[Rich]

Originally posted by rainmaker

You run in pretty narrow circles, then. I've talked about women's ball far more in the last week than men's. In fact, the only men's ball conversation I've had this last week has been here.

The fact of the matter is that the US has had 100 years to learn to like men's basketball and about 30 to learn to like women's. Five years ago the women's tournament was on FSN. It was grainy and dark, and the ads were from local auto dealerships. Three years ago it was on ESPN2. The ads were local, but the quality of the pictures was much better, and the commentary was also a huge improvement. Two years ago, the tourney was run on both ESPN2 and ESPN. Ads were from national chains that didn't pay a lot. Last year and this year most of the tourney was on ESPN with big national companies advertising regular ads that you'd see just about anywhere else.

I think what this means is that the viewership for women's basketball is increasing, and that ESPN expects it to continue to increase. Will it ever match the men's viewership? Who cares? As long as ESPN thinks it's worth their time and trouble to sell the ads and show the games, I'm guessing that there are enough fans to consider it a "real" sport. Maybe those viewers aren't among your friends. That doesn't mean that no one cares. It just means that you and your friends don't care.

In all seriousness, you guys and your men's basketball aren't the center of the universe. Geez.

All women's basketball has to do is generate higher ratings than the crap ESPN normally puts on. Or hockey (low ratings, but I won't call it crap).

Personally, I wish they would've used their time to show a baseball game last night, but I managed to find one by changing the channels.