Hundreds of raucous Seattle Storm fans gathered in the Kangaroo and Kiwi, an Australian pub in Seattle, on Thursday night to cheer the Storm on in the WNBA finals. A life-sized cardboard cut-out of Storm center and MVP Lauren Jackson—who hails out of Australia—greeted me at the door when I arrived. The house was packed, with fans crowding up to the bar in front of the big screen TVs, and spilling out into the street. In the best of five competition, the Storm had already won two against their opponent, the Atlanta Dream, and the rowdy crowd appeared eager for the championship. Chants of “Let’s go Storm! Let’s go Storm!” filled the air.
At first it looked like a slam dunk for Seattle, with the Storm pulling ahead of Atlanta by a wide margin. But as in the previous two games, the Dream fought back hard, and it was a nail biter until the end. Yet despite Dream forward Angel McCoughtry’s astonishing 35 points, Atlanta couldn’t overcome Seattle’s deep talent, with five Storm team members scoring in the double digits, and many shooting 3-pointers. And in the end, due to foul trouble and a missed basket on the Dream’s side, the Seattle Storm clinched the 2010 WNBA over Atlanta, 87-84.
The Seattle Storm http://www.wnba.com/storm/ has had an impressive record: the team has won 35 of 41 games this season; has won every single one of their home games (21-0); and has swept the finals, 7-0. To top it off, this is their second WNBA championship, having won a title in 2004.
But if you took a random sampling of locals on any one day, half of them might say, “Storm who?” This is partly due to the lack of proper recognition and respect for professional women athletes, as well as poor media coverage for what has unfortunately been labeled “women’s sports.”
This was painfully apparent at some recent public events I attended. At the King County Fair, a sports radio station booth had posted every conceivable stat and score of men’s major league baseball, the NFL, etc; there was no mention of the Seattle Storm—who were in the WNBA playoffs. At Emerald Downs Racetrack, the Seattle Seahawks score was announced over the PA; but there was no mention of the Storm, who had just won game two of the playoffs. The same day, on the Washington State Ferry, the Seahawks score was announced, but nothing was mentioned about the Seattle Storm; a friend had to actually shame the resistant crew into announcing the Storm playoff score.
And poor televised coverage of the Storm has been readily apparent, with the Seattle Storm frequently having to take a back seat to “men’s” professional sports, and even high school games. After the Seattle Storm clinched the WNBA championship, Fox news appeared surprised, scrambling to get some last-minute coverage of the Seattle Storm WNBA championship win.
In addition to poor media exposure, professional women athletes still have other hurdles to overcome. The WNBA is forced to play in the summer—so they do not compete with the men’s NBA games. And the WNBA salary is far below the NBA players. Though it’s been 38 years since Title IX—the mandate to even up hiring and employment practices between men and women in federally funded institutions (and eventually college athletics), the professional women WNBA players make far less than the men. For example, veteran Seattle Storm MVP Lauren Jackson reportedly makes only around $101,000 per year; by contrast, NBA players Kevin Garnett of Boston made $24.75 million per year; and Kobe Bryant of the L.A. Lakers made $21.26 million. This pay discrepancy has forced many WNBA players to play overseas in the off season to make ends meet—often where they are paid better and treated with more respect.
But the Seattle Storm has risen above all of these obstacles, choosing instead to focus on just playing plain old good basketball. It’s hard to believe, just a few years ago, Seattle was in danger of losing this outstanding team. At the time, the current NBA Sonics and Storm owner threatened to move his teams to Oklahoma if he didn’t get a new arena. The city said they didn’t have the money, and we were in danger of losing both teams.
While unfortunately Seattle lost the Sonics, four enterprising women (and Storm fans) stepped up and formed a partnership, Force Ten Hoops. They offered to buy the Seattle Storm. And the rest, as they say, is history: thanks to the efforts of these four women, and the superb playing of the Seattle Storm, the first WNBA women-owned team stayed here—and won their second WNBA championship.
The Seattle Storm has won two WNBA championships now, and they have the best winning percentage of any professional sports team in Seattle history.
They are not just “women athletes;” they are superb champions in their field.
Congratulations, Seattle Storm.
It’s time you finally get the recognition and respect you deserve.
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