoxSports One, a distant number two

I had high hopes for a new sports show called FoxSports One mainly due to my increasing annoyance with ESPN's Sportscenter. My problems with Sportscenter are vast. A big one is its insistence on focusing only on the big three sports - NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball. I guess you could say big four sports if you include Tiger Woods. Notice, I said Tiger Woods and not the PGA. Anyway, rather than see a one-hour Sportscenter that includes forty minutes on Tom Brady or LeBron James or Kobe Bryant or Johnny Manziel, I was hoping to see an alternative that covered more sports. Sadly, I'm afraid FoxSports One is going to try to out-Sportscenter, Sportscenter. It's a similar format except for couch breaks for very short discussions between host Charissa Thompson (formerly of Sports Nation) and former athletes, including Gary Payton, Donovan McNabb, some other random retired NFL dude and Andy Roddick, who looks and acts as out of place as Riley Cooper at a Soul Train Reunion Special. I actually like Charissa Thompson. Nevermind her obvious attractiveness, she has wit and personality. You could pair her with a mime and she'd still be entertaining. I hope they find a mime, soon. I was disappointed. I liked the original Sportscenter thirty years ago and the way they finished off one sport's highlights before moving to the next. They did American League, then National League, then NFL, etc. If I wanted to see how the Orioles did, I had an idea when that information was coming instead of their random all-over-the-place crap they do now. FoxSports One does the same mess. I understand they don't want viewers to tune out after they get the highlight they're seeking but, for once, why not make it viewer friendly. And, the show focuses on the same things Sportscenter does with the exception of more MMA and soccer ... so far. I've only seen one show so I'm sure they'll evolve into something better. But, it's not off to a great beginning.

Cancel the season, Brady's hurt

Did you hear the shocking news? New England quarterback Tom Brady got a boo boo in practice the other day. He didn't get hit but two other guys were engaged and fell into the Golden Boy's knee. Oh the horror! Did you hear about it? If you have ESPN, of course you did. Over and over and over. Brady getting hurt in practice was the lead story on every ESPN show. I think they mentioned it during the Little League softball broadcast, too. The thing is, he walked off the field under his own power and will be at the next practice. How is this a major story? On Twitter, I saw tennis players talking about Marion Bartoli. The reigning Wimbledon champion announced her retirement. In the history of the world, how often has the current Wimbledon champion called it quits? I honestly thought someone at ESPN Sportscenter would throw up a quick graphic to tell me that it's never happened before or perhaps once back during World War II or something. Nothing. Not a peep. Not a word. Not a sniff. Not a clue. All because Tom Brady got a scratch on his leg. Before you claim, 'Tony Burns talking about women's sports again when no one else cares.' It's not about that at all. Not this time. I'm not even a Marion Bartoli fan. I'm glad she's retired. She got on my nerves. My problem is this new "Star super syndrome" that ESPN is tripping on. Players get injured every day in practice. Check the NFL Network and you'll hear about a whole bunch who have already been listed as out for the entire season. You didn't hear about them on ESPN because they're not "stars." Only the "stars" matter. When I was a kid, I gravitated toward the other players. I liked Fred Biletnikoff, not because he was a star. I liked his game. I liked Greg Pruitt and Chuck Muncie and, believe it or not, Jim (Freaking) Hart. My favorite baseball guys were Amos Otis and Ken Singleton and Sixto Lezcano. I loved Charles Barkley until he became a "star." Then, I no longer liked his attitude. The great thing about sports is it teaches teamwork. Not everyone can be the "star." Someone has to do the dirty work. I fear that ESPN with its "star" obsession, is giving young athletes the wrong ideas about sports. Pretty soon, kids will be telling their pee wee coaches, "If I can't play quarterback, then I'm not playing." And, who could blame them? In the ESPN world of sports, if you ain't what they call a "star" you ain't nothing. The only thing lower than nothing is the poor sap who missed the block and got pushed into Tom Brady's leg during practice. Congratulations Nate Soldier. You finally made Sportscenter.