Candace Parker is totally badass … but you already knew that
The other day, Saturday I think it was, I caught a good piece of the WNBA game between the LA Sparks and the Phoenix Mercury, which had the notable distinction of being Candace Parker’s first game ever in the WNBA, and she lived up to the hype.
I am not really interested in the WNBA. I think it’s a little bit amusing, because there are not a lot of fans, but there are a few, and they had some major freakouts based on some SeriousSportsNewsNetwork.com stories we had about the WNBA, about what haters we were, etc. The second reason is that one of our first stories in the Chicago Sports Review was a profile of a then high-school-aged Candace Parker, so I’ve watched with interest the development of her career.
You know what she did at Tennessee; back-to-back titles. You probably have already heard what she did the other day, nearly putting up a triple double and scoring 34 points, notching twelve rebounds and eight assists. The game was actually moderately entertaining.
I don’t think it’s going to be enough to make the WNBA a success. I think that after watching men’s basketball all the time, there is just not enough excitement in the women’s game. I think it’s crisper–more passing, more players have to participate, no Chris Paul doing everything, etc.–but overall I think it’s one of those things where it’s a totally different product than the NBA proper. And I don’t think it will ever have the mainstream appeal of the NBA.
That being said, Candace Parker is something special. She’s awesome to watch, and from what I can tell, she’s a good person and nice enough and all that jazz. So it will be interesting to see what happens. I’ll be rooting for her, at least.
Tags: Basketball, Candace Parker, Chris Paul, Los Angeles Sparks, NBA, Phoenix Mercury, Tennessee Volunteers, WNBA, women's basketball