Smooth Exit?
September 28, 2009Lisa Leslie's professional basketball career officially ended Saturday when the LA Sparks lost to the Phoenix Mercury in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals. It was long known that Leslie was going to retire from playing professional basketball at the end of this year's WNBA season, and although she had hoped to go out with her third WNBA championship (and probably her third Finals MVP trophy), things didn't quite turn out that way. So Leslie and her teammates, including fellow Olympians Tina Thompson, DeLisha Milton-Jones, Candace Parker and Aussie Kristi Harrower would have to settle for taking the Olympians on the opposing roster (Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter, and Aussie Penny Taylor) to three games. Despite all being teammates while playing for their countries, there were some very physical battles going on among these players, especially the Americans.
When the game was pretty much decided, Leslie was called for her sixth and final foul. The final foul of her career. As she headed to the bench to watch the remaining few minutes of her team's season – and her WNBA career -- from the bench, she received an ovation from the crowd. The same crowd who only moments earlier had reveled in chanting away a frustrated Candace Parker when she fouled out of the game. Now, thankfully, as Leslie walked off the court towards the Sparks' bench, there was a distinction made by the partisan fans. This was Lisa Leslie, and that childishness would not only be incredibly inappropriate, it would constitute a wasted opportunity to thank someone whom many consider to have made more contributions to women's basketball -- particularly the WNBA and USA Basketball -- than anyone else so far in the game. There just isn't anyone else with the stature and accomplishments and influence that Leslie has had.
So instead of cheering her sixth foul, the crowd -- perhaps feeling particularly magnanimous as their team was minutes from securing its spot in the WNBA Finals -- stood and applauded for Leslie, acknowledging her unique role in the WNBA and in women's basketball. She nodded slightly, but the game was still in play and she was not in her home arena -- where she had already been fêted earlier in the month (see Photos).
She stopped and hugged Coach Michael Cooper, and then shared a long hug with a teary Candace Parker, who later said via twitter, "i think wha hurt da most was lisa not finishin her career wit a ring. i rarely cry but i was so upset she had to end her career like that."
However disappointed Leslie must have been to end her career that night in Phoenix, she quickly pulled herself together for a nearly flawless press conference shortly after the game. Showered, dressed, and carefully made-up, Leslie spoke about why her team had just lost the game, confessed for the first time that Diana Taurasi is her favorite player and why she thinks Taurasi is the best player in the world, spoke of the responsibility of the current players and the league to make sure it continues to thrive, and how she hoped to continue to be a role model to young women on and off the court.
I was particularly impressed with her call to arms, of sort, for feminist action in support of the WNBA and women's sports. She was addressing the media in the room and the media at large. She thanked the media in the room for their work, but she called out the sports media as a whole, which I though was long overdue from someone on the “inside.” Obviously Leslie felt comfortable doing so now that she would no longer be wearing a uniform.
The league and the players are surely in no position to bite the various hands that are feeding them, but why they continually get such dismissive treatment by newspapers and television is not a question that the rest of us have to stop asking.
When asked to reflect on her career since her first game in June of 1997, Leslie took the opportunity to express her displeasure with the lack of growth in attention for her sport in the 13 years that the league has been in action.
"I'm still really disappointed with where women's basketball is ... to see how hard we play and to look at the news and to not even be able to … see the highlights of what's happening in Detroit and Indiana, or to see the phenomenal play that's happened here with Diana and the Sparks and myself and Candace Parker -- her having 18 rebounds and 24 points - there's just been phenomenal basketball being played in the WNBA. We just cannot get our place in society and it's unfortunate that this great opportunity is being missed by, I think, the world at times. So I just hope that you guys continue to do your job and continue to write about us and support us because we deserve to have a place in the media. We deserve to have a place in the news and when you turn on the sports channels you should see what happened in the WNBA. We deserve that."
Yes, Lisa. Yes you do deserve that. Any WNBA fan can think of countless frustrating Sportscenter viewings during which they got no news of the four or five WNBA games played that day, save for the score on the scroll, and possibly -- maybe! -- a 30-second highlight of one game on the early version of the show. But once all the baseball and hockey and racing and golf and tennis and football and soccer and boxing and even little league are ready for the late version -- forget about it. Little league! Sure those kids are cute, and talented, but they’re little kids! They’re not professional athletes! Oh but wait -- there was that night last week or so when Cappie mistakenly thought that Phoenix had tied the game on Penny's buzzer-beating 3 when they were actually down by 4 -- remember that? That highlight got attention on Sportscenter. (Look! Girls can't keep score! "I've got your 'Math is hard!' Barbie right here, babe!") And of course, that infamous "brawl" between Lisa's Sparks and Detroit last season. (Girlfight!)
"I don't see anything about the WNBA,” Leslie said. “If you don't have NBA TV and cable you've missed it and that's not fair. So that's what I'm fighting for. That's my transition. I'm still fighting for women's basketball and for young girls and for my daughter to one day have a place in the media."
That’s great! I'm thrilled that Leslie wants that fight to be her transition. I think that's a fantastic choice. But I have to admit, she caused me some serious concern with what she said next. A reporter asked her, "How do you keep the new players having the momentum to be as hungry as the players who started in the league, with that desire to showcase women's basketball?"
First, Leslie talked about the players recognizing the importance of the fans, and being willing to interact with them, and sign autographs. But then she segued into how the players "represent" themselves.
"As women, we need to look like women, how we carry ourselves, how we dress on and off the court, a lot of those things have to be addressed and continue to be addressed because we are the product, and it's important and people want to see a good product. They do. That's just the bottom line. And you need to be marketable. And I think that more women need to understand that here in our league."
I was a little disturbed by her call to the makeup bag, if you will, when she said that the league's players need to "look like women" on the court. This comment about how her sister players in the league should concern themselves with their appearance seemed incredibly out of place with everything else she was saying and everything the league is about fundamentally.
Here’s what I don’t understand. Why – why, why, why – would a four-time Olympian like Lisa Leslie think that what matters for professional athletes is to “look like women?”
Why is this the discussion? We’re not talking about dress code here. She mentioned that separately. We’re not talking about professional behavior – that’s a completely different subject.
If I had been at the press conference, I might have asked Leslie, “So what does a woman look like?”
Putting aside the terrifying practical concerns here (“I’m sorry, you don’t look enough like a woman, we’ll have to ‘fix’ that before you can play in this league”) the statement is incredibly offensive.
We’re talking about professional athletes. Elite athletes. The best female basketball players on the planet. And someone thinks they have a right to critique whether or not they look “right?” According to some “womanly” standard? What if that’s not how a player wishes to look? What if she doesn’t care whether or not the average person finds her attractive or pretty -- or whatever? What if she realizes she’s not ‘marketable’ and doesn't really care? Not every player can be marketable as an individual. That’s reality. Not everyone is blessed with the natural good looks of a Lisa Leslie (or a Sue Bird, Candace Parker, or Becky Hammon, etc.) In fact, most of us are not.
Is this where we’ve come for women? We’re still telling them how to look when we’re hiring them for a completely different purpose that (ostensibly) has nothing to do with how they look?
The WNBA talks the Title IX talk but walks the pre-1972 walk. I feel like I’m watching A League of Their Own here – and not the good parts.
But how ironic. The WNBA exists because of Title IX, the women’s movement, feminism, and a fundamental belief that equal opportunity for women is a civil right -- and a public good.
Isn’t the point that the product is great basketball? And that’s what is supposed to be marketable, first and foremost? I understand that it sure can’t hurt if the players are nice to look at as well, but that absolutely must be a fringe benefit for a viewer. It can never be the reason for tuning in. Pat Summitt didn’t recruit Candace Parker because she was pretty, and Geno Auriemma didn’t think Sue Bird’s girl-next-door good looks would sell more tickets at UConn. And neither Parker nor Bird were #1 picks in the WNBA Draft because they are beautiful women.
Must it be said, for the umpteenth time, that no one evaluates men this way -- ever?
I hate to say this, I really do, but I can’t help noticing that Leslie is the only player I’ve ever heard speak this way -- and she is retiring. She’s only in her late 30s, but in some ways she represents a link to a past generation – much of it filled with wonderful basketball memories, but some of its mindset clearly outdated.
The “look like a woman” part – that’s outdated, or at least, on its way out. And it should be. At least, I hope it is.
Comments
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I didn't interpret Lisa's remark as quite the slap in the face as you did. It seemed to me to echo the call of many in the NBA for their players to glam up as well. My interpretation was that the players are athletes, yes, but off the court they are representatives of the league and should present a professional appearance when "on the clock" and perhaps also in general.
It seemed more like a call to arms to show the world that the WNBA has class. It's about basketball, yes, but it's also about being the best you can be. It's to show that, as Michael Cooper so eloquently said when talking about Candace Parker's return to the court so soon after giving birth and competing at the highest level: "[Michael Jordan]'s not half the woman that Candace is."
As is the case so often with society, women have to be "better" in order to carve out any recognition for their accomplishments. I've been fighting this battle for over 25 years now and I fully understand Lisa's frustration.
Thank you for this excellent analysis, and critique of some of Lisa Leslie's comments. I think that in addition to being "outdated," as you said, there's also a tinge of homophobia implicit in the appearance comments as well. Sports writer Dave Zirin has written some excellent columns on the WNBA's constant fear of being labeled with the "L word," and the double standard calling for female athletes to focus on appearance is tied into that. This despite the fact that their vibrant and loyal lesbian fan-base comprises a good portion of WNBA ticket and merchandise purchases.
My wife and I are long time Sparks season ticket holders, and I've watched and admired Lisa Leslie throughout her storied career. I have the upmost respect for her as an athlete, and believe she is one of the greatest basketball players (note I didn't qualify it with female) of all time. We wept at the ceremony at her last regular season game at Staples, and it's going to be odd seeing the Sparks play next year without her. However, Lisa has been known to propagate some fairly backward ideas, and I'm glad you had the courage to call this one out in your column.
I'm sure Lisa will be an excellent spokesperson for the league for years to come. I also hope both she and the WNBA see that trying to grow the league at the expense of perpetuating ideas tied to sexism, misogynism, and homophobia is self defeating.
CJ - Thank you for your comments. You and I clearly heard very different things when Lisa spoke. I believe I made my point about her mention of dress and how I thought that was a separate issue. I mentioned several things in this post, but I focused on her comment that the players in the league should "look like women." I think that comment of hers was provocative and merited discussion.
Robert - Thank you as well. I think you and I are far more in sync on this. It does concern me that the league has a tendency to shoot itself in the foot with its overly sensitive concerns about homophobia, conscious or otherwise, that lead to the kind of narrow-minded thinking that ends up manifested in a statement of the type we heard from Lisa in an otherwise powerful moment for her. I have read a good amount of criticism of this particular statement of hers (as well as defense of them) on message boards and on twitter and I hope that some of it reaches her, so that she at least can consider that she might have misspoken.
Tara,
First of all, thanks for the insightful post. It's given me something to chew on amongst all the drivel that's been out there.
For me, the strongest point of your post, is probably the simplest:
"If I had been at the press conference, I might have asked Leslie, 'So what does a woman look like?' "
Most of the reaction to Leslie's comments have been speculation about a question that should have been asked of her directly.
What's perhaps most sad is that people both inside and around the league are so uncomfortable with this topic that when it came up, they essentially changed the subject. There was no follow-up question such as the one you suggest to have any sort of substantive discourse about the issue.
I would hope that the next time the issue comes up somebody remembers to ask this question -- even at the risk of ridicule -- and that we can move this discussion forward.
In the meantime, the league needs to take it upon themselves to expand their internal answer to the question beyond being a good mother and applying makeup correctly.
You know, if you dress like a thug and act like a thug, then people will perceive you as a thug. Same thing if you dress like a slut and act like a slut.
Leslie is quite aware of the image problem the WNBA has and asking its players to police themselves is not too much to ask. As CJ pointed out; it's about class and only a closet homophobe would think this was a homphobic comment.
I am glad Leslie is taking this on because it is obvious the league won't -- see the MVP winner as a prime example.
Thank you. It's been a long time since I've been so disappointed.
Tara, why does the WNBA "deserve" coverage?
Media companies are private entities trying to (and struggling to) make a profit, too. Coverage is based on interest of the customers (readers and viewers), not the sports leagues.
I used to work in newspapers and and have intimate knowledge of the decision-making processes of editors. I can tell you, in many cases, even the limited coverage the WNBA gets is not justified by reader interest. At my former paper, the WNBA coverage was based on our desire to stay in good terms with the NBA team.
Personally, I'm completely indifferent to the WNBA. I don't care if they fold, and I don't care if they pass the NBA in popularity. What I hate is when people "blame the messenger" and bash the media for not covering something.
I'm even more upset when people bash the media for not covering the WNBA (and use terms like "dismissive treatment") because the media actually covers the WNBA with a higher percentage its resources than the customers desire, and the media has covered the WNBA extensively in the past.
In the WNBA's early years, most WNBA-city newspapers employed full-time traveling beat writers and most sports networks broadcasted every game. Those efforts were scaled back solely because of reader/viewer interest.
"All the baseball and hockey and racing and golf and tennis and football and soccer and boxing and even little league" get coverage because the readers/viewers want that.
Don't forget Major League Lacrosse, Minor League Baseball, etc. players are "professional athletes" too, but they also are behind the "cute" little kids in coverage.
RB attempts to earn our trust, as readers, by claiming "complete indifference" to the WNBA, and therefore acting as an unbiased arbiter of the facts. but RB is either naive or flat out disingenuous. news media outlets are not cool, objective mouthpieces for the Truth, nor are they finely tuned business machines responding in lock-step with readers' interests. is something in the news because we think it's important, or do we think it is important because we see it in the news? the media does not simply reflect society, it shapes it. leslie's comments are tuned into this fact -- if the media gives the WNBA more or better coverage, it will legitimize the league in the eyes of many sports fans. leslie is not asking for charity from the media. rather, she's asking media outlets to recognize their own responsibility in perpetuating misogynist biases against women athletes, and to extend coverage of the WNBA that reflects the level of athleticism found there. it's too bad she undermined her own point by seemingly asking members of the league to see themselves as women first, and athletes second.
Hey, caw, get off your high horse, will you? Your comment was insulting on so many levels, I don't even know where to begin. Your generalizations are so ignorant, you sound like the people that would say "An entire (race/gender/sexuality/etc.) of people are (whatever stereotype you can come up with)."
I'm not commenting on or giving any opinion on your beloved WNBA. I genuinely don't care. I'm here to defend myself and my sports media cohorts from your ridiculous accusations of misogyny and the notion that we're somehow trying to keep women's sports down, especially when we already cover the WNBA more than our highly-sophisticated, scientific and expensive reader polls suggest we should.
Your comment on how "news media outlets are not cool, objective mouthpieces for the truth" is where I'm calling you out. Of course, there are corporate (and monetary) influences that affect coverage, but that rarely affected the sports section and never the WNBA coverage. Occasionally, an advertiser will force us to write a feature on an athlete they were sponsoring, but in my 10 years, no one (other than the WNBA PR department) has asked us to do anything or not do something WNBA-related.
Sure, many outlets may be biased in their editorial page, but section editors work completely independently for the ed board. I have spent too many years in journalism school and working my way up the sports journalism ladder, and too many stressful nights and weekends putting out sports sections as fair and reader-served as I can, to just ignore your accusations.
As newsroom employees, we work in the "trenches" and are way, way, way below the corporate offices. Of course, all corporations have corruptions. But you and Tara making such accusations of sports media is like me saying all the power plant workers at the former Enron and all the line workers at WorldCom were all white-collar thieves.
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