Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Go UConn!!!!

The women’s NCAA championship game is tonight at 8:30 on ESPN.

I am not a big sports fan, but I am hoping for UConn to win tonight. Not because of the men’s game last night but because I think they deserve it. I think they have the best women’s team in the nation and I think that not because I’m from Connecticut or that I did my graduate studies their… well maybe just a little bit, but because I seen them build up women’s basketball. It is through teams like UConn and Tennessee that created women basketball from an obscure sport that was created to satisfy Title IX requirements to a major sports program.

I also like the women’s basketball because they are in it for the sport and not for the money. The salary cap for women’s professional basketball is $852,000. According to eHow,
The league also imposes a maximum amount for player contracts when they receive a contract extension or sign as a drafted rookie or free agent. As of the 2011 season, the maximum rookie contract in the WNBA was valued at $103,500. The maximum salary for all other WNBA players is $101,000. A player is usually eligible for free agency after serving out her rookie contract. Since the WNBA's salary cap is much lower than in other professional sports leagues, very few players earn this maximum allowed salary.
Compare that to the men’s top salaries of $30 to $20 million.

Also notice that the women’s NCAA championship game is on ESPN and not on a primetime network. There is also no front press coverage, unless you are from an area of the country where there are strong women's teams there is coverage of the games. It never makes it on the national news except for maybe the final game.

Update 4/29/2014 8:30AM
The UConn women Huskies finish up their season with 40-0 record, their fifth undefeated season!

There is a good article about the New York Times about the team and coach Geno Auriemma.

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