There seems to be a belief that we are in this moment.
Something I've never experienced before. It's not like this. Women's college basketball is taking the sports world by storm at the moment. That's it. Caitlin Clark (Solo) is Taylor Swift and Angel Reese (Solo) is Bey. If you go back to last year's NCAA finals, they are this generation's Bird vs. Magic. And if you're old enough, you'll remember how those moments changed the game. It changed the sport.
This weekend marks the beginning of a test to see what role sustainability plays in the moment. The NCAA Women's Final Four and Championship Game are currently on hold 24 hours a day for the Elite Eight (especially the second half) to bring Telfer's bag on board, which she brought on this G4 flight. The 12.3 million people who decided to attend Monday's “The Greatest Night in Basketball” watch party asked the “Elite Four” between Iowa/LSU, then USC/UConn, “Where were you when this happened?” ?” gave me the strength to ask. situation.
Returns: More than the 2023 NBA Finals (all but one game), more than the World Series (any game), more than the 2023 Orange, Cotton, and Peach Bowl, and more than any Big Ten, Big 12 football. More than an installment, the Pac-12 and ACC championship games will be more than any regular season college football game in 2023, with the exception of (of course) Thee vs. M (also known as Ohio State vs. Michigan). There will be more.
More women's or men's college basketball games ever watched on ESPN. More than any other women's college basketball game in basketball history.
Now we enter the moment. When everything that is happening in, with, and because of what we see culminates. game. story line. It incorporates the dynamics of who plays for the championship and who wins. The beloved vs. villain dynamic, the good girl vs. evil empire dynamic, the Cinderella vs. undefeated dynamic, the racial dynamic (first black vs. black, then white superstar vs. white megastar in the semifinals, and then the final) championship blacks vs. whites), Friday's friendship dynamics (between Clark and Paige Bueckers), Sunday's “Now GOAT” vs. “Next GOAT” dynamics (South Carolina's team and his In UConn's case, the squads would eventually face off between coaches Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley).
This is a dream for the NCAA and the WNBA's marketing, advertising and PR departments. It's a basketball dream scenario. That's all. And judging by the growing public interest year after year, week after week, we'll all support it. (Almost everyone. There are millions of people who will be exposed to the lock, key, hypnosis, and hype of WWE WrestleMania 40 this weekend.)
There aren't too many moments in sports these days where everything unfolds perfectly for the upliftment of the sport as a whole. Tiger's entry into the PGA Tour comes to mind. That Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic have been battling for Grand Slam tennis titles for years now jumps out with the undeniable influence of Serena and Venus, reigning in the same sport at the same time. That's another thing. And until a few weeks ago (there would still be time for the gambling incident with the interpreter not to be questioned against his legacy), Shohei Ohtani's welcome to American baseball would have been considered the latest on the list. However, the amount of time basketball currently gains due to women playing basketball can be considered equivalent to all of the above at this point.
Once this weekend is over, theirs can be seen as a symbol of permanence.
No matter what happens, no matter the outcome of this year's NCAA Tournament, one thing is certain. The word “magnitude” is often overused and often added to the word “now,” but only to emphasize what we are. And after the confetti fell on Sunday night, it would be intentionally juxtaposed with the words “Women's Game.” Should we reflect on this word and digest it “as is” or see it as a reflection of ourselves and how we have found ways to change the conversation about our great sport to limit it to gender only? It's up to us whether we can do it or not. And that we all specifically added “female” to most of the comments, commentary, and feelings we had about what's going on in basketball these days, making it gender-specific.
There comes a time when we check ourselves.
When LeBron James joined the league, we were told we would all be witnesses. And we were. So, in this latest historic, needle-moving 'moment' in sports – gender be damned – we are all present and part of it, even if we are no longer witnesses. What are we about?
Dawn Staley likes to tell her players to “play free.” The time has come for us to “think freely.” Because Caitlin, Gabby, Mileysia, Te Hina, Asiaha, Sanya, Paige, Aaliyah (and Angel, Juju, Rikea, Frauge, Hannah, Madison, Daiaisha) all happen. Being women that we now know by first name, especially in the last three games for those who are still in the competition, that they don't deserve any more attention than we're giving them. Don't distort things. In this moment they created.
Let the “magnitude of the moment” – their moment – be about the generational uplift of this game, not just the gender of the players playing hoops.