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Collier ponders coming for the Queen |
Growing up, I watched mostly NBA basketball. It was the era of The Lakers and Celtics when I started. The Pistons were my team for a couple of years just to annoy Lakers fans, but I loved the Lakers (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was my favorite player), and eventually the Spurs and Suns. I also watched the NFL on and off there for a while.
But over the years, I've been more than happy to get into different sports. I came very late to baseball, and y'all know I now watch a considerable amount of Cubs. I've watched Major League Soccer and National Women's Soccer League, and very much wish Austin had a women's NWLS team.
I recall the early days on the WNBA and feeling it was generally a great idea. Austin was a town where women's collegiate basketball was more important than men's as the University of Texas women's team generally did very well, and everyone likes a winner. And I always thought it was dumb that American players had no pro league (of their own).
Flash forward to the 00's when we lived in Phoenix, and I liked going to see The Mercury. It was inexpensive, the fans were nuts, and the play was solid. I was there when Taurasi showed up to much fanfare, and then showed why Phoenix was so excited to get her.
But... TV coverage of WNBA has always been spotty at best. And when something isn't easily accessible, you kind of lose track of it. And WNBA got back-burnered by ESPN. You might be flipping channels on a weekend afternoon and see a game, but not much else. And it never got mixed in with the Sports Center level coverage. Because why talk about a whole league when you can make up stories about what's happening in football in the off-season.