Wild women attract attention

Get ready for some controversy.

Women have become a much bigger part of the sports landscape in recent years. The WNBA was created in 1996 and play began in 1997. The Women’s World Cup, arguably the most important female soccer tournament, was first played in 1991. Women’s collegiate sports like basketball and softball are featured prominently on a number of television outlets throughout the year, too.

It wasn’t so long ago that women’s sports were completely invisible. The closest you could get to finding ladies and sports at the same time was when some co-ed would come rushing onto the field of play to plant a giant smooch on the cheek of some unsuspecting ballplayer.

We’ve come a long way. Or have we?

Regardless of the success stories concerning women’s sports and Title IX over the last few decades, a few incidents in the past week have shown we really haven’t progressed all that much when it comes to women and how their place in the sports landscape is viewed by fans and the media.

Cat fights
The coverage of Danica Patrick and Milka Duno this past weekend was way over the top. I don’t know what they were arguing about and I don’t care. I rarely tune in for motor sports. But how could I miss this? Because of the coverage it garnered, this seemed like a bigger story than Greg Norman leading the British Open after three rounds. Aside from the Indy 500, the Patrick-Duno spat will be the biggest thing in the Indy Car Series all year long.

There’s just something about two women sparring, verbally or otherwise, that just makes you sit back, relax, and say ‘Wow, did you just see what happened?’ And that spells r-a-t-i-n-g-s. By the way, if you haven’t seen the footage yet, just YouTube, “Danica fight” and prepare to be amazed. As of Wednesday afternoon the footage of the fracas had been viewed almost 175,000 times. I don’t think 175,000 people have collectively watched an Indy event since that pesky Indy 500 interrupted my Memorial Day Weekend.

Just a few hours after Patrick made headlines for her argument with Duno, the WNBA had its most celebrated brawl. And how’s this for a coincidence, it happened at the Palace of Auburn Hills, home to the NBA’s most ballyhooed brouhaha between the Pacers and Pistons back in 2004.

To recap, Detroit’s Cheryl Ford and LA’s Candace Parker became entangled late in the game. Following a free-throw with under five seconds to go, Plenette Pierson pushed Parker to the ground, Parker tackled Pierson, and it was on.

You would have thought one of the old Bad Boys teams of the late-80’s was staging a reunion. Wait a minute. Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn were both present. Laimbeer is Detroit’s head coach and Mahorn is one of the team’s assistants. Isn’t it nice to see the team taking on the personality of its coaches?

18 hours after the skirmish, the event had been viewed over 102,000 times on YouTube. Unofficially, this is the most attention the WNBA has gotten since its inception. Not good for a sport trying to attract a following. Or is it?

I’m curious to know how many new viewers might watch the next WNBA game in hopes of stumbling upon another MMA event. Maybe the league will attract a larger audience because of this. Most women’s hoops insiders expected Parker to bring more attention to the WNBA. However, that theory had more to do with her good-looks and ability to play above the rim. Not her newfound Greco-Roman attributes.

An old story replays itself
Ashley Harkleroad has become the latest female athlete to pose for Playboy. If you don’t know who Harkleroad is, she’s a tennis player. I didn’t buy Playboy to figure that out, but I did Google her. Poor choice of words. What I meant to say was I looked her up on the internet.

She joins figure-skater Katarina Witt, volleyball player Gabrielle Reece, swimmer Amanda Beard, and a few others who have opted to bare-all for more exposure. If that’s even possible. Nevertheless, an age-old argument has been rekindled. Will Harkleroad’s pictorial bring more people to women’s tennis, or does it minimize what she and others in that sport have accomplished?

I’ve never been one to say that a risqué pictorial takes away from a certain sport. What it does do, in my opinion, is overshadow what Harkleroad might accomplish on the tennis court. Instead of being Ashley Harkleroad the great tennis player, she will forever be Ashley Harkleroad the tennis player who posed for Playboy.

I’m not going to lose sleep over what she’s doing off the court. I just hope she can live with her decision. I also hope it doesn’t become a distraction to other players on the circuit. Wait, it’s too late. It’ll only be a matter of time before her next opponent is answering questions about Harkleroad’s Playboy debut.

What does it all mean?
The chances are good we’ll see some more tiffs on the racetrack, hardwood, and elsewhere between dueling females. I also believe several men’s magazines will have a few more athletically inclined cover girls. The question remains, ‘Is that kind of stuff good for women’s sports?’ In a weird way and as much as I don’t want to admit it, I think the answer is yes.

After all, would I be writing this if these women were just racing cars, shooting hoops, and perfecting their ability to serve and volley? Probably not. Just look at what Tonya and Nancy did for women’s figure skating. By the way, another 20,000 folks have YouTubed “Danica fight” since you started reading this.